Vitus

Vitus, St, a reputed martyr under Diocletian, the son of a Sicilian pagan, but converted by his nurse Crescentia and her husband Modestus. All three perished together, in Lucania or at Rome, the festival falling on June 15th. The relics of St Vitus are preserved at Corbey and at Prague. He is invoked against sudden death, hydrophobia, prolonged sleep, and the complaint commonly called the Chorea or Dance of St Vitus; some authorities make him also the patron of comedians and dancers. It is said that in Germany in the 17th century it was a popular belief that good health for a year could be bought by bringing gifts to his image and dancing before it on his festival—a practice especially in vogue at his chapels at Ulm and Ravensberg. Hence we are asked to believe that the Dance of St Vitus, becoming a familiar phrase, was confounded with the nervous disorder.