Saint Vitus
Vitus (/ˈvaɪtəs/), whose name is sometimes rendered Guy or Guido, was a Christian martyr from Sicily. His surviving hagiography is pure legend. The dates of his actual life are unknown.[1][2] He has for long been tied to the Sicilian martyrs Modestus and Crescentia but in the earliest sources it is clear that these were originally different traditions that later became combined.[3] The figures of Modestus and Crescentia are probably fictitious.[1]
According to his legend, he died during the
Martyrdom
According to the legend, Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia were martyrs under
According to J. P. Kirsch,[5] the testimony to the public veneration of the three saints in the fifth century proves 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
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 where they lay.Veneration
The veneration of the martyrs spread rapidly in Southern Italy and Sicily, as is shown by the note in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum". Pope
The veneration of 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 AD 756,
The veneration of St. Vitus became very popular in
In
In the Netherlands, Vitus is the patron saint of Winschoten, as well as of the region of the Gooi, where in each of the three largest towns (Hilversum, Bussum and Naarden), the main Catholic Church is dedicated to St Vitus.
Vitus is one of the
He is represented as a young man with a palm-leaf, in a cauldron, sometimes with a raven and a lion, his
The names of Saints Modestus and Crescentia were added in the 11th century to the Roman Calendar,[10] so that from then on all three names were celebrated together until 1969, when their feast was removed from the General Roman Calendar. Vitus is still recognized as a saint of the Catholic Church, being included in the Roman Martyrology under 15 June,[11] and Mass may be celebrated in his honor on that day wherever the Roman Rite is celebrated,[12] while Modestus and Crescentia, who are associated with Vitus in legend, have been omitted, because they appear to be merely fictitious personages.[10]
Vitus is the patron saint of the city of
The saint's feast day is also the subject of a popular weather rhyme: "If St. Vitus' Day be rainy weather, it shall rain for thirty days together". This rhyme often appears in such publications as almanacs; its origin is uncertain.
Michael J. Towsend writes that "the phrase 'The patron saint of Methodism is St Vitus' summed up with reasonable accuracy many people's impressions of the Methodist Church. Methodists, surely, are supremely busy people, always rushing around organizing things and setting up committees to do good works. They can generally be relied upon to play their part in running Christian Aid Week, the sponsored walk for the local hospice or the group protesting about homelessness, and they are known, even now, to be activists in trades unions and political parties."[13]
Gallery
-
An image of Saint Vitus in Heiligenstadt, Franconia
-
Martyrdom of Saint Vitus, Germany circa 1450 Warsaw National Museum
-
Martyrdom of Saint Vitus/Sankt Veit on the coat of arms of Sankt Veit im Pongau, Austria
-
High altar of Saint Vitus in Fraunberg, Bavaria, c. 1770
-
Gothic Revival high altar (1911) at the Saint Vitus Parish Church in Pfarrkirchen im Mühlkreis, Upper Austria, by Ludwig Linzinger
-
Church of Saint Vitus, Libědice, Czech Republic
-
Church of Saint Vitus, Blaricum, Netherlands
-
Church of Saint Vitus, Treffelhausen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Basil Watkins, The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary, 8th rev. ed. (Bloomsbury, 2016), p. 758.
- ^ Donald Attwater, The Avenel Dictionary of Saints (Avenel Books, 1981), p. 338.
- ^ David Hugh Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 5th rev. ed. (Oxford University Press, 2011), s.v. "Vitus (Guy), Modestus, and Crescentia".
- ^ "Saint Vitus". Saints.sqpn.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ The author of the article in the Catholic Encyclopedia from which the information in this section is drawn
- ISBN 9781588391612. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
- ^ "SVIBOR – The Meaning and the Origin of the Word". Mzos.hr. 14 June 1996. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ Đorđević, Dimitrije (Spring 1990). "The role of St. Vitus Day in modern Serbian history" (PDF). Serbian Studies. 5 (3). North American Society for Serbian Studies: 33–40. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-7614-7231-5.
... was scheduled for June 28. This was a significant date for both Princip and the archduke. It was the day of St. Vitus, the patron saint of Serbia,
- ^ a b "Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 126
- ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
- ^ General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 355
- Society of Jesus. p. 100. Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Sts. Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Delehaye, Hippolyte (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). p. 152.