was the bad
example of the impious, idolatrous courtiers with whom the young
physician associated. He was seduced by them and abandoned the Faith.
But the grace of God called him, and he obeyed.

Hermolaus, a zealous priest, by prudent exhortation awakened Pantaleon's
conscience to a sense of his guilt, and brought him back into the fold
of the Church. Henceforth he devoted himself ardently to the advancement
of the spiritual and temporal welfare of his fellow-citizens. First of
all he sought to convert his father, who was still a heathen, and had
the consolation to see him die a Christian. He divided the ample fortune
which he inherited amongst the poor and the sick. As a physician, he was
intent on healing his patients both by physical and by spiritual means.
Christians he confirmed in the practice and confession of the Faith, and
the heathens he sought to convert. Many suffering from incurable
diseases were restored to health by his prayer and the invocation of the
holy name of Jesus. His presence was everywhere fraught with blessings
and consolation.

St. Pantaleon yearned to prove his fidelity to the Faith by shedding his
blood for it, and the opportunity came to him when his heathen
associates in the healing art denounced him to the emperor as a zealous
propagator of Christianity. He was brought up before the emperor's
tribunal and ordered to sacrifice to the idols. He replied: "The God
whom I adore is Jesus Christ. He created heaven and earth, He raised the
dead to life, made the blind see and healed the sick, all through the
power of His word. Your idols are dead, they can not do anything. Order
a sick person to be brought here, one declared incurable. Your priests
shall invoke their idols for him and I shall call on the only true God,
and we shall see who is able to help him." The proposal was accepted. A
man sick with the palsy was brought, who could neither walk nor stand
without help. The heathen priests prayed for him, but in vain. Then
Pantaleon prayed, took the sick man by the hand, and said: "In the name
of Jesus, the Son of God, I command thee to rise and be well." And the
palsied man rose, restored to perfect health.

By this miracle a great number of those present were converted. But the
emperor and the idolatrous priests were all the more enraged. Maximin
now attempted to gain Pantaleon by blandishments and promises to deny
the Faith, but without success. Then he had recourse to threats, and as
th