Everything about The Fourteen Holy Helpers totally explained
The
Fourteen Holy Helpers are a group of
saints
venerated together in
Roman Catholicism because their
intercession was thought to be particularly effective, especially against various
diseases. This group of
Nothelfer ("helpers in need") originated in the
14th century at first in the
Rhineland, largely as a result of the
epidemic (probably of
bubonic plague) that became known as the
Black Death.
History of veneration
Devotion to the fourteen "Auxiliary Saints" began in
Rhineland, now part of
Germany, in the time of the Black Death.
At the heart of the fourteen were three virgin martyrs:
Sankt Margaretha mit dem Wurm,
Sankt Barbara mit dem Turm,
Sankt Katharina mit dem Radl,
das sind die heiligen drei Madl.
Saint Margaret with the dragon
Saint Barbara with the tower
Saint Katharine with the wheel
those are the three holy maids.
As the other saints began to be invoked along with these three virgin martyrs, they were represented together in artwork. Popular veneration of these saints often began in a monastery that held their relics. All of the saints except Giles were martyrs.
Saint Christopher and Saint Giles were invoked against the plague itself. Saint Denis was prayed to for relief from headache, Saint Blaise for ills of the throat, Saint Elmo, for abdominal maladies, Saint Barbara for the febrile, and Saint Vitus against epilepsy. Saint Pantaleon was the patron of physicians, Saint Cyriacus invoked against temptation on the deathbed, and Saints Christopher, Barbara, and Catherine for protection against a sudden and unprovided death. Saint Giles was prayed to for a good confession, and Saint Eustace as patron of family troubles. Domestic animals were also attacked by the plague, and so Saints George, Elmo, Pantaleon, and Vitus were invoked for their protection. Saint Margaret of Antioch is the patron of safe childbirth. When that calendar was revised in 1969, the individual celebrations of Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, Christopher, and Margaret of Antioch were dropped, but in 2004
Pope John Paul II reinstated the
25 November optional memorial of Catherine of Alexandria, whose voice was heard by Saint
Joan of Arc. The individual celebrations of all fourteen are included in the
General Roman Calendar as in 1954.
Comparable to the cult of the Fourteen Holy Helpers was that of the
Four Holy Marshals, who were also venerated in the Rhineland as "marshals of God". These were
Quirinus of Neuss,
Saint Anthony the Great,
Pope Cornelius, and
Saint Hubert.
The auxiliary saints
The fourteen saints are:
For one or another of the saints in the original set,
Anthony the Anchorite,
Leonard of Noblac,
Nicholas,
Sebastian,
Oswald the King,
Pope Sixtus II,
Apollonia,
Dorothea of Caesarea,
Wolfgang of Regensburg or
Roch were sometimes substituted. In France an extra "helper" is added, the
Virgin Mary.
The Basilica of the Vierzehnheiligen
The Fourteen Holy Helpers are honored in
Bavaria as the
vierzehn Heiligen, and the Basilica of the Vierzehnheiligen is dedicated to these "helper saints." The
Rococo pilgrimage church in the hamlet of
Bad Staffelstein was designed by
Balthasar Neumann and built between 1743 and 1772.
Devotion to these saints began in that region on
24 September 1445 when Hermann Leicht, the young shepherd of a nearby Franciscan monastery, saw a crying child in a field that belonged to the nearby
Cistercian monastery of Langheim. As he bent down to pick up the child, it abruptly disappeared. A short time later, the child reappeared in the same spot. This time, two candles were burning next to it. In June 1446, Leicht saw the child a third time. This time, the child bore a red cross on its chest and was accompanied by thirteen other children. The child said: "We are the fourteen helpers and wish to erect a chapel here, where we can rest. If you'll be our servant, we'll be yours!" Shortly after, Leicht saw two burning candles descending to this spot. It is alleged that miraculous healings soon began, through the intervention of the fourteen saints.
The Cistercian brothers to whom the land belonged erected a chapel, which immediately attracted pilgrims. An altar was consecrated as early as 1448. Pilgrimages to the Vierzehnheiligen continue to the present day between May and October.
Depiction in culture
One of the most famous group depictions of the "Fourteen Saints" is a 1503
altarpiece by
Matthias Grünewald for the monastery in
Lichtenfels in
Upper Franconia.
The "fourteen angels" of the lost children's prayer in
Engelbert Humperdinck's "
fairy opera"
Hansel und Gretel are the Fourteen Helpers. The English words are familiar:
Gallery
Image:14helpers.jpg|The first panel of the Grünewald altarpiece
Image:14helpers2.jpg|The second panel
Further Information
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