St. Pantaleon, Patron Saint of Doctors and one of the ‘Fourteen Holy Helpers’, practiced medicine in Nicomedia, present-day Turkey, without receiving any recompense for his work.  Faced with martyrdom, he demonstrated remarkable faith.

Newsdesk (11/11/2024 12:11, Gaudium Press) St. Pantaleon was the son of a wealthy pagan who lived in Nicomedia. His mother, who was a Christian, died at an early age. His father obliged him to study medicine.

Pantaleon used to pass by the house of the priest Hermolaus on his way to his master’s house. Because of the young man’s constant presence, St. Hermolaus analyzed him and was enchanted by the serenity of his gaze and the dignity of his bearing.

From the boy’s features, Hermolaus judged him to be a vessel of election. One day, Hermolaus finally called him, wanting to know more about his origins. The young man replied that he was a pagan, but revealed that his mother wanted him to become a Christian, something that appealed to him very much. However, his father wanted him to follow the official religion, as he had ambitions to see his son build a career in the palace.

Hermolaus then asked what science Pantaleon was studying.

Pantaleon, who expressed himself poetically instead of saying medicine, responded:

‘The science of Aesculapius, Hippocrates and Galen, and my master assures me that if I master it well, I will be able to cure all diseases.’

The priest, taking the opportunity to show him the illusion of such an idea, pointed him to the one true doctor, Jesus Christ: He is the one who, even today, makes His followers invincible, consoles them in persecution and cheers their hearts in the midst of so many difficulties. He not only answers our prayers, but knows our desires, and grants those He loves the power to perform miracles and gives them eternal life.

Pantaleon was convinced and began to be instructed in the faith. One day, as he was returning from his medical lesson, he came across a dead child who had been bitten by a viper. The reptile was still there, as if to give evidence of his guilt. After a brief moment of fear, the young man thought it was an excellent opportunity to prove what Hermolaus had told him. In the name of Christ, he ordered the child to get up and that the viper himself suffer the death it had inflicted. At the same moment, everything happened just as he had asked.

Fully convinced, St. Pantaleon converted his father.

The impressive cures he performed in the name of Jesus Christ provoked the envy of other doctors, who denounced him as a Christian before Emperor Galerius, who then ordered his arrest. He was subjected to terrible torture.

He was initially sentenced to burn, but the flames were extinguished. He was then immersed in molten lead, but surprisingly the metal cooled around him. So he was then thrown into the sea with a stone tied round his neck and, to everyone’s amazement, the stone began to float. Faced with the ferocious beasts that were supposed to tear him apart, they remained peaceful at his feet, refusing to attack him. Even when he was tied to a wheel, the chains inexplicably loosened…

Faced with the impossibility of making St. Pantaleon renounce his faith in Jesus, he was tied to a withered tree and finally his life was ended with the cutting off of his head.

There are relics of the blood shed by St. Pantaleon during his martyrdom, which are located in Madrid, Constantinople and Ravello, near Naples. The liquefaction of St. Pantaleon’s blood is similar to what happens to the blood of St. Januarius in Naples. 

May Our Lady give us the faith of St. Pantaleon!

The post Patron Saint of Doctors — He put his Faith in the One True Doctor appeared first on Gaudium Press English Edition.

Compiled by Roberta MacEwan