Saint’s head goes for €3,500 at auction

THE reputed head of a 14th-century Italian saint was sold for €3,500 at an auction in Co Meath yesterday.

St Vitalis of Assisi was a Benedictine hermit and following his death in 1370 he became known as the patron saint of those suffering from genital disease.

According to legend the monk had lived a sex-filled youth but then repented and in a bid to atone for his sins went on many pilgrimages to shrines and other holy places in Italy and Europe before spending the rest of his life in poverty near Assisi.