Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume VI: June. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
June 2
St. Erasmus, Bishop and Martyr
HE suffered torments and a cruel death in the persecution of Dioclesian at Formiæ, in the year 303. St. Gregory the Great testifies that his body remained in that city in the sixth age.1 Formiæ being destroyed by the Saracens in the ninth century, the sacred treasure was translated with the episcopal see to Cajeta, in 842. This saint is corruptly called St. Elmo2 for Ermo, the abbreviation for Erasmus; and he was usually invocated by sailors in the Mediterranean. St. Erasmus is commemorated in the new Paris Breviary, and a portion of his relics is possessed by a nunnery near Gournay, in that diocess, much frequented by pilgrims. See the Bollandists.
