Cornelius a Lapide

Preliminaries to the Acts of the Apostles

Table of Contents

• Preface to the Kindly Reader
• Approbation of the Ordinary Censor
  • Mutius Vitelleschi, Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• Chronotaxis of the Acts of the Apostles
• The Effigy of Saint Paul, or the Idea of the Apostolic Life
  • Chapter I: On Paul's Manners and Virtues that Concern God
    • First endowment and virtue: Gods singular election and calling, with the most humble acknowledgement, thanksgiving, and admiration thereof
    • Second endowment and virtue: a Lawful Mission
    • Third endowment and virtue was: an Outstanding and Powerful Faith, even for working miracles
    • The Sixth was, A profound reverence and religion toward God
  • Chapter II: On Paul's Character and Virtues Concerning Himself
    • The first virtue: Patience
    • The second virtue: Penitence and constant mortification
    • The third virtue: Humility
    • The fourth virtue: Magnanimity and loftiness of soul
    • The Fifth Virtue, Evangelical Poverty
    • The Sixth, Angelic Sobriety and Chastity
    • The Seventh, Modesty, Gravity, and Affability
    • The Eighth, Zeal for Progress
  • Chapter III: On Paul's Virtues Pertaining to His Neighbor
    • The First Is, Tireless Preaching of the Gospel
    • The Second, Prudence
    • The Third, Zeal
    • The Fourth, Compassion
    • Fifth, Love of Enemies
    • Sixth, Martyrdom
• The Author's Vow

Preface to the Kindly Reader

From the Twelve Prophets of the Old Testament I pass to as many of the New, namely the twelve Apostles, whose Acts St. Luke composed, while they themselves wrote their own Epistles, as well as the Apocalypse, which is at once the proper and the unique prophecy of the Evangelical Law. These indeed are the Seers of Christ, the Evangelists of God, the Teachers of truth, the Dictators of the faith, the Legislators of the world, the Princes of the Church, nay, living heavens, Angels and Archangels, who declare the glory of God, of whom the Royal Prophet, foreseeing them in spirit, exclaims in admiration: "Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." I shall be brief in my customary manner, so that I may comprise the Acts of the Apostles, the seven Canonical Epistles, and the Apocalypse in this same volume; for the four Gospels I reserve for a third volume on the New Testament. I prefix a Chronotaxis, or brief sequence of times, since it will shed great light upon each book and so everywhere serve as a torch for the readers.

Approbation of the Ordinary Censor

This exposition and Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, composed by the Reverend Father Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide, Theologian of the Society of Jesus and Professor of Sacred Letters in the Roman College, is learned and pious, and adorned with many flowers from various Authors. Hence it will marvelously serve both to confirm the doctrine of the Roman Church and to give understanding of the rites used in the primitive Church, so that it may serve both the learned and the unlearned: To which I bear witness, on the 18th of February, in the year 1626, I who have written and signed these things.

EGBERT SPITHOLDIUS, Canon and Pastor of Antwerp, Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Censor of Books.

Mutius Vitelleschi, Superior General of the Society of Jesus

Whereas the Commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles by the Reverend Father Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide, of our Society, have been examined by certain Theologians of the same Society to whom this task was entrusted, and they have approved that they may be brought to light; we grant the faculty that they be committed to print: if it shall so seem to those to whom it pertains. In testimony whereof we have given these letters signed by our own hand and sealed with our seal, at Rome, on the 1st of May, in the year 1625.

Mutius Vitelleschi.

Chronotaxis of the Acts of the Apostles

Chronological Order of the Acts of the Apostles, of the Canonical Epistles, and of the Apocalypse, and indeed of the entire first Christian century from Christ, agreeing in all things with the Annals of Cardinal Baronius, with few exceptions.

Year 34 from the nativity of Christ, year 18 of Tiberius's reign.

In the year of Christ 34 begun for three months, which was the year of the world 3984, from the flood 2327, from Abraham 2035, from the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt 1530, from Solomon's Temple 1031, from Isaiah and the Prophets 800, the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, from the founding of Rome 785, from the Babylonian Captivity 625, from Cyrus 565, from the beginning of Daniel's 70 weeks 487, that is, in the middle of the 70th and last week, as Daniel prophesied (chap. IX, 26), from the years of the Greeks or Seleucids 344, from the Maccabees 199 (see the Chronological Table which I prefixed to the Pentateuch) — in this year, I say, of His age 34, Christ the Lord, Prince of Pontiffs, Hierarch of the Church, Redeemer and Savior of the world, priest according to the order of Melchisedech, about to fulfill the vows and promises made to the Patriarchs, the shadows and figures of the Law, and the prophecies of the Prophets, completed the office of His mission and economy in the flesh, and of our redemption committed to Him by the Father: wherefore for us He suffered most atrocious torments, and being crucified among thieves as a thief, He died, that He might give us life, on the 25th of March: on which same day, 34 years before, He had been conceived and incarnated by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit in the inviolate womb of the Blessed Virgin, as the more common opinion of the Doctors holds: consequently He rose again on the 27th of March; He ascended into heaven after 40 days, on the fifth of May; He sent the Holy Spirit in the form of fiery tongues on the fiftieth day, namely at Pentecost, on the 15th of May, as I shall show at Acts I, 12.

A little after the ascension of Christ and before Pentecost, with St. Peter taking the lead, Matthias was chosen by lot to fill the place and apostolate of Judas the traitor.

Having received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter immediately by his preaching converted three thousand men, Acts II, 41, all of whom sold their possessions and laid their prices at the feet of the Apostles, continuing unanimously in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, took their food with exultation. A little after, Peter, healing the lame man at the Beautiful gate of the temple, and from there preaching to the people, converted five thousand men: wherefore being imprisoned by the Pontiffs, he freely answered that one must obey God rather than men, Acts III and IV. Then, in chapter V, he punished with death Ananias and Sapphira who stole from the price of their field. Soon he is again imprisoned with the other Apostles, but freed by an angel, he is bidden to preach in the temple: for which cause being brought back by the magistrate to the council, examined and rebuked, he answers the same as before intrepidly: Gamaliel pleads his cause. He and the other Apostles, having been scourged, « went rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus. »

In the same year a little after Pentecost, because of the murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews, the Apostles created seven Deacons: among whom St. Stephen stood out as the chief and as it were archdeacon, who, ardently and assiduously disputing against the Jews and convincing them, was at length overwhelmed by them with stones and crowned with glorious martyrdom on December 26, Acts VI and VII.

In the same year on the following day, namely December 27, St. James, the brother of the Lord, is made first Bishop of Jerusalem. Thus the Church grew marvelously and at once after Christ's ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit, since Christ when ascending had left only twelve Apostles, 72 Disciples and five hundred Christians, I Corinthians XV, 6.

Year of Christ 35, year 19 of the Emperor Tiberius.

Because of Stephen the Jews going mad persecuted the rest of the Christians: hence they were all scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles. Wherefore Philip the Deacon, preaching in Samaria, converted it. From there Peter and John set out thither, to fortify with the sacrament of Confirmation those baptized by Philip. There St. Peter had his first contest with Simon Magus. Philip, snatched up by an angel, converted the Eunuch of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who afterwards propagated the faith of Christ in Ethiopia.

Many think with Cardinal Baronius that in the same persecution the Jews attacked the closest friends of Christ, namely St. Magdalene, Martha, Lazarus, Maximinus, Marcella and Joseph of Arimathea, and placed them on a ship without sails or oars, so that they might be drowned on the deep by the force of the winds and waves; but by God's guidance the ship, with all safe, landed at Marseilles, where they spread the faith of Christ; and at length Magdalene withdrew into a steep mountain, where, devoting herself to penance, tears and contemplation, for 30 years she lived an angelic life and, daily caught up on high by angels and fed with angelic hymns, despised all human food.

Year of Christ 36, year 1 of Paul the Apostle, year 20 of the Emperor Tiberius.

On January 25, Saul being converted, became Paul. For breathing out threats and slaughter against the Christians, struck down from heaven to the ground, he gave himself to Christ. Whence being sent to Ananias, he was baptized by him. For God had said to Ananias: « This man is to Me a vessel of election, that he may bear My name before nations, and kings, and the sons of Israel. » Paul soon began to preach Christ at Damascus. Thence he went away into Arabia: from which he returned to Damascus, Gal. I, 17.

Year of Christ 37, year 2 of Paul, year 21 of the Emperor Tiberius.

St. Peter, by the vision of the linen sheet, in which were all the quadrupeds and serpents of the earth, and hearing: « Arise, Peter, kill and eat, » understood that the Gentiles were to be admitted to the Church, and that the Gospel was to be preached to them. Wherefore being called by Cornelius the Centurion, he instructed and baptized him with his family, and thus publicly opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. Whence in the same year he placed his see at Antioch, and in it he sat seven years. Therefore, the Gospel having now been opened to the Gentiles, in the same year St. James set out for Spain, and the rest of the Apostles went into their provinces to evangelize according to the precept of Christ. Before the separation and departure they composed the Symbol, which from them is called the Apostles' Creed, as the common token of faith. Baronius assigns the division and departure of the Apostles to the year of Christ 44. But the reasons why it seems they should be placed earlier, I have set forth at Acts XII, 1.

Year of Christ 38, year 3 of Paul, year 22 of the Emperor Tiberius.

