Saint Vitus

Vitus was a young Christian martyred in southern Italy around 303, during the persecution of Diocletian. His cult is very ancient, though the details of his life come from later legends. According to these, he was the son of a pagan nobleman in Sicily and was raised in the faith by his nurse Crescentia and her husband Modestus. When his father tried to make him give up Christ, the three fled by boat to Lucania.

The legend says Vitus freed the emperor's son from an evil spirit, yet he was arrested for refusing to sacrifice to the gods. He survived a cauldron of boiling oil and a hungry lion before dying for Christ with his two guardians. His relics were later carried to the abbey of Corvey in Germany and to Prague, and he became one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

In the Middle Ages people in Germany danced before his images on his feast, hoping for good health, and the nervous disorder called Saint Vitus' dance took its name from him. He is invoked against epilepsy, oversleeping and the bites of dogs.

The Gothic cathedral of Saint Vitus in Prague holds his relics, and Rijeka in Croatia and many Sicilian towns keep him as patron.