Saint Paul
Our Patron Saint
I have fought the good fight — I have finished the race — I have kept the faith.
— II Timothy 4:7
Buffeted by Mediterranean storms — twice shipwrecked — flogged — stoned — jailed — and finally martyred in Rome in 66 or 67 A.D. — Paul, our patron saint, had an unbelievable life as a missionary, and as interpreter of the Christian faith.
Born Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee descended from the tribe of Benjamin, he was a staunch enemy of Christianity — a terrorist. Then, after his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus, he became Paul, an equally staunch “ambassador for Christ.”
A man of intense activity, Paul was the principal actor in the New Testament Book of Acts. But he was not merely an adventurer whose eventful journeys have been narrated and traced on maps by countless Sunday School classes.
Writer of thirteen New Testament books — nearly one-third of the New Testament — Paul explained the Christian faith before any of the four Gospels were written. Fifteen centuries later, Martin Luther, who wrote some twenty-nine theological books himself, always expressed respect and admiration for Paul’s epistles. Well-educated, Paul spoke fluently in three languages — Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. In addition, he had some knowledge of Latin, the language of the Romans. This linguistic ability made it possible to reach and communicate with many classes and nationalities of people. His sharp, analytical mind enabled him to grasp the truths of Christianity, and explain them to others in their language and level of learning. Some who heard accepted gladly, others were hostile.
Commanding no salary — a tentmaker like his father — demanding no fringe benefits, perquisites, pension or expense account — St. Paul was a volunteer of the first order. Our Family of Faith, begun in 1847 by fifteen families, indeed chose an illustrious and appropriate namesake. His sterling qualities were not unlike their own: venturing to foreign shores, — persistent — independent — industrious — stern but loving — and above all, determined to perpetuate the Gospel.
This patron saint of our Family of Faith — “what manner of man” was he? In a word — complex! Paul was a man of tremendous power and energy; ye tposessed of some never-identified weakness, a “thorn in the flesh.” He was practical and down-to-earth; yet mystical and spiritual. Paul was dynamic and aggressive; forceful and commanding; yet humble. To his friends and congregations, he could be loving and gently reproving; but he could be obstinate and opinionated. Little wonder that basicilica San Marco (St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice) has life-size figures of not twelve, but fourteen apostles — the thirteenth and fourteenth being St. Stephen and St Paul.
It was our namesake, St. Paul, who first brought Christianity to southeastern Europe, by way of Philippi in Macedonia, and Corinth in Greece. But, our ancestral home, the Rhineland of northwestern Germany, would still worship pagan gods of several more centuries after Paul.