Am offnen Markt, Gassen und Strassen
Tag und Nacht ihrer viel nicht assen.
Bis ihn das Wüthen wieder gelag.
St. Vits Tanz ward genannt die Plag.”
“Many hundreds of men and women began to dance and jump in the public market-place, the lanes, and the streets of Strasburg. Many of them ate nothing for days and nights, until their mania again subsided. The plague was called St. Vitus’s Dance.”
[16] Cæs. Baron. Annales ecclesiastic. Tom. II. p. 819. Colon. Agripp. 1609. fol. See the more ample Acta Sanctorum Junii (The 15th of June is St. Vitus’s day) Tom. II. p. 1013. Antwerp. 1698. fol. From which we shall merely add that Mazara, in Sicily, is supposed to have been the birth-place of our Saint, and that his father’s name was Hylas; that he went from thence with Crescentia (probably his nurse) and Modestus to Lucania, with both of whom he suffered martyrdom under Diocletian. They are all said to have been buried at Florence, and it was not long before the miraculous powers of St. Vitus, which had already manifested themselves in his life-time, were acknowledged throughout Italy. The most celebrated of his chapels were situated on the Promontory of Sicily (called by his name), in Rome and in Polignano, whither many pilgrimages were made by the sick. Persons who had been bitten by mad dogs believed that they would find an infallible cure at his altars, though the power of the Saint in curing wounds of this kind was afterwards disputed by the followers of St. Hubertus, the Saint of the Chase. In 672, his body was with much pomp moved to Apulia, but soon after the priests of many churches and chapels in Italy, gave out that they were in possession of portions of the saint’s body which worked miracles. In the eighth century the veneration of this youthful martyr extended itself to France, and the honour of possessing his body was conferred on the church of St. Denys. By command of the Pope it was solemnly delivered on the 19th of March, 836, by the Abbot Hilduwinus, of St. Denys, to the Abbot Warinus, of Corvey, (founded in 822). On its way thither, which occupied three months (to the 13th of June), many miracles were performed, and the subsequent Abbots of Corvey were able for centuries to maintain the popular belief in the miraculous healing power of their relics, which had indiscriminate influence on all diseases, more especially on those of a demoniacal kind. See Monachi anonymi Historia translationis S. Viti. In G. H. Pertz, Monumenta Germaniæ Historica. Tom. II. Hannov. 1828. fol. p. 576. As a proof of the great veneration for St. Vitus in the fourteenth century, we may further mention that Charles IV. dedicated to him the Cathedral of Prague, of which he had laid the foundation, and caused him to be proclaimed Patron Saint of Bohemia, and a nominal body of the holy martyr was, for this purpose, brought from Parma. Act. Sanctor. loc. cit.
[17] Probably a corruption of Apotropæi. The expression is constantly met with; for example, in Agricola, Proverbs, No. 497. These are the θεοὶ ἀλεξικάκοι, the dii averrunci of the antients. The fourteen saints, to whose churches (between Bamberg and Coburg) thousands still annually make pilgrimages, are the following: 1. Georgius. 2. Blasius. 3. Erasmus. 4. Vitus. 5. Pantaleon. 6. Christophorus. 7. Dionysius. 8. Cyriacus. 9. Achatius. 10. Eustachius. 11. Ægidius. 12. Margaretha. 13. Catharina. 14. Barbara.
[18] J. Agricola. Sybenhundert und fünffzig Teutscher Sprichwörter. No. 497. Seven hundred and fifty German Proverbs. Hagenau, 1537. 8vo. fol. 248.
[19] St. Augustine had already warned the people against committing excesses and singing profane songs at the festival of St. John: “Nec permittamus solemnitatem sanctam cantica luxuriosa proferendo polluere.”—St. Augusti Denkwürdigkeiten aus der Christlichen Archäologie. Vol. III. p. 166. Leipzig. 1820. 8vo. Memorabilia of Christian Archæology.
[20] Wirthwein. Series chronologic. Epistolarum S. Bonifacii ab ann. 716–755. LVII. Concil. Liptinens. p. 131. XV. De igne fricato de ligno, id est, Nodfyr. See Joh. Reiskii. Untersuchung des bei den Alten Teutschen gebräuchlichen heidnischen Nodfyrs, imgleichen des Oster-und Johannis-Feuers. Enquiry respecting the heathen Nodfyrs customary among the ancient Germans, and also the Easter and St. John’s fires. Frankfort, 1696. 8vo.