**AUSILIATORI**, saints. — This name designates a group of fourteen saints to whose intercession the Christian people customarily have recourse in times of difficulty: Acacius (May 8), Giles (Sept. 1), Barbara (Dec. 4), Blaise (Feb. 3), Christopher (July 25), Cyriacus (Aug. 8), Denis (Oct. 9), Erasmus (June 2), Eustace (Sept. 20), George (Apr. 23), Catherine (Nov. 25), Margaret (July 13), Pantaleon (July 27), Vitus (June 15). In some regions, certain saints are substituted: for example, in place of Denis and Erasmus, Nicholas and Leonard are invoked; instead of St. Pantaleon, St. Roch. In some Italian regions, a fifteenth intercessor is added: St. Magnus, bishop of Oderzo.
The cradle of this devotion seems to have been Germany, from where it spread to other parts of Europe. It is found, in fact, in dioceses of northern Germany (Hildesheim, Breslau, Ermland), as well as in Alsace and Lorraine, Luxembourg, and Bohemia; but especially in Switzerland, the Tyrol, Austria, and Bavaria, where numerous churches and altars dedicated to the A. arose. It also spread to some regions of Italy (Sicily, the province of Brescia, Catanzaro). The time when this devotion arose cannot be precisely determined; the first document mentioning it is a letter from the bishop of Passau dated 1284. It was only in the fourteenth century, however, that it took on great development. According to H. Weber, the reason for this must be attributed to the epidemics that afflicted Europe in that period, especially in the years 1346–49. Blackening of the tongue, drying up of the throat, acute migraines accompanied by fever, the appearance of buboes in the lower abdomen, loss of consciousness, and death often following within a few hours were the characteristic symptoms of these illnesses. In the general desolation that followed, the people began to appeal to the intercession of the A., who had long been invoked: Christopher and Giles against the plague, Denis for migraines, Blaise for throat ailments, Catherine for diseases of the tongue, Erasmus for stomach pains, Barbara for fevers, Cyriacus against demonic attacks, especially at the hour of death, Acacius in the agony of death, and Eustace in difficult situations.
Confirmation of this thesis is found in the fact that hospitals and attached chapels were especially dedicated to the A. Among the most famous shrines must be mentioned that of Vierzehnheiligen (Würzburg), built in 1448, rebuilt in 1743–71 according to the design of B. Neumann and decorated with frescoes by A. Appiani. Subsequently the object of important restorations, this monumental shrine remains, after Altötting, the most popular pilgrimage site in southern Germany.
In the liturgy, the cult of these saints has left its traces in a proper Mass found in ancient missals such as the **Missa de XV Adiutoribus pro quacumque necessitate dicenda** (1466) in the cod. Vat. Palatino 500; other examples are found in the missals of Bamberg (1490), Mainz (1493), Constance (1504), and Isenheim (1516). In 1618 the Congregation of Rites forbade it, prescribing instead the **Missa de communi plurimorum martyrum**. Later, a proper Mass was granted by Leo XIII to the shrine of Lichtenfels (1889) and to the church of the Franciscans in Hammelburg (1890). Art, too, was called upon to express this devotion beloved by the people, with wooden sculptures, paintings and frescoes, altarpieces, etc.
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