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Summary
- St. Pantaleon (Panteleimon in the East) was a physician of Nicomedia martyred about 305 (Catholic Encyclopedia) or 296 (Hapgood); the dramatic stories of his tortures are late legends, but his martyrdom is attested early.
- His link to the lottery is a Naples folk custom: young women prayed to him for nine nights for dowry numbers, and a Neapolitan rhyme asks him for “three numbers.”
- The Catholic Catechism says games of chance are not unjust in themselves but warns of gambling’s “enslavement” (2413) and rejects divination by “lots” (2116); the United Methodist Church opposes gambling in all its forms.
- Six short prayers to God cover daily needs, debt, work, buying a ticket, a gambling problem and a family member who gambles.
- Orthodox hymns to St. Panteleimon and the healing “Unmercenaries” are quoted from the service of Holy Unction in Hapgood’s 1906 translation.
- Gambling helplines: US 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738); UK National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Proverbs 13:11; 30:8; Matthew 6:11; 10:8; Philippians 4:19; 1 Timothy 6:9; Hebrews 13:5). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- Löffler, Klemens. “St. Pantaleon.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11447a.htm
- Orthodox Church in America. “Greatmartyr and Healer Panteleimon.” Lives of the Saints, commemorated July 27. https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/07/27/102111-greatmartyr-and-healer-panteleimon
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. The Office of Holy Unction, pp. 342 and 346; Appendix, notes 5–6, p. 609. https://www.ponomar.net/data/hapgood.pdf
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraphs 2116 and 2413. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7E.HTM and https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P8B.HTM
- The United Methodist Church. “What does the UMC say about gambling?” August 22, 2019. https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-what-is-the-united-methodist-position-on-gambling
- Visit Naples. “Naples, the capital of the Lotto.” https://www.visitnaples.eu/en/neapolitanity/tales-of-naples/naples-the-capital-of-the-lotto
- Buggio, Annunziata. “Il libro magico di San Pantaleone. Il medico santo invocato a Napoli per vincere i numeri al lotto.” Grande Napoli. https://grandenapoli.it/il-libro-magico-di-san-pantaleone-il-medico-santo-invocato-a-napoli-per-vincere-i-numeri-al-lotto/
- National Council on Problem Gambling. “Help and Treatment.” https://www.ncpgambling.org/help-treatment/
- GamCare. “Chat to us now.” https://www.gamcare.org.uk/get-support/talk-to-us-now/
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