Peter Gonzalez (1190-1246), popularly known as St. Elmo, joined the
Dominican Order and became a renowned preacher. He accompanied Ferdinand III of Leon on his
expeditions against the
Moors, but his
ambition was to
preach to the
poor. He devoted most of his life to the
conversion of the
ignorant and of the
sailors in
Galicia and along the
coast of
Spain. He lies buried in the cathedral of Tuy. Gonzalez was beatified in 1254 by Innocent IV, but was never formally
canonized. "Elmo" is a diminuitive of Erasmus, and as
St. Erasmus is the patron saint of sailors, the nickname was given to Gonzalez by
Spanish mariners.
Source: The Catholic Encyclopedia