Vitus
gets the glory while Modestus and Crescentia get deleted from legend
According to
legend, Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia were martyrs under Diocletian. The
earliest testimony for their veneration is offered by the "Martyrologium
Hieronymianum."
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 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 turn
away from his faith. 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.
The
veneration of the martyrs spread rapidly in Southern Italy and Sicily. Pope
Gregory the Great mentions a monastery dedicated to Vitus in Sicily
("Epist.", I, xlviii, P.L., LXXXVII, 511 – which
I am sure you have read).
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.
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., king Henry I of Germany presented as a gift the bones of one hand of St.
Vitus to Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia. This relic is since then a sacred
treasure in the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.
The cult of
St. Vitus became very popular in Slavic lands, where his name (Sveti Vid) replaced
the old cult of the god of light Svantovid. In Croatia alone, 123
churches are dedicated to St. Vitus. In Hungary he has been venerated as
Szent Vid since the early Middle Ages. Serbs celebrate Vidovdan (St. Vitus
Day), a day dedicated to St. Vitus on which day occurred the famous Kosovo
battle at 1389.
Saint Vitus
is invoked primarily against chorea, which is called "St. Vitus 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 cauldron, sometimes with a
raven and a lion, his iconographic attribute because according to the legend he
was thrown into a cauldron of boiling tar and molten lead, but miraculously
escaped unscathed.
The names of
Saints Modestus and Crescentia were added in the eleventh century to the Roman
Calendar, so that from then on all three names were celebrated together until
1969, when their feast was removed from the calendar of feasts proposed for
celebration throughout the Roman Rite.
Saint Vitus
is still recognized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, being inscribed in
the Roman Martyrology under June 15, and Mass may be celebrated in his honor on
that day wherever the Roman Rite is celebrated, while the Saints Modestus and
Crescentia who are associated with Saint Vitus in legend have been omitted,
because they appear to be merely fictitious personages. However, some
traditionalist Catholics continue to observe pre-1970 versions of the General
Roman Calendar.
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