Veneration and Patronage
Saint Erasmus may have become the patron of sailors because he is said to have continued preaching even after a thunderbolt struck the ground beside him. This prompted sailors, who were in danger from sudden storms and lightning, to claim his prayers. The electrical discharges at the mastheads of ships were read as a sign of his protection and came to be called "Saint Elmo's Fire".
Pope St Gregory the Great recorded in the 6th century that his relics were preserved in the cathedral of Formia. When the old Formiae was razed by the Saracens in 842, the cult of Erasmus was translated to Gaeta. He is currently the patron of Gaeta, Santeramo in Colle and Formia.
Besides his patronage of mariners, Erasmus is invoked against colic in children, abdomnial pain, intestinal ailments and diseases, cramps and the pain of women in labor, as well as cattle pests.
Read more about this topic: Erasmus Of Formiae
Famous quotes containing the words veneration and/or patronage:
“Erasmus was the light of his century; others were its strength: he lighted the way; others knew how to walk on it while he himself remained in the shadow as the source of light always does. But he who points the way into a new era is no less worthy of veneration than he who is the first to enter it; those who work invisibly have also accomplished a feat.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“She loved money, but could occasionally part with it, especially to men of learning, whose patronage she affected. She often conversed with them, and bewildered herself in their metaphysical disputes, which neither she nor they themselves understood.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)