Pilate, with God avenging the death of Christ, was deposed by Vitellius, governor of Syria, and reduced to the ranks, and sent to Rome to clear before the Emperor the crimes laid against him: where, Tiberius having died, he was confined by the Emperor Caius in perpetual exile at Vienne in Gaul, and was so afflicted by such great sicknesses inflicted by Caius, that he stabbed himself through with his own hand. So Eusebius, Ado and Cassiodorus in their Chronicles, and Josephus, book XVIII, chapter 5. A little before, Caiaphas the Pontiff, who had demanded Christ to death, weary of life had likewise procured death for himself, as Clement testifies, book VIII of the Constitutions, chapter 1. But also Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, perished badly, as Nicephorus testifies, book II, chapter 10. Tiberius wished to enroll Christ among the gods, but the Senate opposing, by an edict he threatened death to the accusers of the Christians. So Tertullian in his Apology, and from him Eusebius in his Chronicle.

Year of Christ 39, year 4 of Paul, year 1 of the Emperor Caius Caligula.

Tiberius Caesar dies on the 17th day before the Kalends of April, in the 78th year of his age. Caius Caligula succeeded him, who freed Herod Agrippa, who had been cast into chains by Tiberius, and adorned him for the iron chain Tiberius had thrown on him, with one of gold of the same weight, and made him king of Judea. A Poet recently put this epitaph upon Tiberius:

Here lies the son of Livia, the stepson of Augustus, He held the manners of his mother, not his stepfather. Sharp in genius for the worst, dull for the best, He had fortune at his right hand, virtue at his left. Often a triumphant conqueror of others, never of himself. With his stepfather opposing, his mother fighting for him, He came to Empire from exile, about to send Empire into exile. As much a lover of the scepter when he did not have it, as senseless when he had it,

Paul, three years having passed since his departure into Arabia, while preaching at Damascus, being sought for chains by the Jews and King Aretas, escaped, let down through the wall in a basket, and went to Jerusalem, that he might see Peter, Galatians I, 18; and II Corinthians XI, 32.

Year of Christ 40, year 5 of Paul, year 2 of Caius's reign.

Herod Agrippa, setting out from Rome to Judea by way of Alexandria, was there mocked by the citizens in the same manner in which Christ had been mocked by the Jews, of whom Agrippa was king. In the same year Herod Antipas, uncle of Agrippa, who had despised Christ clothed in a white garment, being accused by his nephew Agrippa before Caius Caesar, was stripped of his tetrarchy and his fortunes, and with his impious wife Herodias was condemned to perpetual exile at Lyon, a city of Gaul: where both pining away with grief perished, because he had killed John the Baptist and mocked Christ.

Year of Christ 41, year 6 of Paul, year 3 of Caius's reign.

In this year, if we believe Eusebius in his Chronicle, whom Baronius follows, St. Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, which St. Bartholomew the Apostle, about to depart to the Indies, transcribed and took with him, and left to them, says Eusebius, book V of his History, chapter 10, and St. Jerome, in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, in Pantenus, chapter 36. St. Barnabas also transcribed it with his own hand: whence it was found together with his body in the time of the Emperor Zeno. St. Jerome testifies that the Hebrew Gospel of St. Matthew existed in his time in the Library of St. Pamphilus the Martyr, and that he had transcribed it. So he himself, in his book On Illustrious Men, in Matthew. The same Gospel, published at Jerusalem, was expounded by James the brother of the Lord, as Athanasius testifies

in his Synopsis. But what is asserted of this year seems strange, that Matthew alone remained at Jerusalem so long, when the rest of the Apostles departed thence into their provinces in the year of Christ 37. Wherefore it seems truer, that Matthew also departed at the same time, with the Gospel composed beforehand. For Bartholomew took it with him to the Indies. Moreover, Epiphanius in heresy 51 testifies that St. Matthew wrote the Gospel at the command of the Apostles. Finally the common opinion of the Doctors is, that Matthew wrote the Gospel before the Apostles departed into their provinces, which I said was done in the year of Christ 37. Therefore Matthew likewise wrote the Gospel at that time.

Year of Christ 42, year 7 of Paul, year 4 of Caius's reign.

A famine began in the whole world, predicted by the prophet Agabus, and lasted a long time, Acts XI, 28.

About the same time Barnabas and Paul evangelize at Antioch for a whole year and teach a great multitude, so that at Antioch the disciples were first called Christians, Acts XI, 26.

Caius Caesar persecuted the Jews by the just judgment of God, because they persecuted Christ and the Apostles. Whence he wished his statue to be set up in the Temple of Jerusalem, and to be adored in it by the Jews. Wherefore Philo was sent by the Jews with companions to Caius to deprecate this, but Caius, gnashing his teeth at them, said: « Are you those hateful to the gods, who alone reject me declared a god by the confession of all? » See Philo in his Embassy to Caius, and Josephus, XVIII of Antiquities, chapter 12.

Year of Christ 43, year 8 of Paul, year 1 of Claudius's reign.

In this year Thaddaeus, sent to Edessa to Abgar, converted him with his kingdom.

In the same year Caius Caesar was killed by the Praetorian soldiers in the fourth year of his reign, in the 29th of his age. Claudius succeeded him, son of Drusus Nero and grandson of Livia Augusta, who confirmed Agrippa in his kingdom and added to him Samaria and the rest of Judea.

Year of Christ 44, year 9 of Paul, year 2 of Claudius's reign.

St. James, returning from Spain to Jerusalem, was killed by Herod Agrippa about Passover. By the same St. Peter was imprisoned, but freed by an angel, by evangelizing he passed through Caesarea, Berytus, Sidon, Tripolis, Byblus, Orthosia, Antandrus, Balanaeae, Laodicea, Cappadocia and other cities and provinces, everywhere establishing Churches, Priests and Bishops, and at length entered Rome.

Year of Christ 45, year 1 of Peter as Roman Pontiff, year 10 of Paul, year 3 of Claudius's reign.

St. Peter establishes his see at Rome on January 18, and founds the Roman Church. At Antioch after St. Peter, Evodius is made first Bishop. So Eusebius in his Chronicle.

In the same year Paul is sent to evangelize the Gentiles. Wherefore, by the command of the Holy Spirit ordained Bishop, sent as it were an Apostle from the Antiochene Church, he sets out with Barnabas and goes about evangelizing the Gentiles round about.

Herod Agrippa, with God avenging the death of St. James and the imprisonment of St. Peter, hearing the acclamations of the people, « The voices of God and not of man, » and silently applauding them, struck by an angel and consumed by worms, perished, Acts XII, 23.

In the same year St. Peter at Rome writes his first Epistle to the faithful dispersed in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.

In the same year St. Mark at Rome wrote his Gospel and soon set out for Alexandria, and there preached the Gospel and erected and ruled the Alexandrian Church as a Bishop with marvelous wisdom and sanctity.

Year of Christ 46, year 2 of Peter, year 11 of Paul, year 4 of Claudius's reign.

Paul and Barnabas, when they had traversed Seleucia, and from there had sailed to Cyprus, and had come to Salamis and walked through the whole island, finally coming to Paphos, converted Sergius Paulus the Proconsul to Christ, by blinding Elymas the magician resisting the Gospel, on the occasion of which the name of Saul was changed into Paul. Thence they proceeded to Perga of Pamphylia and Antioch of Pisidia; but driven out by the Jews they turn themselves to the Gentiles and depart to Iconium, Acts XIII, 4 and following.

Year of Christ 47, year 3 of Peter, year 12 of Paul, year 5 of Claudius's reign.

At Iconium Paul by his preaching converted many Jews and Gentiles, and among them St. Thecla, whom the Fathers celebrate with wonderful praises. Wherefore for a long time, says Luke, he stayed there, until, a tumult having been stirred up by the Jews, being stoned by them he fled into Lycaonia, Acts XIV, 1 and following.

Year of Christ 48, year 4 of Peter, year 13 of Paul, year 6 of Claudius's reign.

Paul came to Lystra, where he healed a lame man by a miracle: wherefore he was acclaimed a god by the crowds, namely Mercury and Barnabas Jupiter, and when they wished to sacrifice to them, with all their strength they resisted: soon a sedition having been stirred up by the Jews, Paul, stoned and almost killed, proceeded to Derbe. Thence retracing his journey, he revisited and confirmed the faithful in Lystra, Iconium, Antioch of Pisidia, and evangelizing he passed through Pisidia, Pamphylia and Attalia, Acts XIV, 6 and following.

Paul, about to go to evangelize the Gentiles, is caught up into the third heaven and hears secret words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak, II Corinthians XII, 2.

Year of Christ 49, year 5 of Peter, year 14 of Paul, year 7 of Claudius's reign.

Paul, after a five-year period spent in this his pilgrimage and apostolate, returned with Barnabas to Antioch and there stayed for two years, Acts XIV, last verse.

Paul teaches at Antioch, Peter at Rome, and from there throughout the cities and provinces of the whole world he sends Bishops and Apostles in every direction, who may propagate the Gospel, and everywhere found and rule Churches.

Year of Christ 51, year 7 of Peter, year 16 of Paul, year 9 of Claudius's reign.

The Emperor Claudius expels the Jews from Rome: wherefore St. Peter, by the counsel of God leaving the city, returned to Jerusalem. For a controversy having arisen at Antioch about the keeping of the Law of Moses by Christians, Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem to the Apostles, that they might seek its decision. In that same year therefore was celebrated the first Council of Jerusalem, over which St. Peter presided, at which were present St. John, James, Paul and Barnabas, in which after the question had been long debated, at length Peter decided it and first delivered the sentence, by decreeing that the legal observances were not to be kept by Christians: whose sentence St. James and all the rest immediately confirmed. This sentence Paul, Barnabas, Silas and Judas convey to Antioch.

