St. Paul of Tarsus

(d. c. 67) F Apostle of the Gentiles. One of the greatest theologians, writers, and missionaries in the history of the Church, he was born in the town of Tarsus, in the Roman province of Cilicia. Known originally as Saul, he was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin but also possessed Roman citizenship. While in Tarsus, he studied Greek and Latin and was raised as a Pharisee (Acts 26:5). He was sent at some time to Jerusalem where he studied “at the feet of Gamaliel” the famed rabbi (Acts 22:3), coming to appreciate the Torah and forging what were strong ties to Jerusalem. Paul was thus the recipient of an excellent education and a solid scriptural foundation so that he would be without question the most erudite and learned figure in the early Church.

After returning to Tarsus almost certainly before Christ’s public ministry, he first encountered the faith several years after the Crucifixion, by which time the Church had been established in the Holy City. Saul was an inveterate enemy of the creed and was present in the year 36 at the martyrdom of St. Stephen; he guarded the clothes of those who stoned Stephen and “was consenting to his death” (Acts 7:58–8:1). He was “still breathing threats and murder against the disciples” (Acts 9:1) when he set out for Damascus to arrest Christians. On his way he received his famed conversion, an event described in three places in the Acts of the Apostles (9:1–19, 22:5–16, and 26:12–18). For Paul — as he was soon called (Acts 13:9) — the theological encounter with the light could not have been greater. With overwhelming clarity, Paul understood that the Jesus whom those he persecuted worshiped was God. This identification changed his life and influenced every element of Pauline theology.

Left blind by the light, Paul was taken to Damascus where he sat in darkness for three days. Baptized by the imposition of hands by Ananias (9:17), Paul accepted the spiritual and the intellectual challenge offered to him by God and had restored his sight. Departing Damascus (an event described in Galatians 1:17 but mentioned in Acts), Paul spent several years in Arabia in prayer and meditation. He then returned to Damascus and began preaching the faith. Owing to the danger of being seized by the governor of King Aretas of Nabataea and the murderous intentions of the local Jews (Acts 9:23–25; 2 Cor. 11:32), Paul made a secret escape from the city, lowered down a wall in a basket.

Meeting with St. Peter in Jerusalem, where Barnabas testified on his behalf to the suspicious disciples, Paul spoke “boldly in the name of the Lord,” and then went to Caesarea and Cilicia (Acts 9:30; Gal 1:21–24). After several more years, perhaps c. a.d. 45, Paul was at Antioch where the Holy Spirit declared: “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2). A short time later, Paul and Barnabas, along with Mark, set out on what is called the First Missionary Journey. They sailed to Cyprus and then to Asia Minor where, to Paul’s disappointment, Mark left their company. It was on the early part of this journey that Paul assumed the leadership in the missionary activity, his name changing from Saul to Paul in this part of the narrative. He preached and founded Christian communities in Antioch, Pisidia, Iconium, and elsewhere. By custom, he began with the Jewish inhabitants, speaking at the local synagogue, but he devoted great effort to the Gentiles who were routinely receptive to his words: “they were glad and glorified the word of God” (Acts 13:48). At Lystra, where he cured a cripple, Paul and Barnabas were revered by the crowd as gods (Acts 14:8–18). His labors also caused local disturbances, and at one point he was stoned by a mob and left for dead (Acts 14:19). Nevertheless, the return of Paul and Barnabas to Antioch (c. 49) brought with it Paul’s joyous declaration that the Gentiles were eager for conversion and that “he had opened a door of faith” to them (Acts 14:27).

St. Paul, however, did not find the entire Christian community overjoyed at his news and there followed the often bitter episode over the adherence of Gentile converts to Jewish precepts such as those governing eating and especially circumcision. Paul disagreed with those who believed that all members of the community should adhere to Jewish custom, since he saw such practices as not essential to salvation (he declared, for example, that circumcision had been replaced by Christ with baptism), and a hindrance to new Gentile conversions. The controversy was resolved in his favor by the Council of Jerusalem around 49 and, henceforth, Paul was the foremost missionary to the pagan world. (See also Circumcision Controversy; Jerusalem, Council of; and Judaizers.)

