Erasmus or Elmo is also one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, saintly figures of Christian religion who are venerated especially as intercessors.

The Acts of Saint Elmo were partly compiled from legends that confuse him with a Syrian bishop Erasmus of Antioch.

Jacobus de Voragine in the Golden Legend credited him as a bishop at Formia over all the Italian Campania, as a hermit on Mount Lebanon, and a martyr in the Diocletianic Persecution.

During the persecution against Christians under the emperors Diocletian (284–305) and Maximian Hercules (286–305), he left his diocese and went to Mount Libanus, where he hid for seven years.

This resulted in a number of baptisms, which drew the attention of the Western Roman Emperor Maximian who, according to Voragine, was "much worse than was Diocletian."

[7] The skull of St. Erasmus, venerated as a relic, is purported to be in St. Peter's Church in Munich, Germany and some parts of his body are around in Europe .