Paul is separated from Barnabas: for the latter goes with John Mark to Cyprus, but Paul with Silas walks through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the Churches. He reaches Derbe and Lystra, where, circumcising Timothy, he took him as companion of his pilgrimage and preaching. Passing through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, says Luke, Acts XVI, 6, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come into Mysia, they went down to Troas, where a vision appeared to Paul. A certain Macedonian man was standing and beseeching him, saying: « Pass into Macedonia and help us. » Wherefore from Troas he sailed to Samothracia, thence to Neapolis, thence to Philippi, where he converted Lydia the seller of purple and cast out the python demon from a girl; whereupon, accused by the masters of the girl who made gain from the python's oracles, Paul is scourged and cast into prison, where in the middle of the night, while he with Silas was praying and praising God, an earthquake being sent by God, the doors of the prison are opened and the chains of all fly apart. Seeing which, the keeper of the prison believed in Christ, and washed the wounds of Paul and Silas. The magistrate, hearing from Paul that he was a Roman citizen, begs his pardon and dismisses him free. Paul and Silas departing from Philippi, says Luke, Acts XVII, 1, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, came to Thessalonica, where they converted many, and not a few noble women. Whence the Jews stirred up sedition, and not finding Paul they dragged Jason to the tribunal, who, satisfaction having been given, departed free. Paul and Silas were sent away by night by the brethren to Beroea, whose inhabitants eagerly received the Gospel; but the Jews persecuting Paul, he was led down by the brethren to Athens.

In this year three suns appeared at the same time, and immediately came together at once into the same disk, says Eusebius in the Chronicle.

Year of Christ 52, year 8 of Peter, year 17 of Paul, year 10 of Claudius's reign.

Paul, preaching at Athens in the Areopagus, converted Dionysius the Areopagite and a notable matron Damaris, Acts XVII, 16. Many think that at that time also was converted St. Hierotheus, whom St. Dionysius celebrates and follows everywhere in his books, and calls him « his divine master. »

In the same year Paul, having departed from Athens to Corinth, converted many there, and among them Crispus, ruler of the Synagogue. Wherefore admonished by an oracle of God he evangelized there for a longer time. There also, after the arrival of Silas and Timothy, he wrote his first Epistle to the Thessalonians, Acts XVIII, 1 and following.

In the same year, says Baronius, Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus, brother of the Emperor Claudius, whom Claudius had taken to wife after the death of Messalina, is augmented with the title of Augusta, and her son Domitius, adopted by the same Emperor into the Claudian family, was called Nero Claudius. This is the Nero who succeeded Claudius as his adoptive father in the empire: in which year also Agrippina ordered a colony to be led to the town of the Ubii, in which she had been born while her father acted there with the German army, to which the name was given from her, so that from her own name it was called Colonia Agrippina. Furthermore Agrippina was the daughter of Germanicus, who was the son of Drusus Germanicus, brother of the Emperor Tiberius from his mother Livia, wife of the Emperor Augustus.

Year of Christ 53, year 9 of Peter, year 18 of Paul, year 11 of Claudius's reign.

At Corinth Paul spent his second year. There also he wrote the second Epistle to the Thessalonians. There also the Jews making a tumult dragged Paul to the tribunal of Gallio, who was the brother of Seneca the philosopher and tutor of the Emperor Nero. Gallio repressed them and drove them away; whence the Jews in a fury beat Sosthenes the ruler of the synagogue, as if favoring Paul, before Gallio; and Gallio cared nothing for these things. St. Chrysostom adds that Paul also was beaten by them. Paul after the tumult remained for a long time still at Corinth, finally about to depart for Syria, by vow he shaved his head at Cenchreae, which was the port of Corinth, Acts XVIII, 11 and following.

Year of Christ 54, year 10 of Peter, year 19 of Paul, year 12 of Claudius's reign.

Paul, sailing into Syria through the Icarian Sea, which is part of the Aegean Sea, landed at Ephesus: where having stayed a little, leaving Aquila and Priscilla, he set sail for Caesarea, thence to Jerusalem, where he greeted the original Church and mother of all the rest: soon returning to Antioch, he went through in order the Galatian region and Phrygia, confirming all the disciples, Acts XVIII, 19.

Apollos, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, instructed at Ephesus by Aquila and Priscilla, proceeds to Corinth, where he confirms the faithful and powerfully refutes the Jews, Acts XVIII, 24.

In the same year, says Eusebius in the Chronicle, which was the 4th year of the 207th Olympiad, the Apostle Philip at Hierapolis, a city of Asia, while he was announcing the Gospel to the people, being affixed to a cross is overwhelmed with stones. He fell therefore in the 20th year from the Passion of Christ under Claudius, according to Eusebius and his followers: although Hippolytus, in the tract On the 72 Disciples, asserts that he suffered under the Emperor Domitian.

Year of Christ 55, year 11 of Peter, year 20 of Paul, year 13 of Claudius's reign.

Paul, having traveled through the upper parts of Asia, came to Ephesus, and there for three years, that is, for two years and three months, resides and preaches, Acts XIX, 1, and chapter XX, 31. At Ephesus Paul was exposed to beasts, I Corinthians XV, 32. There also God worked no ordinary miracles by the hand of Paul, so that even there were brought from his body upon the sick handkerchiefs and aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the wicked spirits went out, Acts XIX, 12.

Year of Christ 56, year 12 of Peter, year 21 of Paul, year 14 of Claudius's reign.

Paul spends and preaches his second year at Ephesus. On the occasion of the Jewish exorcists upon whom the demon leapt, a great accession of the Ephesians to Christ and to Paul was made.

Many believing came confessing and declaring their deeds.

Many who had followed curious arts, brought together their books and burned them, Acts XIX, 13 and following.

In the same year, on the 13th of October, the Emperor Claudius dies, in the 64th year of his age, the 13th of his reign with eight months. So Suetonius in the Life of Claudius, chapter 45, and Dio, book LX. Thus then having died, by the wile of his wife Agrippina who had given him poison, Nero succeeded to the empire, son of Agrippina, in the 18th year of his age, and held it for 13 years and 7 months, having excluded Britannicus, the germane son of the Emperor Claudius from his wife Messalina, and therefore the legitimate heir of the empire, whom accordingly soon after Nero removed by poison. So Josephus, book XX of Antiquities, chapter 5. Furthermore Nero, sprung from the Sabines, in the Sabine language is the same as strong and vigorous, says Suetonius in Tiberius, chapter 1, and Gellius, book XIII, chapter 22: « Nerio, says he, or Nerienes is a Sabine word, by which is signified virtue and fortitude. Therefore from the Claudii, whom we have received as sprung from the Sabines, he who was of remarkable and surpassing fortitude, was called Nero. The Sabines moreover seem to have received that name from the Greeks, because they call the bonds and supports of the limbs νεῦρα (neura): whence we also in Latin call them nerves (nervos). But Servius Claudius interprets Nerio as Neirio, that is without anger, placid, mild, tranquil; » such as Nero was at the beginning of his reign.

Year of Christ 57, year 13 of Peter, year 22 of Paul, year 1 of Nero.

Now that by the death of Claudius the edict for driving the Jews from Rome had been removed, Paul, spending his third year at Ephesus, thinks of Rome; but first he resolves to visit the Churches of Achaia and Macedonia, and to return to Jerusalem. Therefore being about to depart from Ephesus shortly, he writes the first Epistle to the Corinthians. The silversmiths of Diana, with Demetrius stirring them up, raise a sedition against Paul, crying out: « Great is Diana of the Ephesians. » Alexander quiets it. Soon Paul, having called the disciples, exhorted them and bade farewell, and leaving Timothy there, whom he also first appointed Bishop of Ephesus, set out for Macedonia, Acts XIX, 23; therefore making his journey through Lesser Asia, he came to the city of Troas, which lies next to the Hellespont, where seeking Titus, when he had not found him, he crossed the strait and went into Macedonia, II Corinthians II, 12.

From Macedonia to Timothy, whom he had left at Ephesus, in this year he wrote the first Epistle, by which he instructs him in the pastoral office.

Paul, having visited and confirmed the Churches of Macedonia, sailing through the Aegean Sea by the Cyclades, came to Crete, and there left and made Bishop Titus, his most beloved disciple, Epistle to Titus, chapter I, 5.

Year of Christ 58, year 14 of Peter, year 23 of Paul, year 2 of Nero.

In this year were done all the things which Luke narrates in chapter XX of Acts, and onwards up to chapter XXVIII, last verse. For Paul, traveling through Greece, came to Nicopolis, and there he resolved to winter: whence from Crete he calls Titus thither, writing to him the Epistle to Titus, chapter III, 12. At Nicopolis also Paul seems to have written the second Epistle to the Corinthians: soon he himself seems to have gone to Corinth and there in the port of Cenchreae to have written the Epistle to the Romans. Thence he proceeded to Philippi in Macedonia, soon to Troas, where he raised Eutychus from death: thence to Assos, Mitylene, Chios, Samos, Miletus; whither calling the elders of Ephesus, he bids them his last farewell with a long exhortation, Acts XX. From Miletus he sails to Cos, Rhodes, Patara, Tyre, Ptolemais, Caesarea, where Agabus foretells to him the chains at Jerusalem; and at length in the same year about Pentecost, as he had determined, he arrived at Jerusalem; where, at the persuasion of James, purifying himself in the temple, he is seized by the Jews and almost killed; but the Tribune rescued him; from whom, the power to speak having been granted, he addresses the people, Acts XXI and XXII. The people, hearing from Paul that he himself, having left the Jews, had been sent to the Gentiles, cried out and demanded him to death. Wherefore the Tribune commands him to be scourged, but Paul saying that he was a Roman citizen, exempts himself from the lashes, Acts XXII. Soon Paul being brought into the council and placed between the Pharisees and Sadducees, saying that he was a Pharisee and was being judged concerning the resurrection of the dead, with the judges disagreeing among themselves, escapes judgment. The Jews lay snares for him, which

...he traveled, and in particular to Spain, where, among others, by the judgment of his nephew, Paul escaped. Therefore the Tribune sent him bound to Caesarea to Felix the Governor, Acts 23; there Tertullus the orator accused him, Paul defended himself; and again, disputing before Felix concerning justice, chastity, and judgment, he struck him with fear. Portius Festus succeeded Felix, Acts 24. When Festus wished to judge Paul at Jerusalem before the Jews, Paul, appealing to Caesar, was sent to Rome, after first having pleaded his cause before King Agrippa, Acts 25 and 26. Paul therefore sailed with the Centurion to Sidon, then Cyprus, then Lystra, and finally suffered shipwreck. Christ appeared to Him and promised that all in the ship would escape safely: all therefore arrived safely at Melita, Acts 27.

