Collect: God our Father and protector, without you nothing is holy, nothing has value. Guide us to everlasting life by helping us to use wisely the blessing you have given to the world. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. St. Pantaleon, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, was a physician, who practiced without payment, and who was martyred under Diocletian. His cultus is primarily connected with Bithynia, where Emperor Justinian rebuilt his church at Nicomedia. Churches are dedicated to him in Constantinople and Rome. In the East he is known as the Great Martyr and Wonder Worker. A reputed relic of Pantaleon's blood kept at Ravello in southern Italy displays the phenomenon of liquefaction on his feast day, similar to that of Saint Januarius. Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar his feast was celebrated today.
St. Pantaleon Because of his Christian faith he was seized by order of Emperor Maximian, tied to the rack and scorched with torches. But in these tortures Christ appeared, granting him further strength. Finally a stroke of the sword ended his sufferings (Martyrology). He is the patron of physicians and belongs to the "Fourteen Holy Helpers." Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch Patron: bachelors; consumption; doctors; midwives; physicians; torture victims; tuberculosis; protection of domestic animals. Symbols: Budding olive branch or olive tree; vials of medicine; lion; club; sword and vase. Things to Do:
Daily Readings for: July 27, 2010
(Readings on USCCB website)
ACTIVITIES
PRAYERS
27th Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time Old Calendar: St. Pantaleon, martyr
He was a celebrated "fee-less physician" from Nicomedia who placed his skill in the service of God's kingdom! According to legend he was the emperor's ordinary physician. He is said to have strayed from the faith because of the voluptuous life at the court, but the zealous priest Hermolaus, by pointing out the example of his virtuous mother, effected such a change that Pantaleon distributed his goods among the poor and devoted his talents for healing to the most wretched and poor among the sick.