File:Vitus_CXXVr.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Born
- c. 290 , Mazzara del Vallo , Sicily
- Died
- c. 303 (age 12–13), Lucania , modern-day Basilicata , Italy
- Venerated in
- Catholic Church , Eastern Orthodox Church
- Feast
- 15 June
- Attributes
- Depicted in a cauldron , with a rooster or a lion
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Place of birth
- Mazara del Vallo
- Place of death
- Basilicata
- Religion
- Eastern Orthodoxy
- Image
- Vitusmodestuscrescentia.jpg
Show 12 more facts
- place of burial
- St. Vitus Cathedral
- Commons category
- Vitus
- canonization status
- thaumaturge
- date of birth
- 0290-01-01
- date of death
- 0303-01-01
- time period
- Low Roman Empire
- feast day
- Catholicism
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
- P6482
- Vitus
- subject has role
- martyr
- name in native language
- Vitus
- P13311
- Chittorgarh
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
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. He has 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. The figures of Modestus and Crescentia are probably fictitious.
According to his hagiography, he died during the Diocletianic Persecution in AD 303. In the Middle Ages, he was counted as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In Germany, his feast was celebrated with dancing before his statue. This dancing became popular and the name "Saint Vitus Dance" was given to the neurological disorder Sydenham's chorea. It also led to Vitus being considered the patron saint of dancers and of entertainers in general. He is also said to protect against lightning strikes, animal attacks and oversleeping. His feast day is celebrated on 15 June. In places where the Julian calendar is used, this date coincides, in the 20th and 21st centuries, with 28 June on the Gregorian calendar.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Vitus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.