In the same year, a little after Paul's arrival at Jerusalem, the Blessed Virgin, in the 72nd year of Her age, departed from earthly Jerusalem to the heavenly one, being led with triumph by angels into paradise. See what was said at Acts 21:17.

Baronius reckons that S. Luke wrote his Gospel in the same year, but I shall show at Acts 16:10 that it was written by Luke earlier.

In the year of Christ 59, of Peter 15, of Paul 24, of Nero 8.

Paul, in chains, sailed from Melita to Syracuse, then Rhegium, then Puteoli, and from there entered Rome by foot on the 6th of July. He lodged in a hired house, which was afterwards converted into the church of S. Mary in Via Lata. The next day, having called the Jews together, he gave an account of himself and his faith: of whom some believed, others did not believe. He remained at Rome two years with the soldier guarding him, receiving all and freely preaching Christ; even though, on account of fear of Nero, all his own had deserted him. For Christ stood by him and strengthened him, so that through him the preaching might be fulfilled and all the nations might hear; and indeed He delivered him from the mouth of the lion, namely Nero, 2 Timothy 4:16 and 17. At Rome Paul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians, sent through Epaphroditus their Bishop; likewise the Epistle to the Ephesians, which he sent through Tychicus.

In the year of Christ 60, of Peter 16, of Paul 25, of Nero 4.

Paul, spending his second year at Rome in chains, wrote the Epistle to the Colossians and the Epistle to Philemon, asking him to receive Onesimus, the fugitive slave, into favor and into his house. Philemon did this, and indeed bestowed liberty on Onesimus, who, growing in virtues, after Timothy was made Bishop of the Ephesians. In this Epistle, verse 23, he mentions Epaphras, his fellow-prisoner, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, and commends them as his helpers in the propagation of the Gospel. In the same year Paul wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews.

In the year of Christ 61, of Peter 17, of Paul 26, of Nero 5.

Paul, his two years in chains being completed, was dismissed by Nero, and traveled through various provinces evangelizing, and in particular the Spains, where among others he converted Xantippe and Polyxena to Christ. In this year at Rome S. Luke, finishing the Acts of the Apostles (where he also painted images of the Blessed Virgin and Christ the Lord, which we still venerate there to this day), returning to Greece, went evangelizing through Dalmatia, Gaul, Italy, Macedonia, Libya, etc., and at last, celibate, in the 84th year of his age, going to Patras, a city of Achaia, there concluded his Apostolate by a noble martyrdom. In the same year Nero killed his mother Agrippina, by the just judgment of God, since she had taken off her husband the Emperor Claudius by poison, so that her son Nero might succeed him in the Empire; she therefore who killed her husband for the sake of her son was killed by the son himself. For by a just and fitting divine vengeance, the matricide son was made the executioner of his husband-killing mother, and the avenger of the murder of his stepfather: « Recompensing her with this favor not only for her giving him birth, but also because by her arts he had been advanced to the Empire, » says Josephus, book 20 of the Antiquities, chapter 5.

In the year of Christ 62, of Peter 18, of Paul 27, of Nero 6.

Festus, Governor of Judaea, who had sent S. Paul bound to Rome, died: Albinus was designated by Nero as his successor. So Eusebius in the Chronicle.

King Agrippa deposed Josephus from the high priesthood, and substituted in his place Ananus, son of the elder Ananus: so Josephus, book 20 of the Antiquities, chapter 8.

Rome was shaken by various prodigies: for on account of the rising of a new comet and a thunderbolt that fell on Nero's table, as if she had been made more certain of his death, she turned all her interests upon Rubellius Plautus, because through his mother he traced his origin from the Julian family; who, by Nero's command, was forced to leave the soil and depart into Asia. So Cornelius Tacitus, book 14.

Laodicea, an illustrious city of Asia, of which the Apostle makes mention in the Epistle to the Colossians, was overthrown by an earthquake; but it was soon restored to its entirety by its citizens, who were exceedingly wealthy.

In this year of Christ 62, S. Andrew was crucified at Patras in Achaia, says Onuphrius in his Chronicle.

In the year of Christ 63, of Peter 19, of Paul 28, of Nero 7.

In this year, says Eusebius in the Chronicle, S. Jerome in the book On Ecclesiastical Writers, in James, Baronius, and others, S. James, the brother of the Lord and first Bishop of Jerusalem, who wrote the Canonical Epistle, constantly preaching Christ, was thrown by the Jews from the pinnacle of the temple, and being struck with a fuller's club, praying for his murderers, met a glorious martyrdom, after he had most holily ruled that Church for 29 years. As the divine Power soon avenged his death, Judaea began to be agitated by various calamities and prodigies, foretokens of the final destruction. Wherefore Josephus, although a Jew, whom Eusebius cites, book 2, chapter 22, and Origen, book 1 Against Celsus, ascribe the destruction of Jerusalem and Judaea by Titus to the killing of this James, who on account of his remarkable holi-

-ness and his likeness to the morals of Christ, was surnamed the Just and the brother of the Lord. Simeon, the son of Cleophas, a kinsman of Christ, succeeded S. James in the Bishopric of Jerusalem, who, until the 120th year of his age, holily governed the Church of Jerusalem, and being affixed to the cross under Trajan, died. So Eusebius in the Chronicle.

In the same year S. Barnabas was killed in Cyprus, as L. Dexter and Onuphrius hand down in the Chronicle.

In the year of Christ 64, of Peter 20, of Paul 29, of Nero 8.

S. Mark the Evangelist died as a martyr at Alexandria, for when he had been sent away from Rome by S. Peter, where he had written his Gospel, to Alexandria for the sake of the Gospel, he there established a Church of such great doctrine and continence of life, that he forced all followers of Christ to follow his example. For he established the Essenes as the first Religious and Angelic men, whom Philo, Eusebius, S. Jerome and others wonderfully celebrate. Wherefore the Gentiles on a certain Lord's Day, while he was celebrating Mass, rushing in upon him, with a rope cast around his neck dragging him over rocks, lacerated his flesh: whence almost ready to give up his spirit, being thrust into prison, with the Lord appearing to him together with the angels, he is renewed for the coming contest. When morning came, being again led out from the prison, and dragged through rough places, giving thanks to God and saying: « Into Your hands I commend my spirit, » he rendered Himself unpolluted to God, and was buried honorably by his disciples. So the Greek Menologion, Bede and Ado in the Martyrology, on April 25.

In the same year Nero compelled Octavia, his wife and sister (since she was the daughter of the Emperor Claudius, who had married Agrippina, the mother of Nero, and had therefore adopted him as his son), surrounded by calumnies, relegated to an island, finally to die by the vapor of a bath. So Tacitus, book 15.

In the same year the Apostles Simon and Jude were killed in Persia, says Onuphrius in the Chronicle, but Baronius and others deny this: about which matter I shall speak in the proem to the Epistle of S. Jude.

In the year of Christ 65, of Peter 21, of Paul 30, of Nero 9.

In this year, which was the fourth before the Jewish war, and the eighth before the siege of Jerusalem, a certain Jesus (representing by his very name and prophecy Jesus Christ, on account of whose murder Judaea was to be cut down), the son of Ananus, a plebeian and rustic, inspired by God foretold the calamities hanging over the city. For suddenly he began to cry out: « A voice from the East, a voice from the West, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple: a voice against all this people. » Wherefore severely scourged by the Magistrate, he neither asked for pardon, nor wept, but daily, as if meditating a kind of prayer, kept crying: « Woe, woe to Jerusalem, » and this for seven years and five continuous months, until standing above the wall, crying with a very loud voice: « Woe, woe to the city, the temple, the people, and to me, » struck by a stone hurled from a Roman engine, he died. So Josephus, book 7 of the War, chapter 12.

In this year Persius of Volaterra, the satirical poet, beyond his strength and age, constantly underwent martyrdom for Christ, crucified for his sake, whose birthday the Church celebrates on the 18th of February.

In the year of Christ 66, of Peter 22, of Paul 31, of Nero 10.

Rome burned in a horrible fire, the cause of which Nero by calumny cast upon the Christians, and on that account put them to death by the most savage and varied kinds of death, « so that, covered with the skins of beasts, they perished by the tearing of dogs, or were affixed to crosses, or set aflame, and when day failed, were burnt for the use of nocturnal light, » says Tacitus, book 15. These were the firstfruits of the Martyrs, whose catalog is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology on the 24th of June.

In this year the Apostle S. Matthias was killed, as L. Dexter and Onuphrius hand down in the Chronicle. Dexter adds: « Helena, queen of the Adiabenians, a Christian, flourishes at Jerusalem, converted by the preaching of the Apostles. »

In the year of Christ 67, of Peter 23, of Paul 32, of Nero 11.

