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Saint Panteleon

detail of a stained glass window of Saint Pantaleon with the child he saved from a viper; date and artist unknown; chapel Notre-Dame, Houppach, Masevaux, Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France; photographed on 31 July 2015 by GFreihaltar; swiped from Wikimedia Commons Also known as

Panteleimon
Pantaleon
Pantaleone

Memorial

27 July
28 July on some calendars
18 February on some calendars
19 February on some calendars

Profile

Raised by a Christian mother and pagan father, Panteleon chose Christian, and became 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. Brought his father to the faith. Gave his fortune to the poor, treated them medically, and never charged. Some of his cures were miraculous, being accomplished by prayer.

Denounced to the anti–Christian authorities by other doctors during the persections 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. Martyr. 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