St. Pachomius was born in the town of Thebes. His parents were pagans and he was brought up in their erroneous religion. Although he was a pagan, he never yielded to the crimes that his fellow pagans committed. He wanted to lead a good life, as best as he knew how. God was soon to reward Pachomius’ good will by showing him the true Faith.

When Pachomius was about twenty years old, the Emperor raised an army for the defense of his Empire in the East. Many young men were compelled against their will to join the army. Pachomius was one of these drafted soldiers.

He was put on board a ship along with other soldiers, and sent away to a distant country. Their ship reached its first destination, and the soldiers went onto the land. As Divine Providence would have it, everyone who lived in this place was Catholic.

These good people soon heard that the soldiers had been forced to leave their homes, to go and fight in a foreign country. The Catholic inhabitants were filled with compassion for them, and tried to give them every consolation they could. They helped the young soldiers by many acts of kindness.

Pachomius had never seen such goodness among the pagans, and was at first filled with astonishment.

One day he asked someone, who were these people that were so kind to them.

“They are Catholics,” was the reply.

Pachomius had never heard of Catholics, so he asked:

“Who are they?”

“They are people who believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, and who make it a practice to do all the good they can to others, even to strangers.”

“And who is to reward them for their generosity?” asked Pachomius.

“They look for no reward in this world,” was the answer; “they expect to receive it from their God in another world, where they hope to go when they die.”

Pachomius said to himself: “The religion which can make people do as they have done must indeed be true.”

Then, touched by the grace of God, and inspired by Him, Pachomius said this prayer: “O my God, Creator of Heaven and earth, look on me with an eye of pity, and free me from my misery. Teach me the way of pleasing You, for from this time to the end of my life, my only desire shall be to please You.”

From that day forward, when a temptation would come to encourage him to sin, he remembered his promise to God, and overcame the temptation.

When the war was ended, he returned home. But very soon he left home again to begin another kind of warfare, under the service of a greater King. He became a Catholic, and the founder of a community of holy men. These men, following his example, left the world to serve God in silence and prayer.

The good Catholics at that port never would have guessed that their simple but earnest works of charity would have had such an effect. Their kindness and good example resulted in a convert, a founder of a religious community, and, most of all, a saint.