Erasmus, Saint

Erasmus, Saint (commonly called Elmo, also Ermo), was bishop of some see near Antioch, and is said to have returned to Firmiae, in Campania, and then to have suffered martyrdom under Diocletian. The acts of this saint, given by the Romanists, are entirely apocryphal. It is pretended that the body of Erasmus was preserved at Gaeta, with the exception of some parts which were given to the monastery of Mt. Coelius at Rome, and some to those of St. Orestes. St. Erasmus is invoked by the sailors on the Mediterranean against tempest and other danger, and for this reason they have given his name to an electric phenomenon which often appears on top of the masts of vessels during a storm. He is also the patron saint against the stomach- ache, on the tradition that he suffered martyrdom by evisceration. He is commemorated June 2 (or 3). See Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art, page 699.