Nero by public edict instituted the first persecution against the Christians and prolonged it until the end of his Empire and life. Wherefore in this persecution already begun before, very many of the Christians met an illustrious martyrdom, who are scattered through the Roman Martyrology, such as S. Barnabas, S. Andrew, S. James, the brother of the Lord, and the other Apostles, although in different years and places. Likewise many from Nero's own household, whom Paul mentions, Philippians 4:22, among whom Torpes and Evellius were eminent, who are inscribed in the Roman Martyrology on the 11th and 17th of May. Moreover S. Processus and Martinianus, the keepers of the prison; Herodion, Olympias, and the most religious women Basilissa and Anastasia, disciples of the Apostles, who are read of in the Martyrology, on the 15th of April, associated with the martyrs whom they fed and buried with their resources. S. Lucina and Perpetua, baptized by S. Peter, of whom in the Martyrology, on the 30th of June. At Rome Nero killed many Senators and chief men, because they had conspired for his death, and among them Seneca his teacher, and Lucan the Poet, Seneca's nephew, and Plautus Lateranus, Consul-designate, who had a palace on the Caelian hill, which afterwards was converted by the Emperor Constantine into the temple of the Savior, and was named by him the Lateran Basilica, as S. Jerome attests, epistle 30 to Oceanus. There followed the death of the Augusta Poppaea Sabina, whom, although most beloved, Nero, stirred by anger, killed by a blow of his heel. So Tacitus, Dio and others.

In the year of Christ 68, of Peter 24, of Paul 33, of Nero 12.

S. Peter and Paul returned to Rome, and restored the Church which was almost collapsing on account of Nero's persecution.

S. Peter wrote his second Epistle, in which he indicates that he knows from revelation that the laying aside of his tabernacle would be swift.

A little later Jude wrote his Canonical Epistle. For in it he alludes in many places to Peter's second Epistle.

Simon Magus, by his magical arts driving the Romans, and especially Nero, mad, obtained divine honors from them. S. Peter and Paul contend against him, and finally cast him down from on high as he attempted to fly. For when Simon was being carried into the air by demons, he was thrown down by the prayers of S. Peter, and with hip and legs broken, a little later breathed out his unhappy soul. Wherefore Nero, indignant that the delights of his magic had been taken from him, consigned S. Peter and Paul to the Mamertine prison, especially because Paul too had withdrawn a concubine from Nero and led her to Christ. From prison Paul wrote the second Epistle to Timothy, calling him to himself, that he might be a spectator of his impending death and martyrdom.

In the same year Apollonius of Tyana, succeeding Simon Magus, came to Rome, against whom the Apostles and Christians contended in like manner.

In the same year prodigies appeared portending the destruction of Jerusalem, namely on the 8th day of April, at the ninth hour of the night, around the altar and the temple so great a light shone for half an hour that it was thought to be the brightest day. An ox, while being led to the sacrifice, gave birth to a lamb in the middle of the temple. The eastern gate of the temple, of bronze and very heavy, though closed, opened of its own accord at the sixth hour of the night. On the 21st of May, iron chariots were seen in the air, and armed battle-lines pouring around the city. At Pentecost a voice was heard in the temple: « Let us depart hence. » So Josephus, book 7 of the War, chapter 12.

In the same year, in the month of May, the Jews began to rebel against Nero and the Romans, and the Jewish War arose, on account of the avarice and tyranny of Cestius Florus, procurator of Judaea. So Josephus, book 2 of the War, chapter 13. The Christians therefore, according to Christ's warning, departed from Jerusalem and betook themselves to the city of Pella.

In the year of Christ 69, of Peter 25, of Paul 34, of Nero 13.

In this 69th year from the incarnation of Christ, the 36th from His passion and death, S. Peter and Paul on the 29th of July were led out from the Mamertine prison (where they had converted Processus and Martinianus their guards, along with 47 others, to Christ, and had baptized them with miraculous water suddenly springing up in the prison) and met a glorious martyrdom. S. Peter was crucified in the Vatican, with his head pointing downwards; for he himself had asked this, lest he should seem to be likened and made equal to the crucified Christ. But Paul, beheaded at Aquae Salviae, milk flowed from the severed neck instead of blood; and the head, by three leaps, brought forth three fountains, which are still seen and are a source of salvation to many. S. Linus succeeded S. Peter in the pontificate, and sat for eleven years.

Vespasian, sent with an army by Nero against the Jews, afflicted them with the most grievous calamities, which Josephus recounts, book 3 of the War, chapter 4.

Jerusalem, with its citizens mutually fighting among themselves, and especially the Zealots ranging against the citizens, was afflicted with the greatest slaughters, which Josephus recounts, book 5 of the War, chapter 1.

In the year of Christ 70, of Linus 1, of Nero 14.

Nero, the year not yet having elapsed since the murder of the Apostles, in vengeance for Apostolic blood, was condemned by the Senate, because he had determined to kill the entire Senate, fleeing from the city into a cave, in his fear laid hands upon himself; one of the freedmen, Epaphroditus, finished off the dying man with difficulty on the 10th of June (the same day on which ten years before he had killed his wife Octavia), in the 32nd year of his age, the 14th of his Empire, and in him the whole family of Augustus and the royal line was extinguished. So Suetonius, in Nero, chapter 49 and following.

Nero was succeeded by Servius Sulpicius Galba, acclaimed Emperor by the soldiers whom he commanded, and he held it for seven months.

Plutarch the philosopher and M. Fabius Quintilianus the orator flourish. So Eusebius in the Chronicle.

Josephus the Jewish historian, leader of the Jewish war, when he was to be killed by the Romans, foretold to Vespasian the death of Nero, and that Vespasian would succeed him in the empire, on account of which he received his life as a gift. So Eusebius in the Chronicle.

In the year of Christ 71, of Linus 2, of Otho 1.

The Emperor Galba is killed by the soldiers and Marcus Silvius Otho is substituted in his place by them, who, when he had ruled three months, with Vitellius rebelling, took his own life; therefore Vitellius seized the empire and held it for eight months.

Vespasian meanwhile subdued many cities of Judaea to himself and to the Romans. Whence many supposed that he was the Messiah, since the kingdom of Judah had been promised by the Prophets to him. Wherefore by the work and tricks of Apollonius of Tyana he seemed to give light to a blind man and to restore a hand to a sick man. So from Tacitus, book 1, chapter 4, and Suetonius in Vespasian, chapter 7, Baronius, who proves these lies were contrived by flatterers.

In the same year, with Evodius taken from human affairs, S. Ignatius succeeded him in the chair of Antioch, who after almost 40 years under Trajan, in the year of Christ 110, exposed to lions at Rome, was crowned with glorious martyrdom, since he himself first instituted the choir of psalmody at Antioch, by which they sang alternately, because he had seen and heard the angels praising the Most Holy Trinity by this rite.

In the year of Christ 72, of Linus 3, of Vespasian 1.

Vespasian, made Emperor by his soldiers, sailing to Rome, there restored the Capitol burned in the civil war, and designated his son Titus to finish the Jewish war. Titus therefore

...besieged Jerusalem at Passover, when from every quarter the Jews had flowed together there for the festival, so that all might be enclosed by him and slaughtered or captured: just as they themselves at the same festival 38 years before had crucified Christ in the same place. In vengeance therefore for the blood of Christ, of both James the Apostles, and of S. Stephen, and of the chains of SS. Peter and Paul, and of the persecution and despoiling of the Christians, Jerusalem was taken by the Romans and burned with the temple and utterly overthrown, as Christ had foretold to it, Luke 19:43. From the Jews in the whole war eleven hundred thousand were killed, 97 captured, says Josephus, book 7 of the War, chapter 17.

In the year of Christ 73, of Linus 4, of Vespasian 2.

Titus triumphed at Rome over subjugated Judaea. His triumphal arch still stands at Rome, on which the candelabrum of the temple, which he led in triumph, is depicted to be seen. With the Jews rioting in Egypt, Vespasian commanded their temple to be demolished, built at Heliopolis 333 years before by Onias the high priest, and from him called Onion. Around these times S. Bartholomew, who is also Nathanael, an Apostle preaching Christ among the Persians, was flayed and beheaded, says Onuphrius in the Chronicle.

In the year of Christ 74, of Linus 5, of Vespasian 3.

Ebion and Cerinthus, heresiarchs denying the divinity of Christ, spread their heresies. S. John the Apostle refuted them, both by deeds and by words; and therefore he could not endure even to enter their bath, saying: « Brethren, let us go out hence, lest the bath fall and we perish with Ebion, who is within the bath, on account of his impiety. » So Epiphanius, heresy 30; although Irenaeus, book 3, chapter 4; Eusebius, book 3, chapter 22, and Theodoret, book 2 of Heretical Fables, ascribe this not to Ebion, but to Cerinthus.

In the same year S. Martial, Bishop of Limoges and Apostle of the Gauls, sent there from Rome by S. Peter, when he had converted the people of Limoges, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Cahors, the Aquitanians and others to Christ, closed his last day and went up to heaven. Pope Innocent, in the Extravagantes On Holy Unction, at the end, writes that S. Martial, with a staff given to him by S. Peter at Rome, recalled a dead man to life.

In the year of Christ 75, of Linus 6, of Vespasian 4.

S. Apollinaris, sent to Ravenna by S. Peter, after he had presided over that see for 29 years, and had endured an almost continuous martyrdom, variously tortured, flew up to heaven a martyr. Aderitus succeeded him in the bishopric, and after him Eleucadius, formerly a Platonic philosopher.

Josephus the Jewish historian is held in honor at Rome by Domitian, as he had been by Titus and Vespasian.

Philosophers go round the world, that, in imitation of Christ, they may draw disciples after themselves. Such were Apollonius of Tyana, Euphrates, Demetrius, Musonius, Damis the Pythagorean, Epictetus the Stoic, Lucian the Epicurean, Diogenes the younger, who on account of slander was beheaded by Vespasian. But S. John the Apostle, the pillar and Patriarch of the Church, ground them all down and buried them, with his companions and followers, and Dionysius the Areopagite, Ignatius, Hermas, Polycarp, Clement, etc., to whom accordingly God granted a long life and prolonged it for many years.

