Feast day: June 9
Born: 306 - June 9, 373

Some scholars state that Saint Erasmus of Formia is also known as Saint Elmo. Others attest to them being two separate saints. Whatever the case, Saint Elmo was an early martyr and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Legend has it that Saint Elmo was martyred by being disemboweled.

St. Elmo’s Fire, an electrical discharge that sometimes appears over a ship’s mast during an electrical storm, became associated with Saint Elmo because he ignored a bolt of lightning that struck nearby as he was preaching. Sailors who witnessed this phenomenon at sea felt that it was a sign of Saint Elmo’s protection.

Besides his patronage of mariners, Saint Erasmus (or Saint Elmo) is invoked against colic in children, abdominal pain, intestinal ailments and diseases, cramps, and the pain of women in labor, as well as cattle pests.