Fourteen Holy Helpers | |
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Venerated in | Catholic Church |
Feast | 8 August (locally) |
Notable martyrs | Saints Acacius, Barbara, Blaise, Christopher, Cyriacus, Catherine of Alexandria, Denis, Erasmus of Formia, Eustace, George, Giles, Margaret of Antioch, Pantaleon, and Vitus.[1] |
The Fourteen Holy Helpers (German: Vierzehn Nothelfer, Latin: Quattuordecim auxiliatores) are a group of saints venerated together by Catholics because their intercession is believed 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.