Onuphrius in the Chronicle asserts that S. Thomas was killed in the same year among the Indians.

In the years of Christ 76, 77, 78, 79, 80; of Linus 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; of Vespasian 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

In the year of Christ 77, the Temple of Peace, most augustly built, was dedicated, and in it were placed ornaments sought from the whole world, but especially those taken from the Temple of Jerusalem. So Josephus, book 1 of the War, 24. The inscription of the temple was: « To eternal Peace. »

In the year of Christ 80, Pope Linus, after he had sat 11 years, was crowned with martyrdom by command of Saturninus the consular on the 23rd of September. Cletus succeeded him.

In the year of Christ 81, of Cletus 1, of Vespasian 10, of Titus 1.

Vespasian, in the 69th year of his age, the tenth of his Empire, died; he was succeeded by his son Titus, the delight of the world, who chastised the luxury and excess of the city. Whence Martial says of him, book 6, epigram 9:

And Rome owes more to you, in that she is chaste.

Indeed he was so beneficent that, when once at supper he recalled that he had conferred a benefit on no one that day, he exclaimed: « Friends, I have lost a day; » he spared those who had conspired for his death, saying: « He would rather perish than destroy, » and: « Princes are given by fate. » So Suetonius in Titus, chapter 11; Dio, chapters 8 and 9.

In the year of Christ 82 and 83, of Cletus 2 and 3, of Titus 2 and 3.

The city of Rome, with a fire sent by divine power, burned for three days and as many nights. So Dio in Titus. Titus built the Amphitheater of Rome, and at its dedication killed five thousand wild beasts. So Eusebius in the Chronicle. This alone, with the Pantheon, remaining from the magnificence of ancient Rome, we still look upon in the city.

In the year of Christ 83, the Emperor Titus was taken off by poison by his brother Domitian (as the rumor was), in the 41st year of his age, the third of his Empire. He was succeeded by Domitian, savage by nature, fierce and crafty in disposition. So Suetonius, Dio, and others in Titus and Domitian.

In the years of Christ 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91; of Cletus 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; of Domitian 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

In the year of Christ 84, Titus is reckoned among the gods by the Senate. So Eusebius in the Chronicle.

Domitian drove philosophers out of the city, and among others Musonius, Dio Chrysostom, Epictetus the Stoic, and Peregrinus; but some he killed, such as Rusticus Arulenus and Maternus the Sophist. So Eusebius in the Chronicle, and Dio in Domitian.

Domitian restored at enormous expense the burned shrine of Jupiter Capitolinus. So Suetonius and Dio in Domitian.

In the year of Christ 87, Anianus, after he had presided over the Church of Alexandria for 22 years following S. Mark, departed from earth to heaven. So Eusebius, book 3, chapter 12.

In the year of Christ 88, Domitian decreed that henceforth the years should be numbered by the Capitoline games; and so from this year the first agonal was begun to be reckoned. The agonal, like the Olympiad, contained four years. So Censorinus, On the Day of Birth, chapter 14.

In the year of Christ 89, Domitian commanded the month of October to be called Domitian; and himself to be called God and Lord. Whence the saying: « The edict of our Lord and God. » So Suetonius in Domitian, chapter 13. He also daily sought a secret leisure, in which he did nothing else but pierce flies with a sharpened stylus. So Eusebius in the Chronicle.

Apollonius of Tyana, imprisoned at Rome by Domitian, by magic became invisible and vanished, and unexpectedly appeared at Puteoli, and from there went to Ephesus, where he contended with S. John.

In the year of Christ 92, of Cletus 12, of Domitian 9.

S. John the Apostle, from Ephesus to Rome, accused of impiety, was sent bound by the Proconsul of Asia to the Emperor Domitian: where, before the Latin gate, cast into a vat of boiling oil, he came out whole and unharmed, as Tertullian testifies, book On Prescriptions, chapter 36. Therefore he was banished by Domitian to the island of Patmos, Apocalypse 1:9. The place of S. John's martyrdom still exists at Rome, distinguished by a church, and the day has been entered into the Ecclesiastical tables as the 6th of May.

Domitian, says Eusebius, book 6, chapter 13, stirred up the second persecution against the Christians after Nero. For he was exceedingly cruel: whence by the Gentiles he was called another Nero. Hear Juvenal, satire 4:

When now the last Flavian was tearing apart the half-living world, And Rome was serving a bald Nero:

Under Domitian therefore, in the following years of his reign, many Martyrs suffered, among whom the more illustrious were S. Eutropius, Bishop of Saintes, sent to the Gauls by S. Clement, inscribed in the Martyrology on the 30th of April; Lucian, Bishop of Beauvais, on the 8th of January, and Maximian and Julian presbyters; at Chartres, Ceraunus, on the 28th of May; likewise Nicasius, Bishop of Rouen; Quirinus the Presbyter, Scabiculus the Deacon, Patientia the virgin, also S. Romulus; the Bishop of Fiesole in Tuscany, sent there by S. Peter; Ptolemy, Bishop of Tuscania; Eugenius, Bishop of Toledo; Mancius, a Roman citizen at Évora, and others.

In the year of Christ 93, of Clement 1, of Domitian 10.

Pope Cletus, after he had sat 12 years, is crowned with martyrdom. S. Clement succeeds him.

S. John in Patmos instructed all the inhabitants of the island in the faith and piety of Christ, says Œcumenius, in the proem to the Apocalypse.

Around this time Antipas underwent martyrdom at Pergamum in Asia, of whom I have spoken at Apocalypse 2:13.

In the year of Christ 94, of Clement 2, of Domitian 11.

Acilius Glabrio, the previous year consul at Rome, is afflicted with martyrdom along with others. So Dio in Domitian.

In the year of Christ 95, of Clement 3, of Domitian 12.

S. Clement wrote an Epistle to the Corinthians on peace and concord, which Eusebius celebrates, book 3, chapter 12. He wrote many others, as well as the Apostolic Constitutions.

In the year of Christ 96, of Clement 4, of Domitian 13.

In this year Josephus the historian, as he himself testifies at the end of book 20, finished at Rome his commentary On the Jewish Antiquities, distributed into twenty books, in which, seeing Jerusalem overthrown together with the temple and Judaism, seeing likewise that Vespasian had failed, to whom by prophecy he had attributed what had been foretold of Christ by the Prophets, namely the empire; and that the time of the Messiah had now passed, he himself, although a Jew, yet convicted by the evidence of the matter, gave a brilliant testimony to our crucified Jesus, that He Himself is the Messiah, or Christ. For thus he writes of Him, book 18 of the Antiquities, chapter 4: « At the same time there was Jesus, a wise man, if it is right to call Him a man. For He was the worker of wonderful works and the teacher of those who willingly receive the truth, and He had very many followers both from the Jews and from the Greeks. This was the Christ: whom, when accused by the chiefs of our nation, Pilate had condemned to the cross, those who from the beginning had loved Him, did not nevertheless cease to love Him. For He appeared on the third day alive, just as the divinely-inspired prophets had foretold this and many other wonderful things about Him, and to this day the race of Christians, named from Him, does not fail. » The Jews removed this passage from Josephus' Hebrew translation, made by themselves, but Josephus wrote in Greek: but the Greek and Latin copies have it as I have related. Thus to a certain Rabbi at Rome who objected this, I replied.

In the year of Christ 97, of Clement 3, of Domitian 14.

In this year S. John, banished by Domitian to Patmos, there through exile for Christ, deserved to receive from Him the Apocalypse, or revelation of those things which were to come in the Church and the world, especially at the end of the world, so that by these the faithful, wandering or wavering from the faith through fear of persecutions, or through the flattering speech of Ebion, Cerinthus, and other heretics,

-might be confirmed and strengthened in the same faith, both they and their descendants, to bear with constant spirit the remaining eight general persecutions of the Church which were imminent, to be stirred up by as many Emperors. For he alone of all the Apostles was the only survivor and an old man, as if the father and patriarch of all the faithful, supporting the burden of the Church, as the family of Christ committed to him by Him, by his authority, wisdom, and holiness, like an Atlas. So Irenaeus, book 5, at the end, Baronius and others.

S. Dionysius the Areopagite wrote an Epistle, which is the tenth in number, to S. John in Patmos, indicating that it had been revealed to him by God that he was shortly to be freed from exile, and then they would see and enjoy one another. So it was done shortly after the death of Domitian, which happened in the following year.

Domitian commanded those who were of the lineage of David to be killed, so that none of the Jews might be left for the kingdom, and thus he might take from them the expectation of the Messiah. So Eusebius in the Chronicle, and others.

In the year of Christ 98, of Clement 6, of Domitian 15.

Flavius Clemens, Roman Consul, cousin of Domitian (whose sister Flavia Domitilla he had as wife) and of S. Clement the Pope, was killed by Domitian, because he practiced the Christian religion, although Domitian had previously designated his sons as successors to the Empire, and had named one Vespasian, the other Domitian. So Suetonius in Domitian, chapter 15. For the same reason he raged against Clement's wife and niece, both namely Flavia Domitilla, and his other Christian domestics. In this year therefore he banished Flavia Domitilla the younger, niece of Flavius Clemens the Consul through his sister Plautilla, to the island of Pontia: so Eusebius, book 3, chapter 14. This is that famous Domitilla, virgin and martyr, whose mother Plautilla, converted and baptized by S. Peter at the imminence of his martyrdom, handed over this daughter Domitilla to be imbued with Christian virtues to S. Clement, who, when she had vowed her virginity to God at the urging of S. Nereus and Achilleus the eunuchs, consecrated her with the sacred veil. Wherefore, rejecting Aurelian her betrothed, she is banished to Pontia, whither Nereus and Achilleus followed her: who being dragged from there and sent to Terracina, there, after various torments, were beheaded. But Flavia, after a long exile, finally under Trajan met a glorious martyrdom. So have the Acts of SS. Nereus and Achilleus.

