is the main church of the former imperial capital,
Prague. The veneration of the martyrs spread rapidly in Southern Italy and Sicily, as is shown by the note in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum". Pope
Gregory the Great mentions a monastery dedicated to Vitus in Sicily ("Epist.", I, xlviii, P.L., LXXXVII, 511). The veneration of Vitus, the chief saint of the group, also appeared very early at Rome.
Pope Gelasius I (492–496) mentions a shrine dedicated to him (Jaffé, "Reg. Rom. Pont.", 2nd ed., I, 6 79), and at Rome in the seventh century the chapel of a deaconry was dedicated to him ("Liber Pont.", ed. Duchesne, I, 470 sq.). In AD 756,
Abbot Fulrad is said to have brought the
relics of St. Vitus to the
monastery of St-Denis. They were later presented to Abbot Warin of
Corvey in Germany, who solemnly transferred some of them to this abbey in AD 836. From Corvey the veneration of St Vitus spread throughout Westphalia and in the districts of eastern and northern Germany. His popularity grew in
Prague, Bohemia when, in AD 925, king
Henry I of Germany presented as a gift the bones of one hand of St. Vitus to
Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia. Since then, this relic has been a sacred treasure in the
St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. Other relics of Saint Vitus were taken in
Pavia (they were kept in the church of
San Marino) by the emperor
Charles IV in 1355 and were brought to Prague. The veneration of St. Vitus became very popular in
Slavic lands, where his name (Sveti Vid) may have replaced more ancient worship of the god of light
Svetovid. In
Serbia his feast day, known as
Vidovdan, is of particular historical importance. The day is part of the
Kosovo Myth — the
Battle of Kosovo occurred on that day; several events have symbolically occurred on that day, such as the 1914
assassination of the Austrian royal couple; Vitus was the patron saint of the
Kingdom of Serbia. In
Hungary he has been venerated as
Szent Vid since the early Middle Ages. In
Bulgaria, it is called Vidovden (Видовден) or Vidov Den (Видов ден) and is particularly well known among the
Shopi, in the western part of the country. In
Croatia, 123 churches are dedicated to St. Vitus. In the
Netherlands, Vitus is the patron saint of
Winschoten, as well as of the region of the Gooi, where in each of the three largest towns (Hilversum, Bussum and Naarden), the main Catholic Church is dedicated to St Vitus. Vitus is one of the
Fourteen Martyrs who give aid in times of trouble. He is specifically invoked against
chorea, which is called
St. Vitus Dance. 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 11th 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
General Roman Calendar. Vitus is still recognized as a saint of the
Catholic Church, being included in the
Roman Martyrology under 15 June, and
Mass may be celebrated in his honor on that day wherever the
Roman Rite is celebrated, while Modestus and Crescentia, who are associated with Vitus in legend, have been omitted, because they appear to be merely fictitious personages. ==Gallery==