Saint Vitus June 15

According to legend, Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia were martyrs under Diocletian. The oldest testimony to their veneration is offered by the “Martyrologium Hieronymianum” (ed. GB by Rossi-Louis Duchesne, 78: “In Sicilia, Viti, Modesti et Crescentiae”).

The fact that the note is found in the three most important manuscripts indicates that it was also found in the common copy of these, which appeared in the 5th century. The same Martyrologium has in the same light another mention of a Vitus at the head of a list of nine martyrs, with the indication of the place, in Eboli, "In Lucania", that is to say in the province Roman of this name in southern Italy between the Tuscan Sea and the Gulf of Taranto. It is easily possible that it is the same martyr Vitus in both cases.

The evidence of public veneration of the three saints in the 5th century proves that they are historical martyrs. There is, however, no historical account of them, nor of the time or details of their martyrdom.

During the sixth and seventh centuries a purely legendary account of their martyrdom appeared which appears to be based on other legends, particularly on the legend of Potitus, and adorned with stories of fantastic miracles. According to this legend, which has no apparent historical value, Vitus was a 7-year-old son of a senator from Lucania (some versions give him 12 years old). He resisted his father's attempts, which included various forms of torture, to distract him from his faith.

He fled with his tutor Modestus and Modestus' wife Crescentia, who was Vitus's nanny, to Lucania. He was taken from there to Rome to cast out a demon that had taken possession of a son of the Emperor Diocletian. He succeeded in the exorcism, but, because he remained faithful to Christianity, he and his tutors were tortured. By a miracle, an angel brought the three back 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.

Vitus is the patron saint of the city of Rijeka in Croatia; the towns of Ciminna and Vita in Sicily; Forio on the island of Ischia, Campania; the contrada of San Vito, in Torella dei Lombardi, in Avellino; the town of Rapone, Italy; the Gooi region in the Netherlands; the Italian colony of San Vito in Costa Rica; and the city of Saint-Vith in Belgium. Various places in Austria and Bavaria are named Sankt Veit in his honor.

The saint's feast day is also the subject of a popular weather rhyme: "If St. Vitus' Day is rainy weather, it will rain for thirty days together." This rhyme often appears in publications such as almanacs; its origin is uncertain.