Profile
Raised by a Christian mother and pagan father, Pantaleon chose Christianity, and became a physician to emperor Maximian. He was a life-long layman and bachelor. At one point he abandoned his faith, and fell in with a worldly and idolatrous crowd. However, he was eventually overcome with grief, and with the help of the priest Hermolaus, he returned to the Church. Pantaleon brought his father to the faith. He gave his fortune to the poor, treated them medically, and never charged. Some of his cures were miraculous, being accomplished by prayer.
Pantaleon was denounced to the anti–Christian authorities by other doctors during the persecutions of Diocletian. At trial, he offered a contest to see whose prayers would cure the incurable – his or the pagan priests’. The pagans failed to help the man, a palsied paralytic, but Pantaleon cured the man by mentioning the name Jesus. Many of the witnesses converted.
The authorities tried to bribe him to denounce the faith, but failed. They then threatened him; that failed. They followed up the threats with torture. When that failed, he was executed. He was a martyr. He was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
Died
- nailed to a tree and beheaded c.305
- a phial of his blood is preserved at Constantinople, and is reported to become liquid and bubble on his feast day
- some relics enshrined at the church of Saint Denis in Paris, France
- some relics enshrined at Lyons, France
Canonized
- Pre-Congregation
Patronage
- against consumption or tuberculosis
- against fatigue
– - bachelors
- doctors
- midwives
- nurses
- physicians
- surgeons
- torture victims
— - in Italy
– Courmayeur
– Crema, city of
– Crema, diocese of
– Dolianova
– Gimillan
– Vallo della Lucania, diocese of
Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-panteleon/
