During the chastising period of the Black Death that devastated Europe from 1346-1349 there were many saints that the faithful invoked against the plague and sudden death. Among these were those who a century later would be known as the Fourteen Holy Helpers. (A brief history of the devotion of the Holy Helpers, and the vision that initiated that devotion, is wonderfully related in a little book, The Fourteen Holy Helpers, by Fr. Bonaventure Hammer, O.F.M. A good deal of the material that follows in the bulletins is taken from this book.)

Another 4th-century martyr, St. Blaise’s death is very similar to that of St. George. A bishop in Armenia during a time of Christian persecution, St. Blaise was eventually forced to flee to the forest to avoid death. One day a group of hunters found St. Blaise, arrested him and brought him back to the authorities. At some point after his arrest, a mother with a son who had gotten a fishbone perilously stuck in his throat visited St. Blaise, and at his blessing, the bone dislodged, and the boy was saved. St. Blaise was ordered by the governor of Cappadocia to denounce his faith and sacrifice to pagan gods. He refused and was brutally tortured and eventually beheaded for this offense. He is invoked against diseases of the throat.

A 4th-century bishop of Formia, St. Erasmus (also known as St. Elmo) faced persecution under the emperor Diocletian. According to legend, he fled to Mount Lebanon for a time to escape persecution, where he was fed by a raven. After he was discovered, he was arrested and imprisoned, but made multiple miraculous escapes with the help of an angel. At one point he was tortured by having part of his intestines pulled out by hot rods. Some accounts say he was miraculously healed of these wounds and died of natural causes, while others say that this was the cause of his martyrdom. St. Erasmus is invoked by those suffering from stomach pains and disorders, and by women in labor.

After Saint Denis, he is the next earliest of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, having been martyred under Emperor Trajan in 118. As a pagan, named Placidus, he had been a general in the imperial army. One day, while hunting, he saw an apparition of Christ on the Cross standing between the antlers of a stag. Our Lord told him to become a Christian in order to attain eternal life. His wife, separately, saw the same vision. They both, with their two children, went to the Bishop of Rome, who baptized them all. Placidus, now named Eustace, was recalled to the army by Trajan. He served his post but, after a certain victory, he was asked to offer incense to the gods in thanksgiving. Upon his refusal, he and his family were thrown to the lions. The beasts would do them no harm. He was then put in an oven and burned to death along with his wife. Their bodies, however, remained intact, and they were buried by devout Christians. A church was later built in their honor. Eustace is invoked against fires.

Two cities claim to be the place of her birth: Heliopolis in Egypt and Nicomedia in Asia Minor. Heliopolis is more likely because she was converted by a disciple of Origen who taught near there in Alexandria. On account of the growth of Christianity in that country, her pagan father, Dioscorus, confined her to a tower so she would not hear about Jesus Christ. Barbara was beautiful and virtuous and prayed to know the true God. Somehow she heard about Christ and got a message to Origen asking for his help. He sent her one of his disciples who came to the tower disguised as a physician. After instructing her, the “physician” baptized her. She then professed her faith boldly to her father after destroying whatever idols she could lay her hands on. Her father was enraged. Unable to dissuade her by scourgings, he turned her over to the pagan proconsul Marcian. Her father actually stood by, exulting, while she underwent these horrible torments. When none of the tortures did her harm, her own father took a sword and cut her head off. He and Marcian were punished and died by lightning bolts. She died in 235.  Saint Barbara is invoked against lightning and explosions.

He was a Roman deacon. When persecution broke out under Diocletian Christians were forced into slave labor building what became known as “the Baths of Diocletian.” Cyriacus volunteered to take the place of an old laborer. Renowned in all Rome for virtue even among the pagans, he was summoned by the emperor to cure his daughter who was stricken with blindness. The holy deacon came, and in the Name of Jesus, did just that. From thence, now under the favor of the emperor, he was sent to Persia to cure the daughter of the emperor’s friend King Sapor. With that cure Cyriacus returned to Rome. When Diocletian died, the new emperor, Maximin, intensified the persecution against Christians and threw Cyriacus into prison. The holy deacon, along with his companions, was tortured at the rack after he refused to sacrifice to idols. Finally, together, they were all beheaded.
Cyriacus is invoked against eye diseases.

