Saint Pantaleon

Martyr and Physician
(died c. 305)

Saint Pantaleon is one of the most widely venerated martyrs of the early Church in the East, numbered among the Holy Unmercenary Physicians, those early Christian saints who practised medicine without charging fees as a form of apostolic witness. He was born at Nicomedia in Bithynia, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire in the time of Diocletian, and his name means something like the entirely compassionate or the lion in everything. His mother was a Christian who died when he was young, and his father, a wealthy pagan, had him educated in medicine under the famous physician Euphrosinos.

During his medical training Pantaleon came into contact with the priest Hermolaus, who completed the Christian education his mother had begun, and he returned fully to the faith of his baptism, giving up a lucrative court appointment and the favour of the Emperor in order to serve the poor freely. He is said to have healed a blind man by invoking the name of Christ, which led to his father's conversion before the old man's death.

When the Diocletianic persecution broke out in earnest, Pantaleon was denounced to the authorities by fellow physicians who envied his success and popularity. He was brought before the Emperor, who had known him personally, and subjected to every kind of pressure to apostatise. He refused absolutely, and was subjected to a series of tortures from which he emerged miraculously unharmed, an outcome that led to the conversion of many who witnessed his passion. He was finally beheaded, and his blood is said to have turned to milk at the moment of his death.

His relics were brought to the West and venerated in many cities. A phial said to contain his blood, preserved at Ravello in southern Italy and in other locations, is reported to liquefy on his feast day, July 27th, in a phenomenon similar to that associated with Saint Januarius at Naples. He is the patron of physicians and medical workers and is invoked against headaches and for healing.