In this year Domitian, on account of the cruelties, especially those stirred up against the Christians, was struck down by conspirators, and namely by Stephen, the procurator of S. Flavia Domitilla, in the 45th year of his age, the 15th of his empire; wherefore all his statues and arches were immediately overthrown, and his name was even ordered to be erased from stones. So Dio in Domitian, and Suetonius, chapter 17. Apollonius of Tyana, being at Ephesus, saw this murder of Domitian by magic, with a demon revealing it. For while preaching to the people, looking at the ground with grim eyes, he said: « Strike the tyrant; » and afterwards couriers coming from Rome announced that Domitian had been killed at the same time. So Philostratus, book 8 of the Life of Apollonius.

Domitian was succeeded by Nerva Cocceius, both by the consent of the Senate and of the soldiers, and he reigned one year, whom the Historians wonderfully praise, who brought back all the exiles to their country and forbade anyone to be accused on account of religion. So Dio in Nerva. Wherefore S. John the Apostle then returned from Patmos, where he had been in exile, to Ephesus, and governed the Churches of Asia. So Eusebius, book 3, chapter 15, who also in chapter 17 recounts a wonderful example of S. John's charity in calling back from robberies a young man, formerly his disciple, when he said to the Bishop to whom he had commended him: « Come, Bishop, restore to us the deposit which I and Christ committed to you, with the Church which you govern as witness. I demand back the youth, the soul of a brother. »

Then also S. John, contending with Apollonius of Tyana the wonderworker, raised a dead man and performed many other miracles in confirmation of the faith and the faithful. So Eusebius, book 5, chapter 17; Sozomen, book 7, chapter 26; Baronius and others. Indeed L. Dexter in the Chronicle, in the year of Christ 100: « Stacteus, he says, son of Zoticus, or of Getulicus; which Zoticus was staying at Ephesus on business: Stacteus, having died, is recalled to life by John. Zoticus and Symphorosa with their sons are converted to the faith, who returning to Italy suffered. » Thus he, of whose trustworthiness I will speak at the end of the Chronotaxis.

Dionysius the Areopagite, Bishop of Athens, went to S. John on his return from Patmos, and by his counsel, as it seems, betook himself to Rome to Pope Clement, by whom he was sent into the Gauls with Rusticus and Eleutherius, that he might succeed in the preaching of the Gospel to Martial, Eutropius, Lucian and others sent there by S. Peter and now having completed life and martyrdom: who, after many conversions, finally under the Emperor Hadrian adorned his Apostolate with an illustrious martyrdom. Furthermore Publius succeeded Dionysius in the Athenian Bishopric, and Quadratus succeeded Publius. So Eusebius, book 4, chapter 22; and S. Jerome, book On Ecclesiastical Writers, in Quadratus.

In the year of Christ 99, of Clement 7, of Nerva 1.

S. John, after his return from Patmos, compelled by the Bishops of Asia and the embassies of many Churches, after a public fast and supplications had been proclaimed, wrote his Gospel, and as it were the son of thunder belched forth from heaven that proem: « In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, » says S. Jerome, Preface to the Gospel of S. Matthew. Metaphrastes adds, whom Baronius follows, that S. John, about to write his Gospel, as if another Moses about to receive a new law from heaven, ascended to the summit of a mountain, and with hands lifted up withdrew his mind from the senses: « And then horrendous thunders, he says, terrors and lightnings, with these

especially since by his prayers he caused a spring to flow to relieve the scarcity of water, with a lamb pointing out the place; by which miracle the faith and religion of Christ was wonderfully propagated there.

Flavia Domitilla together with Euphrosyna and Theodora, when they could in no way be torn from the Christian religion, consummated their martyrdom by having their chamber set on fire. The persecution against Christians grew hot. For Trajan was a great worshipper of the gods, a drunkard, and a sodomite; and among others Hadrian, the son of his cousin, who succeeded him in the empire, served his pederasty.

things similar to those which had previously befallen Moses when he received the Law took place. Finally the thunders are expressed and resound in the words, In the beginning was the Word. Furthermore, he wrote the Gospel in Greek against Ebion and Cerinthus, who were then on the rampage, who taught that Christ was a mere man, and that He did not exist before Mary. For this reason he is wholly engaged in establishing the divinity of Christ, and supplies and pursues the deeds of Christ before the imprisonment of John the Baptist, which had been passed over by the other Evangelists. So says St. Jerome, in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, on John, chapter IX.

St. John likewise wrote three canonical Epistles, of which he composed the two earlier ones against Basilides and others who denied the flesh of Christ, and who taught that the incarnation, passion, death, etc. of Christ was not real but phantasmal. Wherefore, crushing this heresy, he begins thus: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life: and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness." Wherefore St. Jerome, epistle 85 to Evagrius, says: "The son of thunder sounds his trumpet, whom Jesus loved most, who drank streams of doctrines from the breast of the Saviour: 'The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth.'" Furthermore, just as he drank the streams of doctrines, so also did he drink streams of fire and flames from the breast of Christ: whence he wholly breathes the fires and conflagrations of love and charity.

In the same year Apollonius of Tyana, the magician, seeking a hidden death (so that he might be believed to have been translated immortal into heaven), closed his last day with an uncertain end. So Philostratus, book VIII.

Nerva, seeing himself failing through old age, in order to provide for the empire, passed over those joined to him by blood and adopted M. Ulpius Trajan, a Spaniard, as his son and named him Caesar. So Dio and Pliny in the Panegyric of Trajan.

Year of Christ 100, of Clement 8, of Nerva 2, of Trajan 1.

Nerva, in his 65th year of age, says Dio, consumed by old age and sickness, departed this life on the 27th of January, to the great mourning of all. He was succeeded by Trajan, then at Agrippina, whom Nerva had the year before adopted as his son. By decree of the senate Nerva was reckoned among the gods. So Eusebius in his Chronicle.

In this hundredth year the Church of Christ wondrously grew and flourished: the temples, shrines, oracles, and altars of the gods were collapsing as if struck by a thunderbolt.

Pliny the Younger, prefect of Bithynia, wrote to Trajan asking what he wished to be done about the Christians: that he had discovered nothing else concerning their rites except that in pre-dawn assemblies they sang hymns to Christ. Trajan wrote back: "They are not to be sought out, but those who are brought before you must be punished, and the assemblies and societies which they call hetaeriae are to be forbidden." So Pliny, book X, epistle 97.

Trajan ordered Pope Clement to be deported to the Tauric Chersonese: where he wonderfully consoled the Christians condemned to cutting marble,

Year of Christ 101, of Clement 9, of Trajan 2.

St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, the last of the Apostles and as it were their Methuselah, died at Ephesus in his 97th year, and was buried near the city, after he had previously exhorted all the faithful frequently and earnestly to brotherly charity, and so much so that, when on account of old age he could no longer weave many words with his voice, he was accustomed to utter only this saying at every gathering: "Little children, love one another"; and when the disciples, wearied that they always heard the same thing, asked him why he always spoke the same words, John gave a worthy answer: "Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and, if this alone be done, it suffices," as St. Jerome relates in his epistle on Galatians, book III, chapter vi. See more in Baronius.

Onesimus, the disciple of Paul, a man of outstanding charity, succeeded St. John in the Episcopate of Ephesus. The distinguished hearers of St. John were Papias, Bishop of Hieropolis; Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna. A little after St. John, namely in the following year, which was the year of Christ 102, St. Clement, the most beloved friend of St. John, by the order of Trajan was thrown into the sea with an anchor hung from his neck, and obtained the laurel of martyrdom. But while the people prayed, the sea drew back about three miles, into which the Christians entered and found, in the form of a marble temple, a dwelling prepared by God, and there the body of St. Clement laid with the anchor. Then yearly in like manner, on the day of his passing, the sea drew back. And it happened once that through the carelessness of his parents a certain boy was left there, who at the turning of the year was found alive: so the Life and Acts of St. Clement relate.

Note: About 1200 years ago, in the age of St. Jerome and Augustine, Fl. Lucius Dexter, son of St. Patian (afterwards Bishop of Barcelona), Praetorian Prefect of the East under the Emperor Theodosius, a Spaniard and panegyrist of the Spaniards, wrote a Chronicle from the birth of Christ down to the year of Christ 430, in which year St. Augustine died, and dedicated it to St. Jerome (and, he being already deceased, to Paulus Orosius), as he himself testifies in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, at the end, the book which St. Jerome in turn dedicated to the same L. Dexter. Cardinal Baronius searched for it but did not find it: after his death it was found in the Library of Barcelona, having long before been

transferred (so they say) from the Library of Fulda, and was published in Spain at Saragossa in the year of the Lord 1619, with the appendices of Maximus, Braulio, and Heleca, Bishops of Saragossa, who alternately and successively continued and extended it down to their own times. Many learned men, especially Spaniards, eagerly take it up and cite it. Yet some learned men, whose criticism is sharp, judge it spurious, or at any rate patched together and corrupted with shreds of other writers: both because various copies of it are in circulation which differ and disagree with one another; and because the rougher style does not match the style of Dexter; and because it appears interspersed with paradoxes and chronological errors; and because where, when and by whom it was first recovered after so many centuries is unknown. I myself diligently searched for it at Fulda, but did not find it. I would not wish to sit as arbiter in this dispute, nor to claim for myself the judgment of so great an author, so as either to deny or grant credit to it. I hear that there are men in Spain who will reissue and polish it, and will grant it credit. From time to time, but sparingly, I shall cite it, especially when, in narrating things more probable and rare, it is supported and strengthened by the testimony of other weighty authors.

