Saint Pancras

According to his ancient tradition, Pancras was an orphan from Phrygia or Syria who came to Rome with his uncle and there became a Christian. During the persecution of Diocletian, at about fourteen years of age, he refused to sacrifice to the gods and was beheaded on the Via Aurelia around 304. A Christian woman buried his body in a nearby cemetery.

His tomb became one of the most visited in Rome, and in the sixth century a basilica was built over it, rebuilt by Pope Honorius I in the seventh century. Pope Gregory the Great sent relics of Pancras to England with Saint Augustine of Canterbury, who dedicated one of the first churches in Canterbury to him; the London district and railway station of St Pancras are named after a church dedicated to him. Because of his youth and steadfastness, he was invoked as a guardian of oaths and truthfulness.

In Spain and parts of Latin America, San Pancracio is the beloved patron of health and work: many homes and shops keep a small statue of him with a sprig of parsley, and devotees ask him for "salud y trabajo." In Rome, the Basilica of San Pancrazio on the Janiculum keeps his tomb.