St. Paul

The Apostle

Saint Paul is convinced that God counted on him from the very moment of his conception; before I was born, he repeated on several occasions. He knows that he is the instrument chosen to take the Gospel to many people, as we hear in the Second Reading of today’s Mass: But … He who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles (Gal 1, 15-16).

Born at Tarsus, Roman Citizen by birth, educated under Gamaliel in Jerusalem (the best rabbi of his time), extremist Pharisee, and prosecutor of Christians. He had a role in the execution of St Stephen (the first Christian martyr).

In the narrative of Acts, Paul was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus on a mission to “arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem” when the ascended Jesus appeared to him in a great bright light. He was struck blind, but after three days his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish messiah and the Son of God (Acts 9). Approximately half of the Book of Acts deals with Paul’s life and works.

According to Acts, And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. (Acts 9, 20-22).

He wrote numerous Letters, being the first one to elaborate theologically in the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. He made 4 apostolic journeys, reaching Finis Terrae (the end of the world) as the Cape in the North West part of Spain was known. The date of Paul’s death is believed to have occurred after the Great Fire of Rome in July 64, but before the last year of Nero’s reign, in 68. He was beheaded in Rome, and buried outside of the walls of the Eternal City.