Icon of Saint Vitus or Guy, martyr

Description Icon of Saint Vitus or Guy, martyr

Summary of his life

Saint Vite, also called Vit or Guy, was born into an illustrious Sicilian family, the son of a Lord, Hylas, a rich and obstinate pagan, extremely devoted to the worship of false gods.
St. Vitus was fortunate to have for his tutor a Christian named Modestus and for his nurse a Christian woman named Crescence. They brought him up in a just aversion to idols and in a sincere and ardent love of Jesus Christ. He was baptized without his father Hylas' knowledge, and as he was forewarned of an extraordinary grace, he shone by heroic deeds and by the zeal with which he won souls to God. He received the gift of miracles.
When he was barely twelve years old, he was already performing miraculous healings. Through his prayers, the blind received their sight, the sick were restored to health, and those possessed were delivered from the tyranny of the devil, including the son of the emperor Diocletian. Diocletian, far from recognizing the power of Jesus Christ, spared nothing to corrupt the young Vite and detach him from Christianity.
At the same time, Valerian came to Sicily on behalf of the emperor Diocletian, not so much as a prefect and governor as a persecutor of the Christians and an executioner.
Valerian sent for Hylas to inform him that he had the right to arrest and punish his son Vite, but that he could also postpone this if he, Hylas, succeeded, by his paternal authority, in convincing Vite to renounce his faith and leave the cult of Jesus Christ to join that of the gods, which was the religion of the empire. Vite was considered by the idolaters, as the strongest and the most dangerous of their enemies.
So Hylas used all sorts of means to seduce his blessed child, crying and kissing him, enumerating to him all that, by his fault, he would lose: his goods, honor and life. He told him of his sorrow that would surely lead him to the grave. He even tried to inspire him with contempt, telling him about a man, Jesus Christ, who died ignominiously on a gallows. But Vite protested to him that neither promises nor threats... could separate him from the charity of Jesus Christ. In return, he gave his father powerful reasons to oblige him to follow his example, in vain.
Valerian was warned of Hylas' failure and learned that Vite continued to perform miracles that spread Christianity. Arrest and various punishments on his part did not deter Vite, who continued to perform miracles despite everything. Among these, his father Hylas recovered his sight, his own persecutors, including Valerian, healed of their limbs...
During his life, St. Vitus never ceased to proclaim the power of Jesus Christ who is an all-powerful God.

Patronages of this saint

Saint Vite is the patron saint of actors and dancers.
He was invoked against nervous agitation or chorea, causing tremors and convulsions; the fury of the dance which ended up being similar to collective hysteria; prolonged sleep or sleeping sickness; rabies, and for dogs so that they would not be affected by this affection; demon possession, largely justified by the healing of Diocletian's son.
Saint Vite is also invoked against lethargy, cramps, enuresis and venomous bites.
He is one of the fourteen auxiliary saints who are invoked in Germany to obtain some grace or to be delivered from an imminent danger.

Symbolism of the icon

Saint Vite is represented here by :
in his hands, a palm leaf, symbolizing his martyrdom, a cross and the Gospel, symbolizing the faith he lived and for which he died. He is accompanied by dogs of which he is the Patron Saint.
In San Vitale si Monti, in Rome, where the arm of the Saint is exposed on the day of the patronal feast of the church, he is invoked for the cure of rabies and so that the dogs do not suffer from this disease. Frederick Colonna, prince of Paliand, bitten by a rabid dog, restored, in 1620, this sanctuary under the vocation of St. Vitus, who had cured him.

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