Its origin is unknown, even if according to a “passio” he was born in Sicily to Father Pagano and was imprisoned seven years, on the reporting of the parent, because he was a Christian. The only reliable news about him is located in the Gerominian martyrology, from which it appears that Vito lived in Lucania.
Very popular in the Middle Ages, he was included in the group of auxiliators, the saints whose intercession was considered very effective in particular occasions and to remedy certain diseases. It is invoked to avoid lettargia, the bite of poisonous or hydrophobic beasts and the “Ball of San Vito”.
In this regard, the legend says that Vito, as a child, healed his son of Diocletian, his peer, sick of epilepsy. Protects the Muti, the deaf and the dancers individually, for the similarity in gestures to epileptics. For the great cauldron in which he was immersed, he is also the patron si, Ramai and Bottai.
San Vito is part of the 14 auxiliary saints, very revered in the Middle Ages, whose intercession was considered particularly effective in diseases or specific needs.
The other thirteen auxiliators are: Acacio, Barbara, Biagio, Caterina d’Alessandria, Ciriaco, Cristoforo, Dionigi, Egidio, Erasmo, Eustachio, Giorgio, Margherita, Pantaleone.
Martyrdom of the saints Vito, modest and crescenza, French manuscript of the fourteenth century
Le (scarne) biographical information wrapped in legend
The cult for San Vito is attested by the end of the fifth century, but the news about his life is few and poorly reliable.
Some ancient texts say Lucanian, but the legendary passio of the seventh century says it Sicilian; Born according to tradition in Mazara del Vallo in a rich family, an orphan of the mother, he was entrusted to a growing nurse and then to the modest pedagogue, who being Christians converted him to their faith.
He was on the age of seven, when he began to do wonders and when in 303 he broke out throughout the Roman Empire, the persecution of Diocletian against Christians, Vito was already well known in the Mazara area.
The father unable to make him inhabit, believes that he was now a teenager, he denounced him to the principal Valeriano, who ordered to arrest him; That a convinced father pay, arrested a son or daughter who became a Christian, although knowing of the torture and death to which he would have been encountered, is a very common figure in the martyrologists of the age of persecutions, which as we know, under various titles were written centuries later and with the emphasis of the heroic legend.
The principal Valeriano with threats and flattery, tried to make him inhabit, also with the help of his father’s heartfelt appeals, but without succeeding; The boy had as their support, with their example of courage and loyalty to Christ, the growing nurse and the Modesto master, also arrested.
Given the uselessness of the arrest, the principal postponed him home, then the father tried to have him seduced by some pleased women, but Vito was incorruptible and when Valeriano was about to make him arrest again, an angel appeared to modest, ordering him to leave on a boat with the boy and the nurse.
During the sea voyage, an eagle brought them water and food, until they landed at the mouth of the sele then forwarding to Lucania (ancient name of Basilicata, restored also from 1932 to 1945).
The miracles and the bloody martyrdom
Vito continued to operate miracles so much as to be considered a real thaumaturge, testifying together with his two companions, his faith with the word and the wonders, until he was traced by the soldiers of Diocletian, who led him to Rome by the emperor, who knew about the fame of healer of the boy, had made him seek to show him the peer son of Vito, sick of epilepsy, Which at the time was very impressive, such as to consider the sick one possessed.
Vito healed the boy and as a reward Diocletian ordered to torture him, because he refused to sacrifice to the gods; Here is the legendary part of the ‘passio’ which is not dissimilar in substance, from those of other martyrs of the time.
He was immersed in a cauldron of boiling pitch, from which he came out unharmed; Then they threw him among the lions that instead of attacker, they suddenly became attached and licking his feet.
The legend continues, that the torturers did not stop and weighted Vito, modest and growing to a stand, but while their bones were torn, the earth began to tremble and the idols fell to the ground; The same Diocletian fled frightened.
They appeared of the angels who freed them and transported to the Seleh river then in Lucania, today after the subsequent territorial definitions, it flows in Campania, where they now exhausted by the torture suffered, died on June 15 303; It was not possible to define the age of Vito well when he died, some scholars say 12 years, another 15 and 17 others.
Unfortunately it must be said that martyrdom in Lucania is the only reliable news on San Vito, while for everything else you end up in the legend.
His cult spread throughout Christianity, above all he affected the young age of the martyr and his thaumaturgical qualities, is invoked against epilepsy and Korea, which is a nervous disease that gives uncontrollable movements, for this reason it is also said “Ball of San Vito”; Then he is invoked against excessive need for sleep and catalexes, but also against insomnia and bites of angry dogs and demonic obsession.
A Santino depicting San Vito Martire
The relics in Europe
According to a German version of the legend, In 756 the abbot Fulrad of Saint-Denis would have made the relics of San Vito transported to his monastery in Paris; Then in 836 the Abbot Ilduino would give them to the monastery of Korway in the Wesser, which became an important center in the Middle Ages, of the devotion of the young martyr.
During the thirty-year war (1618-48), The relics disappeared from Korwey and reached the same Prague era in Bohemia, where the cathedral built in the 10th century was dedicated to the saint; A splendid chapel is consecrated to him.
It must be said that Europe is full of the relics of San Vito; About 150 towns, boast of having its relics or fragments, including Mazara del Vallo, which retains an arm, a leg bone and other smaller ones.
In the city considered its place of birth, San Vito is celebrated every year with a solemn and typical procession, which takes place between the third and fourth Sunday of August.
The “Fatinu” in honor of the patron saint, recalls the translation of the aforementioned relics, which took place in 1742 by Bishop Giuseppe Stella.
The procession, indicated as the most morning in Italy, begins at four in the morning, with the transport of the silver statue of the saint, placed on the triumphal chariot, driven with arms by the fishermen, up to the church of San Vito a Mare, accompanied by a suggestive torchlight procession and fireworks; From this place it is believed to have started with the boat to escape the father and the principal Valeriano.
A second procession is that famous historical-ideal in living paintings, it is a series of wagons, on which they are represented by faithful with the clothes of the time, Scenes of his life and martyrdom, the procession is close to the aforementioned triumphant wagon.
“U Fatinu” ends on the last Sunday of August, with a last procession of the triumphal wagon directed to the port-channel and from there the simulacrum of San Vito, He is hoisted on one of the fishing boats and followed by a hundred other fishing boats and boats, reaches the height of the church of S. Vito al Mare, to finally return to the port.
The cult in Italy
In Rome there is the church of Saints Vito and Modesto, where in a fresco beyond the young man, they also appear modest with the master’s cloak and growth in a matronal aspect with the veil.
In the Germanic area San Vito is represented as a guy protruding by a big paiolo, with the fire lit underneath. The sanctuary in which Lucania is revered in the then, today in Municipality of Eboli In Campania, called S. Vito al Sele, it was called “Alecterius locus”, that is, “place of the white rooster”; In the nearby city of Capaccio, in the church of S. Pietro, a relic of the saint is kept, while in the hamlet of Capaccio Scalo, another dedicated parish church also arose also to San Vito; The diocese of these municipalities in which the cult of San Vito is so strong, because here he died with his companions of Martyrdom, it is still called Vallo della Lucania, despite being in the province of Salerno.
The saint is also patron of Recanati and in Italy alone, 11 municipalities bear his name.