St. Acacius was a Roman soldier, a captain in the army during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. One day, while on a campaign with his troops, he heard a voice saying, “Call on the God of the Christians.” He responded immediately to this grace. He sought instruction in the Faith and was baptized. After this, he tried to convert those under his command. Hearing of this the emperor cast him into prison, tortured him on the rack, and had him scourged. Having survived this, he was handed over to a tribune named Bibianus. Asked his name he said, “My name is Christian, because I am a follower of Christ.” He was beaten with clubs and, after seven days in another prison, he was transported to Byzantium covered with wounds. While on this journey a consoling voice was heard from the clouds, “Acatius be firm.” The soldiers heard it and were terrified. Many fellow prisoners, who heard the voice, were converted. Finally, after angels healed his wounds, he was beheaded. The year was 303.                              
He is invoked against headaches.
 

Saint Margaret. Another victim of the persecution of Diocletian, Margaret was born in Antioch and raised a Catholic by a devout nurse, for whom, according to one account, she tended sheep. When she returned to her pagan father he, hearing her testify to her Faith and to her vow of virginity, was greatly displeased. A prefect of the city, Alybrius, took a fancy to Margaret and tried to convince her to marry him. When she refused, and said she was espoused to the King of Heaven, he brought her to his court and tried to dispute with her, even citing the Bible, about her “Crucified God.” Margaret answered, “The books of the Christians would have told you that the Crucified rose on the third day, and that He ascended into heaven.” With this rebuke, the prefect had her tortured on the rack and pierced with iron hooks. Then, while she was still living, he cast her into prison to die. Therein, a heavenly light appeared and a celestial visitor came and healed her from her wounds . Alybrius seeing her wounds healed was not moved. He had her tortured again with flaming torches. The fire did her no harm and many, witnessing this miracle, converted. Finally, she was beheaded. The year was 304. Saint Margaret in invoked against kidney diseases.

Saint Catherine’s story is similar to Saint Barbara in that she was a virtuous pagan, daughter, in fact of the Queen of Egypt, Sabinella. Through the    acquaintance of a holy hermit  Catherine learned about the Catholic Faith. She had a vision of Our Lord and Our Lady prior to her baptism, but Our Lord would not receive her until she was baptized. After her baptism, Jesus appeared to her again and put a ring on her finger. After the death of her mother, who died a Christian, the evil Emperor Maximin came to Alexandria and began to persecute the faithful. Catherine was renowned before her conversion for her knowledge of philosophy. Because of her renown and nobility Maximin tried to turn her against the Faith by sending fifty pagan philosophers to refute her publicly in a trial in the pagan temple. Catherine answered them so well that they all converted. Maximin then put her to the torture. She was, like other saintly martyrs, tied to a spiked wheel. When the executioners turned her on the wheel the instrument of torture broke apart. The emperor’s wife, seeing, afterwards, a great light shining in the cell of Catherine, herself converted and died a martyr. Maximin then had Catherine beheaded. Tradition in the East has it that angels buried the saint on Mount Sinai. She was martyred in 307. Saint Catherine is the patron saint of philosophers and is invoked in lawsuits.

 He was from Athens, Greece. He left the city and retired to a remote place in France where he accepted a few other men who desired to live under his direction as monks. Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne, King of the Franks, called him to court as a counselor. He warned the king to confess a certain sin that the king had concealed. After confessing it Charles received peace. Giles returned to his monastic solitude and lived to a ripe old age. He died in 712 and is invoked against crippling diseases. He and Saint Erasmus are the only ones of the Fourteen Holy Helpers who did not die martyrs.