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Fourteen Holy Helpers During medieval times, particularly during the Black Plague, devotion arose for the Fourteen Holy Helpers or Auxiliary Saints. This lists the saints and their patronage. DIRECTIONSThe Fourteen "Auxiliary Saints" or "Holy Helpers" are a group of saints invoked because they have been efficacious in assisting in trials and sufferings. Each saint has a separate feast or memorial day, and the group was collectively venerated on August 8, until the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, when the feast was dropped. These saints were often represented together. Popular devotion to these saints often began in some monastery that...

While visiting Catholic Bamberg, we have already made a little excursion to Banz Abbey, about half an hour North of Bamberg in the upper valley of the River Main. As mentioned then, opposite Banz on the other side of the Main valley is the famous Shrine of the Fourteen Holy Helpers - Vierzehnheiligen - which we visit today. It is one of the chief works of one of, if not the most important German baroque architects, Balthasar Neumann. The church is built around the site of a series of apparitions. On 24 September 1445, Hermann Leicht, the young shepherd of...