St. Vitus certainly collected an odd variety of patronages. Of course, if we take his legend as written, they are rightly assigned to him, more or less, but the sum of them is odd. He is the saint to protect against (among other things): animal attacks, stormy weather, chorea, epilepsy, and oversleeping. He is also the patron of dancers. He ought to be invoked against abusive parents, but he's not (though I suppose you'd be free to start that if your old man is trying to get you killed).
When Vitus was twelve, his tutor and nurse (Saints Modestus and Crescentia) led him to convert to Christianity. His dad, a Sicilian senator, ordered that they be scourged until they would sacrifice to the Emperor and gods. They refused to sacrifice, of course; instead, an angel freed them from prison so they could flee to Rome.
There, Vitus cured the son of Diocletian, but because he would not participate in the thanksgiving sacrifice, he was again imprisoned. Modestus and Crescentia were tagging along in all this, and are also celebrated today, but I won't mention them again. The Diocletian on legend was one mean son-of-a-bitch. I suspect the guy wasn't as bad in real life, but I have an irrational bias.
The first method of execution was to throw him to starving beasts to be devoured. They declined to dine. Thus, protection against animal attacks.
The second (and successful) method of execution was boiled in oil (deep-fried, really, but we never call it then when referring to people). It killed him, but at the moment of his death, violent storms destroyed several pagan temples in the region. Thus, protection against stormy weather.
Part of the boiling oil ritual was to include a rooster with the victim. In iconography, he is pictured with a rooster, which serves as a rustic alarm clock. Thus, protection against oversleeping.
German Christians had the belief that by dancing around a statue of St. Vitus (see above, looking more like he's meditating in a spa than being deep-fried), they could protect their health for the subsequent year. Apparently the Germans dance like Elaine from Seinfeld, so the saint eventually became associated with disorders that affect movement like chorea and epilepsy.
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