St. Paul the Apostle

Saul of Tarsus in Cilicia, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin and a Roman citizen by birth, was trained in the Law at Jerusalem under Gamaliel. A Pharisee zealous against the Church, he consented to the stoning of St Stephen. On the road to Damascus the risen Christ appeared to him; he was blinded, baptised by Ananias, and from then on preached the Christ he had persecuted. In three journeys, with Barnabas, Silas, Timothy and Luke, he carried the Gospel to the Gentiles of Asia Minor, Macedonia and Greece, founding churches and writing to them; the Church counts fourteen epistles as his. Arrested at Jerusalem, he appealed to Caesar and was taken to Rome, where he was beheaded under Nero and buried on the road to Ostia. Feast: June 29.