St. Pancras

Their story

Pancras was a teenage boy, only about fourteen years old, who gave his life for Christ in Rome around the year 304, during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian. He was honored as a martyr from early times, and a church was built over his tomb on the Via Aurelia, on the edge of the city. The church of San Pancrazio still stands there today. According to the stories handed down, Pancras was an orphan from Asia Minor who came to Rome with his uncle. There they both became Christians. When the persecution came, the young Pancras was arrested and brought before the authorities. Though he was offered rewards and threatened with death, he refused to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods, and he was beheaded. Devotion to Pancras spread far beyond Rome. Pope St. Gregory the Great is said to have sent relics of the young martyr with St. Augustine of Canterbury when he went to England, and several old English churches bear his name, including the one that gave its name to St. Pancras station in London. In the Middle Ages people prayed to him as a witness to oaths, believing no one would dare swear falsely in his name. He is a patron of children and young people, and a reminder that even the young can be heroes of faith.