In our country, St. Vitus were the protector of the eyes and the human sight, and that was possible only in South-slavenic languages where the St. Vitus sees or "vidi" (in Croatian language), and therefore his name is Vitus or Vid and not Vit, Veit, Vito, Guido or Guy.
The iconography presents him as a young man with a palm-leaf, in a kettle, sometimes with a raven and a lion. The youthful character of St. Vitus in a kettle is his oldest iconography motive, and it also became the motive of the oldest city heraldic device of Town Rijeka.
St. Vitus became the protector of City of Rijeka, and the middle-aged Rijeka was called after him as "Rika of the St. Vitus", or in latin "Terra Fluminis sancti Viti".

City of Rijeka is protected by St. Vitus, and his name was also chiselled in the seal of the town and in human hearts. Shipps were sailing under his flag, and the gates were decorated with his figure.
The Church of St. Vitus was in the period of the middle age a small and one-sided, romanic church with semi-circular apse behind the alter and covered porch. With the arrival of the Jesuits in Rijeka, it became the jesuit´s church. In 1925. Rijeka became the center of the diocese, and in 1969. the center of the archbishopric and metropolit. The representative jesuit´s Church of St. Vitus became the Cathedral of Rijeka.

The famous legend was bounded with the miracle crucifixion of St. Vitus which is located in the Cathedral, and tells how Peter Loncarevic has played cards with two of his friends infront of the Church of St. Vitus, where the crucifixion for the public reverence was located. The play hasn´t brought him luck, so he had reached for a stone very angry and thrown it on the left side of the crucifixion. All present were horrified because from the strucked statue came blood, and under the feet of the blasphemer the earth had opened and swallowed him leaving his pagan arm on the surface.

The Governer Baron Rauber who governed in that time, has ordered to burn the hand on the square in public, and as a remembrance to the accident, he gave orders to make a brazen arm and put it down in front of the crucifixion.
The stone which was thrown by the blasphemer lies still on the left side of the crucifixion with the inscription "Huis lapidis ictu percurssus est Crucifixus! Anno Domini 1227" (The crucified was hit with this stone in 1227).

The St. Vitus of Rijeka is in the oldest creation still preserved on the square in front of the Church of St. Jeronimus, where it was built in stone in 1509 on a flag´s stoned-pillar. There is a fine young gentleman, aristocrat and knight, who carries a martyr´s palm leaf in one hand and City of Rijeka in the other hand.

The Celebration of St. Vitus was in Rijeka always a holiday. As the time passed, this Celebrities became popular and the celebration of the protecter has changed. The procession was followed by music from Duomo towards the Church of the town´s patrone where the mass was held. Also, a public party was organized in the city-park on Mlaka (Giardino publico) every year.
The mixture of the church and public while adoring St. Vitus in Rijeka, can be seen by every step.

Rijeka has shown through numerous activities of the church, culture, sport, technique and entertainment, that it is a mediterranean City recognizable according to its protecter, Patronate and Saint. It has also revived the Festum Cori or the internal church´s celebration which is entirely organized by the clergy and which starts with three-day masses and ends with a procession and great celebration mass on Grivice, and also with Festum Cori or the external public part of the celebration.