The dog who was worshipped as a Catholic saint during the Middle Ages

In the 13th century, near the French village of Neuville-sur-Ain, a story had begun circulating that a local knight owned a greyhound named Guinefort.

One day, the knight left his infant son under the dog's care while he went hunting.

When the knight returned, he found the nursery in disarray, the baby’s bed overturned, and no sight nor sound of his son anywhere.

All he found was the dog covered in blood. In a hasty rage, the knight assumed the dog had attacked, killed, and consumed his son, so killed Guinefort on the spot.  

Only then did he hear the child’s cries coming from under the overturned crib. The knight looked closer and found that the child was completely unharmed.

However, beside the crying baby lay a dead snake, covered in dog-bite marks.

That is when he realized that Guinefort had actually saved his son’s life by killing the snake. 

As a show of remorse for what he had done, the knight buried Guinefort in a well, covered it with stones and planted trees nearby to honor his sacrifice.

Not long after, peasant villagers soon learned of the dog's brave act and began visiting the burial site to pay their respects.

As the story spread, the visitors erected a makeshift shrine. 

Eventually, pilgrims began reporting that their prayers had led to miraculous healing.

The accounts of miraculous healings often involved ailments such as fevers, infections, and unexplained illnesses.

In one case, a child with a high fever reportedly recovered after being taken to the shrine.

The child's parents attributed the recovery to Guinefort's intervention and spread the story among their neighbors.  

As a result, more people began praying for miracles and spiritual protection against harm.

It was no surprise then that people believed that Guinefort possessed saintly powers.

Mothers brought their sick children to the site and those who had injuries from battle or accidents came, all hoping for healing through the saint’s intercession.

The practice became particularly popular among local peasants, who saw Guinefort as a special protector of the vulnerable. To them, his legend embodied loyalty and bravery.  

When word of the greyhound’s veneration reached ecclesiastical authorities, they were immediately alarmed.

Stephen of Bourbon, a Dominican inquisitor, took a particular interest in the case. He traveled to the site around 1261 to investigate the reports.

There, he found villagers performing rituals at Guinefort’s grave, leaving offerings and conducting ceremonies to invoke the dog's intercession.

Sometimes, they tied pieces of cloth to the trees surrounding the shrine, each representing a plea for help.   

For the Church, such practices threatened the integrity of Christian worship; it blurred the line between sanctioned veneration of saints and prohibited folk beliefs.

Stephen’s report condemned the cult as superstitious and inappropriate. He argued that the villagers’ devotion to a dog undermined true piety and distracted from proper Christian teachings.

The Church viewed the cult of Saint Guinefort as dangerously close to pagan animal worship, which had been a persistent issue in certain rural regions where older pre-Christian beliefs still influenced religious practices.

To curb this heretical practice, he ordered the shrine to be destroyed and warned the local clergy to discourage the cult. The shrine was burned, along with the trees around it, in an effort to erase all traces of veneration.

However, his efforts met with limited success, as the cult of Saint Guinefort persisted for several centuries.

In fact, the last reported pilgrim to the site dates from the 1940s. 

The legend of Saint Guinefort was one of many medieval examples of unofficial ‘folk saints’—figures not canonized by the Church but venerated by local communities seeking divine intervention outside official religious structures.