Sacred City - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 92

Pardus the Hermit had, in his youth, worked as a trader. Due to the traumatic experience of witnessing a boy die under the feet of Pardus' camel fleet, and from fear of retribution, he fled into hiding and took monastic vows. Bearing great feelings of guilt for the death of the boy, Pardus decided to give himself up in an act of extreme penance and offer himself, defenceless, to be eaten by a lion. After repeated provocations the lion simply ignored the saint and refused to eat him. With this the monk concluded that God, in his love and grace, had certainly forgiven him of any wrong he may have done. Pardus then returned to his dwelling at Mount Arion to live out the rest of his life in asceticism and prayer, dying in the 6th century.