St. Pancras (May 12th)

Of the various saints that we remember this week:

May 11 -- FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Good Shepherd Sunday)

May 12 -- Saints Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs 

May 12 -- Saint Pancras, Martyr

May 12 -- Blessed Francis of Siena, OSM, Religious

May 13 -- Our Lady of Fatima

May 14 -- Saint Matthias, Apostle

May 15 -- Saint Isidore the Laborer, USA


I’ve chosen to write about St. Pancras an early Christian child martyr who was beheaded during the Persecution of Diocletian after he refused to renounce his faith.


I’ve chosen to write about him because both his story and his fame became surprisingly widespread across the Christian world.  


Born around 289 A.D. in Phrygia Salutaris in Asia Minor (the interior of the modern state of Turkey today), to parents who were Roman citizens, he became an orphan by the age of 10.  His uncle brought him back to Rome, and they lived in a villa on Caelian Hill, the hill over from Palatine Hill where the Emperor had his palace.  Both he and his uncle converted to Christianity by the future St. Marcellinus.  Soon afterwards Pankrac’s uncle died as well, leaving him alone.


Soon after that, when Pancras was 14, the Persecution of Diocletian began, and he was rounded up along with other Christians.  Along with the others, he was asked to make (an incense) offering to the Emperor.  He refused.  


Impressed by the youth’s courage, the Emperor promised him riches, if only he would do him homage.  He refused again.  So the Emperor had him beheaded.  


St. Pancras’ story finds clear echoes in the story of St. José del Rio, a popular Mexican saint of the last century.  He too was young,  15 years old, when during the Mexican Revolution Era, under both torture and enticement he refused to renounce his faith ane was finally executed by a firing squad led by his own former 1st Communion Sponsor.  


In widely disparate places – London and Prague – the legacy of St. Pancras has also left its mark as well.  St. Gregory the Great sent the future St. Augustine of Canterbury on his evangelization mission to England with relics of St. Pancras.  An entire London neighborhood was built around the church dedicated to him as well as a famous London railroad station bears his name.. 


In Prague, the neighborhood around the similarly ancient church of St. Pankras, came to take that name, as did the municipal prison which came to be built in that neighborhood.  The prison came to be the location of much suffering under both Nazi Occupation and Communist domination, many victims of totalitarian oppression died, like St. Pancras did, in that prison during those times.


It has also been noted that God called a great deal of the prophets when they were young – Samuel, Jeremiah, Isaiah – when they were young.  Others like both King David and the B.V. Mary herself were called by God when they were young.


Let us always remember that God has a special place for young people and that often enough despite their youth they can teach the rest of us about courage and standing fast to their faith.


St. Pancras, pray for us.

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