Around 50, Paul set out on the Second Missionary Journey, an undertaking begun with Silas that lasted some five years. He traveled to Tarsus and then revisited the churches of Asia Minor. Timothy joined him at Lystra (Acts 16:1–3). It is possible that at this time he converted the Galatians (see also Galatians, Epistle to the). His hopes of preaching in Bithynia were somehow circumvented and, instead, Paul was told in a vision to go to Macedonia. He crossed the Hellespont and thus brought the faith into Europe. Reaching Philippi, he made his first convert, a Macedonian named Lydia, who came from Thyatira (Acts 16:14–15), in whose house he stayed. Imprisoned briefly for exorcising a slave girl of a “spirit of divination” (Acts 16:16–18), Paul journeyed to Thessalonika, Beroea, and then Athens In Athens he encountered Greek philosophers, including Stoics and Epicureans. They listened to his words but were largely unmoved (Acts 17:16–34), and Paul moved on to Corinth. He stayed there for some time, well over a year, firmly establishing the Christian community there. Leaving Greece, he sailed to Palestine and met with the Apostles in Jerusalem.

The Third Missionary Journey began soon after (around 55). He paid another visit to Asia Minor and then went to Ephesus, staying for two years and teaching in the “hall of Tyrannus” (Acts 19:8–10). Numerous converts were made, and Paul most likely spent part of the time in neighboring areas, such as Philadelphia, Colossa, and Laodicea. While at Ephesus, he also wrote his first letter to the Corinthians. His departure proved necessary owing to the riot of silversmiths upset at the shrinking business in the shrine of the goddess Diana.

Going in 57 to Philippi, in Macedonia, he authored his letter to the Galatians and his second letter to the Corinthians. Proceeding to Corinth, he wrote his magnificent letter to the Romans, but he kept his sojourn a short one, his intention being to gather money to relieve the hunger now afflicting the mother Church of Jerusalem (Rom 15:25–26; 1 Cor 16:3). Traveling home, he met the elders of the Church at Ephesus in Miletus, bidding them a tearful farewell tinged with the premonition of imprisonment and martyrdom (Acts 20:17–37).

Back in Jerusalem, he was attacked by his Jewish enemies, beaten by a mob, and rescued from death only by a squad of Roman soldiers. Subsequently brought before the Sanhedrin (Acts 22:30–23:10) on charges of bringing Gentiles into the Temple, he skillfully divided the council by noting his own origins as a Pharisee. Enjoying the rights of a Roman citizen, he was sent to Caesarea for trial before the governor. The procurator Felix put him in prison for two years (58–60), and the trial was held only under Felix’s successor Porcius Festus. Paul, as was his right, appealed to Caesar; so off to Rome he went, after meeting and much impressing King Herod Agrippa. Under Roman guard, he sailed for Rome and was shipwrecked on the island of Malta (Acts 27–28), eventually reaching the Eternal City. Here he was warmly received by the city’s Christians and permitted to reside, at his own expense, for two years in a house. He wrote his letters to the Colossians, the Philippians, Philemon, and perhaps the Ephesians (the so-called Captivity Epistles) while in Rome. When finally tried, he was acquitted.

His remaining life is quite obscure, the chronology reconstructed from tradition and his later letters. He probably visited Spain and then perhaps revisited Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, and Crete. Arrested again, he was taken back to Rome, kept in close confinement, and apparently knew his death was imminent, as is clear from his second letter to Timothy (in particular 4:6–8). He was martyred around 67 by Emperor Nero, most likely beheaded as reported by Tertullian. According to the apocryphal Acts of St. Paul, his place of martyrdom was on the left bank of the Tiber; he was said to have been buried in a cemetery on the Via Ostia owned by a Christian named Lucina, the site where the Basilica of S. Paolo Fuori le Mure (St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls) was built.

St. Paul had a genuinely colossal role in the formation of Christian theology through his Epistles, written in the very drama of the moment during his eventful and so fruitful missionary endeavors. His letters comprise approximately one-third of the NT and provide vibrant testimony to his extensive conception of the great divine plan of the Father, carried through by his Son in his incarnation, life, death, and Resurrection. Paul’s theology extends into the whole of the Mystical Body of Christ and encompasses such decisive issues as faith, baptism, the Holy Spirit, grace, predestination, free will, the Eucharist, and the full attainment of perfection through the mature Christian life. Paul’s works specifically were Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. (See also under individual letters as well as Acts of the Apostles; Jerusalem; and Peter, St.)

