Prayer for Abdominal Pains and Stomach Cramps (Also Labour Pains and more)

An interesting saint I discovered today was St. Erasmus of Formia also known as St. Elmo. He is invoked in prayer for those suffering from abdominal pain and stomach cramps. I'll get into why he is the patron of these ailments and maybe talk a little about my theory as to why this is the case.

He is also the patron of women in labor and those with appendicitis. Basically anything to do with abdominal pain in general.

But first of all here is the prayer:

The prayer that I found to St. Elmo speaks of his valiant faith. He maintained this faith in the face of great persecution and suffering. 

Prayer to St. Elmo for those suffering from Abdominal Pains or Stomach Cramps

O God, grand us through the intercession of Your dauntless bishop and martyr St. Erasmus, who so valiantly confessed the Catholic Faith, that we may learn the doctrine of this faith, practice its precepts, and thereby be made worthy to attain its promises. We ask all this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer I composed to St. Elmo for healing:

O Great St. Elmo, Through your powerful intercession, you have brought healing to many of those who suffer from various ailments and pains of the abdomen, the pains of childbirth, those suffering from stomach cramps and many other ailments.

You yourself suffered great persecution and tortures in your holy witness of the Catholic faith. I ask your intercession for the intention of ___________ (state intention). Please intercede for me to God, our loving Father, that he may bring healing in body, mind, and soul. May I follow your example of great faith in the face of adversity and may God bless me with his abundant Grace.

I ask these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Please let me know in the comments below your thoughts on the prayer I composed. It was written in my own words, so please let me know if I am missing anything or if I said anything improperly.

So, back to St. Elmo. St. Erasmus was the bishop of Formia, Compagnia, Italy. During the prosecutions on Christians by Diocletian, he fled to Mount Lebanon to live a life of solitude. It is said he was fed by a raven who visited him. But the emperor discovered his whereabouts and threw St. Elmo in prison and had him tortured.

Let's just think about that for a minute. The emperor was so rabidly and violently opposed to Christians, he sought them out in mountains where they were in seclusion. Sometimes we think we have it bad in our day and age with Christians being persecuted, and we certainly are, but those times were so much worse. However, despite anything these terrible emperors tried to do, they had no impact. In fact, their attempts at stamping out Christianity only made it stronger. So be thankful for prosecutions because as we see in history, it strengthens the faith. The Roman empire no longer exists, but the Church most certainly does. Put your trust in God, not in temporal powers.

Back to the story. St. Erasmus was arrested by Diocletian, but he was able to escape. It is said he did so with the help of an angel.

St. Erasmus moved from Formia to Gaeta, both on the west coast of Italy. Because they were both on the coast, St. Elmo was invoked by sailors for his protection as they frequently visited the ports where he resided. Eventually during storms at sea, sailors would sometimes see electrical discharges. They saw these as indicators of St. Elmo's protection and thus became known as St. Elmo's fire.

According to Wikipedia, St. Elmo's fire is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a corona discharge from a sharp or pointed object in a strong electric field in the atmosphere (such as those generated by thunderstorms or created by a volcanic eruption).

Wow:

.

So eventually St. Elmo was again arrested and executed by the evil emperor. He was disemboweled.

Back to my theory. Why are saints often the patrons of their method of death. My theory is that once a saint dies and is in heaven, they receive a glorified body without any blemish or issue. Technically though, it's the same body they had on Earth, yet it's glorified. This means that their body had to undergo a transformation. The body parts were transformed from diseased and damaged to perfect and without issue, in fact, glorified. Therefore, that particular saint has intimate and holy knowledge as to how God can bring perfect healing both physically and spiritually.

Thanks for reading and until next time. Look forward to all comments!