St. Panteleimon the Healer

Panteleimon was a young doctor of Nicomedia trained in the best medicine of his day. A priest named Hermolaus taught him the faith, and he was baptized after he raised a child bitten by a snake by calling on Christ. From then on he treated everyone free of charge, which is why the Church calls him an Unmercenary physician, and many were healed by his prayers. Jealous doctors denounced him to the emperor Maximian. After many tortures he was beheaded under an olive tree, which by tradition burst into fruit. He is the patron of doctors and the sick.

• Feast: July 27 (New Calendar)
• Lived: died 305
• Place: Nicomedia