St. Paul, Apostle and Missionary (+ 67 AD)
Many of us are familiar with the basic outline of St. Paul's life. We know that as Saul he was a zealous Jew who mercilessly persecuted and killed the early Christians. We know of his great conversion and how God called Paul to be the greatest of missionaries. We know he founded many churches throughout Greece and Asia Minor. He was a skilled orator and teacher who converted thousands and wrought numerous miracles. He strengthened the local churches by writing them letters, thirteen of which are in the New Testament. Yet the details of his last years are shrouded for many. From St. Luke's record in Acts we know of his imprisonments, trials and arrival in Rome. But what happened after that? His story is naturally preserved for us by tradition. On this day when we commemorate this great Apostle, it seems fitting to discuss, in particular, those last years of his life, effectively picking up where the Acts of the Apostles leaves off.
ST. PAUL'S IMPRISONMENT
[column size="2-3" last="0"]Upon making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, jealous Jews who despised Christ sought to murder Paul. Just in time, the tribunal Lysias was able to rescue him from these bloodthirsty men. The following night, Christ appeared to Paul and exhorted him, "Be constant, for as thou hast testified of me in Jersualem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." However, it was not until two years later that Paul finally reached the Eternal City. He had been held under prison or house arrest first under Lysias the Tribune, then Felix the Governor at Caesarea, then his successor Festus, and even King Agrippa. Paul appealed to Festus that as a Roman citizen he had the right to be tried by Caesar. Festus agreed to this proposal as he also saw this as a way of evading the great ire of Paul's powerful Jewish foes. Paul was bound and carried across the Mediterranean Sea towards Italy. After being shipwrecked, Paul saved the lives of his imprisoners and it is estimated that he landed in Italy around the year 56 AD. It is quite significant that this glorious prince of the Church and emissary of Christ the King entered Rome not with the trappings of a victor or even of nobility, but rather as a humble Jewish prisoner.[/column]
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ROMAN MISSIONARY
In Rome, Paul was placed under a kind of house arrest. There were many appeals before Ceasar and it could take years before one's case was heard. As per custom, Paul was able to select his lodging-place and was free to travel about the city. However, he was chained to a solider who accompanied him day and night so as to prevent his escape. Nevertheless, this left him perfectly free to continue preaching the word of God, offering the holy Sacraments, and guiding the Christians. Towards the end of 57 AD he was finally summoned before the praetorium. He successfully pleaded his cause and was acquitted.
Once free, St. Paul made a journey east visiting the Churches he had founded and confirming his work. He left his disciple St. Tiomthy as Bishop of Ephesus and St. Titus as Bishop of Crete. He also journeyed west and evangelized the lands of Hispania. But he was destined to return to Rome. Both St. Athanasius and St. Asterius of Ameseus inform us that Paul received a heavenly command bidding him to return to Rome (similar to that famous 'quo vadis' warning given to St. Peter). Upon arriving in Rome in 65 AD, St. Paul joined St. Peter and the two strove mightily to teach and covert the very masters of the known world, thereby wrestling with the whole human race -- and also with principalities and powers. At last, Rome possessed both her two princes jointly. Never again would they be separated, not even in death. Instead their blood will given witness of their Lord before the whole Roman world which needs to be freed from the tyranny of paganism, sin, and death.
ST. PAUL BACK IN ROME
St. Paul was such a successful preacher filled with grace, that he made converts even in the Imperial Palace. He had made converts there during his first stay in Rome and now he returned to fortify them in the faith. This in turn led to his making two converts within Nero's most inner circle: a beautiful woman who served as Nero's concubine and the emperor's chief cup-bearer. Nero, who was known for his terrible and capricious temper, became enraged at this lowly foreigner's influence over his own household. Poppaea, another of Nero's mistresses, who was a Jew in the mold of Jezebel, took advantage of this moment. She easily bent Nero upon the destruction of Paul, Peter, and all the Christians she so hated. Nero had Paul thrown into prison, along with his two imperial converts, for they had renounced their former way of life and refused to reject Christ. Truly St. Paul witnessed to the words of Christ by his very life, "Amen I say to you, that you, who have left all things and followed Me, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting." (Mt 19:28,29, Communion Prayer)
THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. PAUL
These two converts hastened Paul's martyrdom. He was fully aware of this and wrote to his dearly beloved Timothy, "Wherein I labor even unto bands, as an evildoer; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with heavenly glory. (2 Tim 2:9-10) For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day (2 Tim 4:6-8)." At this point in time, only Luke remained with St. Paul.
On the twenty-nine of June in the year 67 AD, St. Peter was marched across the Tiber River to Vatican hill. There he was nailed to a cross and hung upside down. On the other side of the Tiber, St. Paul was led outside the walls along the Ostian Way. A group of the Catholic faithful followed the escort of executioners. Nero sentenced him to be beheaded at the Salvian waters. St. Paul fell to his knees, offered his final prayer to God and commended himself to Christ's mercy and justice. A soldier blindfolded him, another brandished the sword and delivered the death stroke. The Apostle's head was severed and made three bounds along the ground. Local tradition recalls that three fountains immediately sprung upon those three spots. Altars were subsequently raised over each site.
ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL RULE THE CHURCH FROM ROME
As per Catholic teaching, the blood of St. Peter and St. Paul, spilled in Rome, has elevated Rome to the ruling See over the Universal Church. By their martyrs' blood, St. Peter and St. Paul continue to rule the Church from Rome to this very day. For the first ten centuries, the Pope was frequently referred to as the Vicar of St. Peter, and it was not until Pope Innocent III that the Supreme Pontiff was also referred to as the Vicar of Christ. For example, when the Tome of Pope Leo the Great was read at the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD), all the bishops gathered at that fourth ecumenical council, cried out with one voice: "Peter has spoken through Leo." Or when Attila the Hun encamped his armies outside Rome and sought to lay waste to the city, he beheld a great vision in the sky. Both St. Peter and St. Paul guarded the city and threatened him. Attila, who was so fierce that he was nicknamed the Source of God, thought it better to abandon his plans for Rome and returned north. Even in modern times, when the Chief Shepherd chooses to infallibly define dogma, he frequently employs the phrase "by the authority of Blesseds Peter and Paul" in his proclamation (e.g. Pope Pius IX and Pope Pius XII). There are also several prophecies that St. Peter and St. Paul will appear yet again to help Rome and the Church in the time of greatest trial.
PRAYER
O God, who instructed the whole world through the preaching of the Apostle St. Paul, grant that we who celebrate his feast may receive his patronage. This we ask of Thee through Christ our Lord. Amen.