"Saint Guy" redirects here. For the Belgian saint, see Guy of Anderlecht.

Saint Vitus was a Christian saint from Sicily. He died as a martyr during the persecution of Christians by co-ruling Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian in 303. St Vitus is counted as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers of the Roman Catholic Church.

Saint Vitus' Day is celebrated on June 15. In places where the Julian Calendar is used, this date coincides, in the 20th and 21st centuries, with the Gregorian Calendar 28 June.

The popularity of Saint Vitus is shown by the variants of his name existing in many European languages. They include Guy (French), Vito (Italian), Guido (Italian), Vid (Croatian and South-Slav languages), Vith, Vít (Czech), Veit (German), Wit (Polish).

In the late Middle Ages, people in Germany and countries such as Latvia celebrated the feast of Saint Vitus by dancing before his statue. This dancing became something of a mania and gave the name of "Saint Vitus Dance" to the nervous disorder called chorea. It also led to Saint Vitus being considered the patron saint of dancers and entertainers in general.^[1]

St. Vitus is considered the patron saint of actors, comedians, dancers, and epileptics. He is also said to protect against lightning strikes, animal attacks, and oversleeping, and is the patron saint of Bohemia. Vitus or St. Vito is the patron saint of the towns of Ciminna in Sicily and Forio in Campania, Italy, the town of Winschoten in the Netherlands and the city of Rijeka in Croatia.

Various places in Austria and Bavaria are named Sankt Veit in his honor.

For the significance of the feast of St. Vitus in Serbia, where the Serb Orthodox Church follows the Julian Calendar, see Vidovdan.

Martyrdom of Saints Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia

The martyrdom of Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia. From a 14th century manuscript.

According to J.P. Kirsch, the author the article in the Catholic Encyclopedia from which the information in this section is drawn, the testimony to the public veneration of the three saints in the fifth century proves positively that they are historical martyrs. There are, nevertheless, no historical accounts of them, nor of the time or the details of their martyrdom.

During the sixth and seventh centuries a purely legendary narrative of their martyrdom appeared which appears to be based upon other legends, especially on the legend of Poitus, and ornamented with accounts of fantastic miracles. According to this legend, which has no apparent historical value, Vitus was a 7-year-old son of a pagan senator of Lucania (some versions make him 12 years old). He resisted his father's attempts, which included various forms of torture, to make him apostatize. He fled with his tutor Modestus and Modestus's wife Crescentia, who was Vitus's nanny, to Lucania. He was taken from there to Rome to drive out a demon which had taken possession of a son of the Emperor Diocletian. This he did, and yet, because he remained steadfast in the Christian Faith, he was tortured together with his tutors. By a miracle an angel brought back the three to Lucania, where they died from the tortures they had endured. Three days later Vitus appeared to a distinguished matron named Florentia, who then found the bodies and buried them in the spot where they were. The author of the legend doubtless connected in his invention three saints who apparently suffered death in Lucania, and were first venerated there.

Cult

St. Vitus Cathedral is the main church of the former imperial capital, Prague.

The veneration of St Vitus, the chief saint of the group, also appeared very early at Rome. Pope Gelasius I (492-496) mentions a shrine dedicated to him (Jaffé, "Reg. Rom. Pont.", 2nd ed., I, 6 79), and at Rome in the seventh century the chapel of a deaconry was dedicated to him ("Liber Pont.", ed. Duchesne, I, 470 sq.).

In 756 AD it is said that the relics of St Vitus were brought to the monastery of St-Denis by Abbot Fulrad. They were later presented to Abbot Warin of Corvey in Germany, who solemnly transferred some of them to this abbey in 836. From Corvey the veneration of St Vitus spread throughout Westphalia and in the districts of eastern and northern Germany. His cult grew in Prague, Bohemia when, in 925 A.D., Emperor Henry I of Germany presented as a gift the bones of one hand of St Vitus to St. Venceslav, Duke of Bohemia. This hand is now a sacred national treasure in the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

The cult of St Vitus became very popular in Slavic lands, where his name (Sveti Vid = St. Vitus) replaced the old pagan cult of the god of light Svantovid. ^[2] Just in Croatia, 123 churches are dedicated to St. Vitus.

Saint Vitus is invoked primarily against chorea, which is called St Vitus's Dance, and he is one of the Fourteen Martyrs who give aid in times of trouble.

He is represented as a young man with a palm-leaf, in a kettle, sometimes with a raven and a lion., his iconographic attribute because according to the legend he was thrown into such a cauldron of boiling tar and molten lead, but escaped unscathed miraculously.

The names of Sts Modestus and Crescentia were added in the eleventh century to the Roman Calendar,^[3] so that from then on all three names were celebrated together until the year 1969, when their feast was removed from the calendar of feasts proposed for celebration throughout the Roman Rite. However, Saint Vitus is still recognized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, being inscribed in the Roman Martyrology under June 15,^[4] and Mass may be celebrated in his honor on that day wherever the Roman Rite is celebrated.^[5] On the other hand, the Sts Modestus and Crescentia who are associated with St Vitus in legend have been omitted because they appear to be merely fictitious personages.^[6]

Traditional Roman Catholics continue to celebrate the feast day of "Sts Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia, Martyrs" as either a Simple feast or a Commemoration (see the General Roman Calendar of 1962).

Gallery

<gallery> Image:Flein-st-veit.jpg|Martyrdom of Saint Vitus Germany circa 1515, St. Vitus church, Flein Image:HeiligenstadtSanktVeit.JPG|An image of Saint Vitus in Heiligenstadt, Franconia Image:Martyrdom of saint Vitus.PNG|Martyrdom of Saint Vitus Germany circa 1450 Warsaw National Museum </gallery>

Sources

Notes

1. ↑ Saint Vitus
2. ↑ SVIBOR - The Meaning and the Origin of the Word
3. ↑ "Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 126
4. ↑ "Martyrologium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
5. ↑ General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 355
6. ↑ "Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 126

External links

• Open Directory category about Saints Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia
• Patron Saints Index profile of Saint Vitus
• Catholic Online profile of Saint Vitus
• Information on Saint Vitus, the saint, on saintvitus.com
• San Vito

cs:Svatý Vít da:Sankt Vitus de:Veit (Heiliger) es:Vito mártir eo:Sankta Vito fr:Guy, Modeste et Crescence hr:Sveti Vid it:San Vito he:????? ????? hu:Szent Vitus nl:Vitus ja:?????????? pl:?wi?ty Wit ru:?????? ???? fi:Pyhä Vitus tl:Vito vec:San Vito de ?ucania