St. Paul

(d.c. 67) -- Apostle of the Gentiles, martyr, and one of the greatest missionaries, mystics, and theologians in the history of the Church. He was born in the city of Tarsus, Cilicia (modern Turkey), of the Jewish tribe of Benjamin. A Roman citizen originally called Saul, he was raised as a Pharisee (the most rigid of the Jewish sects of the period) in Tarsus, learned the craft of tent making (a profession he used in later life while traveling the Roman Empire), and studied Jewish law as well as Greek and Latin. Sent at some time to Jerusalem, he found there a teacher, the famed rabbi Gamaliel, at whose feet (Acts 22:3) he mastered the Torah. After developing strong ties to Jerusalem, he returned to Tarsus — almost certainly before the commencement of Jesus’ public ministry — and there gradually came into contact with the new sect of the Nazarenes, as the early followers of Christ were called, a few years after the crucifixion. Saul became a dedicated opponent of the new Church and was present at the martyrdom of St. Stephen; in fact, he guarded the robes of those who stoned the protomartyr and was “consenting to his execution” (Acts 7:58–8:1). Setting out for Damascus to carry on the persecution of the Nazarenes, he underwent his renowned conversion (Acts 9:1-19; 22:5-16; 26:12-18) while on the road.

Left blind by the light, which he understood to be Christ himself, he was taken to Damascus and sat for three days in the darkness. Baptized by Ananias, his sight restored, he left the city to spend several years in Arabia in prayer and meditation. Returning to Damascus, he took up preaching the faith and met such heated resistance that he had to make a secret escape from the city by being lowered down the city wall in a basket.

He went to Jerusalem where he met with Peter and other skeptical Apostles, convincing them, with the aid of Barnabas, of his sincerity. After preaching in Cilicia (modern Turkey) and Caesarea (modern Israel), Paul embarked on the first of his great missionary journeys in about the year 45. Joined by Barnabas and Mark, Paul (as he was forever after known) sailed to Cyprus and Asia Minor, establishing communities in Antioch, Pisidia, Iconium, and elsewhere. His missionary efforts created much upheaval in some cities — he was even stoned and left for dead by a mob — but they also found fertile spiritual soil among the Gentiles. Paul returned to Antioch (c. 49) with the news that “he had opened a door of faith” (Acts 14:27) to the Gentiles. This opportunity sparked the first major controversy within the Nazarene community, a dispute settled by the Council of Jerusalem circa 49, at which it was decided that conversions should be promoted among the Gentile population. Paul, henceforth, was the most ardent missionary among the pagan populations of the Roman Empire.

About 50, he set out on his second missionary journey with Silas, traveling to Asia Minor and then to Macedonia and Greece. In Athens, he met with Stoic and Epicurean philosophers before moving on to Corinth where he remained a year.

Paul’s third missionary journey began circa 55. He journeyed to Asia Minor and Greece, spending two years in Ephesus and visiting Colossa, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and Corinth. Upon his return to Jerusalem, he was attacked by Jewish enemies and was saved from certain death by a squad of Roman soldiers. Charged by the Sanhedrin with bringing Gentiles into the temple of Jerusalem, he used his privileges as a Roman citizen to be sent to Caesarea for trial before the governor. He spent two years in prison, and when the trial was finally held, he appealed to Rome. He was sent by ship to Caesar under a Roman guard, only to be shipwrecked at Malta. Finally tried in Rome, he was acquitted.

Paul’s remaining years are quite obscure. It is believed that he went to Syria, Palestine, Greece, Crete, and Spain. Arrested once more, he was taken back to Rome and placed in close confinement. He wrote of his expected fate in his Second Letter to Timothy (4:6-8). His martyrdom came about the year 67 at the command of Emperor Nero (r. 54-68). Paul was most likely beheaded (as reported by Tertullian); according to the apocryphal Acts of St. Paul, he was slain on the left bank of the Tiber. He was said to have been buried in a cemetery on the Via Ostia owned by a Christian named Lucina, the site where, in later years, the basilica of St. Paolo Fuori le Mure (St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls) was built.

One of the most imaginative, eloquent, and passionate Christian writers, Paul was imprisoned, shipwrecked, beaten, flogged, stoned, banished, and finally martyred for his faith. Throughout his missionary travels, he wrote extensively, and fully one-third of the New Testament is comprised of his letters. His writing had a profound effect on Christian theology, especially Christology, and on the doctrines on grace, predestination, free will, baptism, and the attainment of Christian perfection. His writings are: Romans, First and Second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First and Second Thessalonians, First and Second Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.

Liturgically, Paul is commemorated on June 29, with St. Peter, and on January 25, the feast of his conversion. In liturgical art, he is portrayed with a sword or a book, and his symbol is traditionally the book and the sword. Feast day: June 29.

Excerpt from Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, Revised, copyright 2003 by Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., all rights reserved. By Matthew, Margaret, and Stephen Bunson. Order here»