Erasmus of Formiae
|
The martyrdom of St. Erasmus |
Saint Erasmus of Formiae (died about
303), also known as
Saint Elmo, is the
patron saint of sailors.
St. Elmo's Fire is named after him. Erasmus or Elmo is also one of the
Fourteen Holy Helpers, not well known figures of Christian legend who were venerated especially in
Central Europe as intercessors.
The
Acts of Saint Elmo were partly compiled from legends that confuse him with a Syrian bishop Erasmus of Antioch.
Jacobus de Voragine in the
Golden Legend credited him as a bishop at
Formia over all the Italian
Campania, as a hermit on
Mount Lebanon, and a martyr in the persecutions under
Eastern Roman Emperor Diocletian.
|
The belfry of the Cathedral of St. Erasmus in Gaeta |
According to his legend, when the persecutions of Diocletian began, Erasmus was called before a judge, beaten around the head, spat upon and "besprinkled [...] with foulness". He was then beaten with leaden mauls until his veins broke and burst. Erasmus suffered all of these punishments with tremendous willingness. Erasmus was then thrown into a pit of snakes and worms, and boiling oil and sulfur were poured on him but "he lay therein as he had lain in cold water, thanking and loving
God". Then thunder and lightning came and elotrocuted everyone around save Erasmus. Thus the saint was protected from the
lightning. Diocletian had him thrown in another pit, but an angel came and slew all the vipers and worms.
Then, came the
Western Roman Emperor Maximian, who according to Voragine, "[...] was much worse than was Diocletian". Erasmus would not cease preaching the Gospel, even though he was "put into a pan seething with rosin, pitch, brimstone lead, and oil, [which were] pour[ed] [...] into his mouth, [from] [...] which he never shrinked". A searing hot cloak and metal coat were both tried on him, to no effect, and an angel eventually carried him away to safety."And when this holy man came before the false gods" to which he was to be forced to sacrifice, they "fell down and brake all in pieces, and consumed into ashes or dust". That made the emperor so angry he had Erasmus enclosed in a barrel full of protruding spikes, and the barrel was rolled down a hill. But an angel healed him. Further tortures ensued:
|
A 15th century fresco painting held to be the torturing of Erasmus, in the Maria Church in Båstad, Sweden |
"[H]is teeth [were] [...] plucked out of his head with iron pincers. And after that they bound him to a pillar and carded his skin with iron cards, and then they roasted him upon a gridiron...and did smite sharp nails of iron in his fingers, and after, they put out his eyes of his head with their fingers, and after that they laid this holy bishop upon the ground naked and stretched him with strong withes bound to horses about his blessed neck, arms, and legs, so that all his veins and sinews that he had in his body burst."
The version of the
Golden Legend did not relate how Erasmus fled to Mount Lebanon and survived on what ravens brought him to eat, an interesting pre-Christian
mytheme. When he was recaptured, he was brought before the emperor and beaten and whipped, then coated with pitch and set alight (as Christians had been in
Nero's games), and still he survived. Thrown into prison with the intention of letting him die of starvation, Erasmus managed to escape.
He was recaptured and tortured some more in the Roman province of
Illyricum, after boldly preaching and converting numerous pagans to Christianity. Finally, according to the legend, his stomach was slit open and his intestines wound around a
windlass. This late legend may have developed from interpreting an icon that showed him with a windlass, signifying his patronage of sailors.
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."
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 both Gaeta and Formia.
Besides mariners, Erasmus is invoked against colic in children, intestinal ailments and diseases, cramps and the pain of women in labor, as well as cattle pest.
*
St. Elmo Hall fraternity
*
Golden Legend – e-text adapted from
Wynken de Worde's edition of 1527.
*
Saint Erasmus
