The Erasmus I am posting about died in 303 as a martyr. Before he died he was imprisoned, tortured, beaten, starved, tarred, set on fire and finally disemboweled.
Whew!
It's because he was set on fire and lived he was known as St. Elmo. The name means loving protector. Erasmus was bishop of Formio, Italy and loved and protected his people so much that he was nick-named, Elmo, Italian for protector.
Sailors in particular, are protected by St. Elmo, besides firefighters. Why sailors? Because lightening causes fires and sailors don't want their ships to be hit by lightening and cause a fire. Picture the sail boat on the water. What's the highest thing on the surface of the water? Answer--the ship's mast. So sailors asked St. Elmo to protect them from lightening. BTW, the expression St. Elmo's fire refers to heat lightning which can cause a fire.
Also since St. Elmo suffered death by disembowelment, he's also the intercessor who would understand the pain of those who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome.
Seems to me that he would be the go to guy for a lot of concerns.
picture from Britannica.com
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