The Lives of the Saints through 100 Masterpieces

Paul

The Lives of the Saints 176 Paul January 25 and June 29 “As soon as I can set out for Spain....” It is not known whether this prodigious traveler ever realized this desire, expressed in his Epistle to the Romans. However, the careful details related in the Acts of the Apostles, and Saint Paul’s own writings, sufficientl witness to the intense activities of this globetrotter of God, who sowed the seeds of the new Faith along the margins of the Mediterranean. Born in Tarsus, close to Antioch, in a Romanized Jewish family of weavers, Saul was in Jerusalem at the time of Saint Stephen’s death by stoning. On his way to Damascus to organize the persecution of Christians in that city, he was converted and returned to Jerusalem after a detour into Jordan. His first missionary voyage was to Cyprus, continuing on into Asia Minor as far as Lystra, where he was stoned and left for dead after having been taken for the pagan god Hermes. He returned to Jerusalem, convincing the apostles to open more widely the good news of the church to the Gentiles, and then departed again to Asia Minor, this time to Samothrace, followed by Macedonia. His travels then took him to Corinth, Athens, a return to Antioch by way of Ephesus, and another sojourn in Jerusalem. Missionary voyages followed one after the other, in Asia Minor and continental Greece. Once again back to Jerusalem, Saint Paul was condemned to death through the instigation of Orthodox Jews. As a Roman citizen, he appealed to the emperor, which took him to Rome. On his way to the center of the empire, he stopped in Crete, survived a shipwreck in Malta, was bitten by a snake without being affected by its poison, and at last arrived at his destination, spending two years in Rome. This brings us to the years 61 to 63 AD. After this, we only know of another voyage he took in 66 or 67 to return to Rome, where he was martyred—not on the cross, but by beheading, since he was a Roman citizen. The sword, the instrument of his death, is a constant symbol in his iconography. Lucas Cranach (1472–1553) Saint Paul Musée du Louvre, Paris ...