Vitus
ST., a reputed martyr under Diocletian, the son of a Sicilian pagan, but converted by his nurse Crescentia VIVISECTION and her husband Modestus. All three perished together, in Lucania, or at Rome, the festival falling on June 15.
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 Ravensburg.