Saints Alive! | St. Pancras of Rome – My Daily Bread: A Reason2bCatholic blog

Feast of Saint Pancras of Rome

(ca. 290-304 A.D.)

We have no reliable historical information about this martyr. Legend tells us he was born at the end of the third century and brought up by an uncle in Rome after the death of his parents. Both he and his uncle became Christians. Saint Pancras (Latin: Sanctus Pancratius) was a Roman citizen who converted to Christianity, and was beheaded for his faith at the age of fourteen, around the year 304 during the Diocletian persecution. His name is Greek (Πανκράτιος) and means “the one that holds everything”.

St. Pancras is especially venerated in England because Augustine of Canterbury dedicated his first church to Pancras and his relics were presented as a gift to the king of Northumberland. A district in Central and North West London is named St. Pancras after him. A banner with a depiction of the Roman martyr is in Old Saint Pancras church in London. St Pancras railway station also known as London St Pancras and, officially since 2007, as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus. The station’s name comes from the St. Pancras neighborhood, which originates from the fourth-century Christian boy martyr Pancras of Rome.