WHO IS ST. VEIT?

I know- I asked myself the same question. So OF COURSE I Googled him! Turns out he's quite famous in Europe. Turns out he is the patron saint of pharmacists, restauranters, brewers, coopersmiths, dancers and actors, young people, the pets of Bohemia, Prague, Saxony and Sicily. The bones of St. Veit when accessible were said to help with cramps, epilepsy, rabies, bed-wetting and snakebites. (Seriously- I am not making this up). He was apparently raised in the Christian faith by his nurse Crescentia and her husband Modestus. When his father found out he was Christian, he was furious- but St. Veit remained steadfast in his faith and allegedly began to work miracles. When the Roman Emperor Diocletian (remember I presented a little number on us seeing his baths in Rome!)-- anyway, when he found out- he brought Veit to Rome to remove an evil spirit from the Emperor's son. Veit did remove the spirit, but then Diocletian demanded that he give up his Christian faith and worship the pagan gods. Veit again refused. (As far as I can see from my last few weeks the Roman's were VERY big on trying to get people to do this and the Christians just repeatedly REFUSED!). So Diocletian threw him to lions, only the lions lay down in front of him and licked his feet. Finally, Diocletian had him thrown into boiling oil along with his nurse and her husband- however an angel rescued them, and flew them back to Lucania in Southern Italy where their remains were buried. St. Veit is known more commonly in Europe as St. Vitus and infact one of the large cathedrals in Prague is named after him. Here he is as we saw him today in St. Veit, Austria!