Finally, many have set in order and described with exactness the whole series of the journey of St. Paul, such as Oronce Fine, Petrus Apianus, Marcus Jordanus, Arias Montanus and others; and Ortelius displays it for inspection in a chorographical table, in his Theatrum, page 114. I will therefore not do what has already been done.

The Effigy of Saint Paul, or the Idea of the Apostolic Life

Saint Paul and the other Apostles so excelled in every virtue, and so continually exercised each one through heroic acts, that they were set by God before all the faithful through all ages as an exemplar and mirror in the perfection of those virtues, which all should strive to emulate to the best of their power. For as Saint Chrysostom often inculcates in his eight homilies On the Praise of Saint Paul, Paul had the same nature with us, the same body, the same soul, and therefore what he accomplished, we too can accomplish through the grace of Christ — which God lavishly bestowed upon Paul, and which He likewise liberally offers and imparts to each of the faithful who ask for it and strenuously cooperate with it, and that grace ever greater and greater according to the merit of prayer and operation. He marvellously increased Gods grace through daily labors and contests for the faith; we also, in like manner, can each day augment that same grace through illustrious works, especially heroic ones, by wonderful increments. « The Apostles were heralds of Christ, champions of truth, athletes of God, organs of the Holy Spirit, presidents of religion, princes of the Church, prelates of holiness: » it is our part to follow them with steady step, and although our pace is unequal to theirs, yet by continually pressing on, those whom we follow at a distance we shall at length, if not overtake at close quarters, certainly pursue closely. To this their contests, crowns, and trophies invite us, and the titles and elogies with which all the Fathers without exception adorn and celebrate them. Receive a few selected from many.

Saint Chrysostom, Homily 1 On the Praises of Saint Paul: « He would by no means err, » he says, « who should call Pauls soul a kind of remarkable meadow of virtues and a spiritual paradise: for it flourished with such marvellous grace, and shone forth with a perfection of life so congruent with that grace; for since he was made a vessel of election and took care to amend himself well, the gift of the Holy Spirit was most lavishly poured out upon him. What tongue could be found equal to his praises, when one soul possessed all the goods that are in men, and possessed them all fully and in heaped measure — goods which are not only of men but, what is more, of angels? » Again: « Paul, citizen of heaven, pillar of the Churches, earthly angel, heavenly man. For as iron cast into fire is wholly turned into fire, so Paul, kindled with charity, was wholly made charity. » The same writer, more sweetly and copiously, on Matthew chapter 10: « Christ, » He says, « sent forth the Apostles as the sun his rays, as the rose the sweetness of its fragrance, as fire scatters its sparks, so that as the sun is recognized in its rays, as the rose is sensed in its fragrances, as fire is beheld in its sparks, so in their virtues the power of Christ might be acknowledged. For who, seeing well-instructed disciples, does not commend the knowledge of the master? » Briefly but vigorously, Saint Augustine in Sermon 1 On the Apostles Peter and Paul: « Paul, » he says, « while he pursues the holy ones with the sword, takes up the yoke of faith and is made teacher of the Gentiles, model of martyrs, terror of demons, pardoner of crimes, and fountain of virtues. » The same: « The Lord gave the Apostles, » He says, « power over nature, to heal it; over demons, to overthrow them; over the elements, to change them; over death, to despise it; over the angels, to consecrate the Lords body. » This power was also given to their successors, according to that of Apocalypse 11:6: « They have power to shut heaven and to turn water into blood. »

Furthermore, equally heroic and admirable was their death as had been their life. Hear Saint Augustine, in the sermon already cited: « It can in no way be explained, » he says, « by what modes the slaying of the Apostles is reckoned precious. They die abject, and they take the principate of the whole world. They die strangers to earthly dignity, and by their workmanship heaven is opened and shut. » The same, Sermon 5 On the Dedication of the Church: « Through them, therefore, was the salvation of believers confirmed; for we see that they confirmed by dying the truth which they announced by preaching: declaring by deeds, not by words, how great is that good — certain in hope, glorious in retribution, joyful in possession — for which light is despised, the sword is not feared, the soul is unhesitatingly given up. » The same, Book I On the City of God, chapter 32, prefers Scipio to the gods of the Romans: « It would be more tolerable, » he says, « for you to confer divine honors on that Scipio than to worship gods of that kind. For those gods were not better than their own pontiff. » And Tertullian, in the Apology, chapter 11, says it would have been more fitting that gods be made for wisdom — Socrates; for justice — Aristides; for military art — Themistocles; for eloquence — Cicero; for felicity — Sulla; for wealth — Crassus; for sublimity — Pompey; for gravity — Cato: for these surpassed the very gods themselves in these matters. What, then, shall we say of the Apostles? for these,

they were the summits, nay rather the thunderbolts, not of one nation, but of all; not of one virtue, but of all virtues. These therefore have been to Christians not human but divine Pontiffs, Scipios, Socrateses, Aristideses, Themistocleses, Ciceros, Pompeys, Catos. For to them truly belongs that of Psalm 81:6: « I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. » And that of Psalm 138:17: « To me, O God, your friends have been made exceedingly honorable; their principate has been exceedingly strengthened. » And that of Psalm 18:1: « The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the works of His hands. Their sound has gone forth into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. » « The Church, » says Saint Bernard, Sermon 27 on the Canticle, « has its own heavens — spiritual men, conspicuous in life and reputation, pure in faith, firm in hope, joyful in charity, suspended in contemplation. And these, raining down the rain of the saving word, thunder with rebukes and flash with miracles. These declare the glory of God. »

Now let us depict in detail the manners of Paul and the Apostles, that we may be able to contemplate, admire, and emulate them better. For the sake of order and memory I will distinguish them under three heads. The first will treat of those things which concern God; the second, of those concerning oneself; the third, of those that regard ones neighbor. I paint Paul above the rest from Luke. For with Saint Chrysostom, Homily 41 on Genesis: « I burn with love of this man, and therefore he is continually on my lips, and as I look upon his soul as upon some archetypal model, I am astonished in this man at the marvellous trampling down of the passions, the excellence of fortitude, the fervor of love toward God; and I judge that one man gathered together and perfected every virtue. » The same, Homily 22 to the People: « Paul, » he says, « the Apostle, doctor of the Gentiles, having Christ speaking in him; an earthly angel and a heavenly man; the receptacle of the Holy Spirit, who in a corruptible body inhabited paradise; incomparable in zeal, great in charity, the solicitous curator of Gods Churches, an orator of piety, a guide of the weak, a marriage-broker for believers, the refuter of the Jews, the dragnet of us all, leader after mortification, and after death the herald who showed us how one ought to ascend into heaven. » Wherefore Paul is called the Apostle by excellence and antonomasia, says Saint Augustine, who also in book XIV On the City of God, chapter 9: « We find, » he says, « the doctor of the Gentiles in faith and truth, who labored more than all his fellow-apostles and instructed the peoples of God by many epistles — him, I say, the true athlete of Christ, taught by Him, anointed of Him, crucified with Him, glorified in Him, in the theatre of this world, to which he was made a spectacle both to angels and to men, lawfully striving in a great contest and pressing toward the palm of the supernal calling. »

Wherefore that which Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 20 On the Praises of Saint Athanasius, intending to say, begins thus: « Praising Athanasius, I shall praise virtue. For it is the same thing to speak of him as to extol virtue with praises: since he held all virtues gathered into one, and still holds them; and praising virtue, I shall praise God, from whom virtue is in men. » I shall rather say the same of Paul: praising Paul, I shall praise the apostolate, nay, God Himself, who is the author both of Paul and of the apostolate. For, as Saint Leo says, Sermon 1 On Saints Peter and Paul: « Concerning those summits, nay rather eyes, of the Church, who surpass every faculty of speech, we ought to perceive nothing as different, nothing as separate, since election made them equal as sons, labor made them alike, and the end made them equals. »

Chapter I: On Paul's Manners and Virtues that Concern God

First endowment and virtue: Gods singular election and calling, with the most humble acknowledgement, thanksgiving, and admiration thereof

First, Paul was predestined from eternity by Gods singular grace, not only to faith and holiness but also to the apostolate, and that an outstanding one — namely, that he should be made above the other Apostles a wonderful herald of the Gospel and doctor of the Gentiles wherever they dwelt. Thus he himself, in Ephesians 1:11, treating of the predestination of Christ who restores all things: « In Him, » he says, « we also have been called by lot according to His purpose, who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first hoped in Christ might be unto the praise of His glory. » And in Acts 9:15, God says of him to Ananias: « This man is to Me a vessel of election (chosen by Me from eternity, and selected from so many millions of men), to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the sons of Israel. » Here that is verified: « It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy, » Romans 9:16. Furthermore, the Apostles moved the world by love, but the Prophets by terror. For the Prophets terrify; the Apostles persuade. « For God uses now the rod, now the scourge. The rod, that He may correct; the scourge, that He may persuade. There the precept is straight, here it is bent, by which the conscience of the sinner is, as it were, scourged with a slow lash. For prophetic terrors are one thing, and apostolic persuasions another: yet in both there is the discipline of one Word, » says Saint Ambrose, book IX on Luke, chapter 19, at the end of the chapter. The same, book VII: « He sent them, » he says, « to sow faith, who would not compel but teach; nor exert the force of power, but extol the doctrine of humility. »

Secondly, Paul, by the same grace of God, was called by Him in time to grace and to the apostolate at one and the same instant; which grace was outstanding, both in itself, and from this head, that he was called in the very heat of persecution, when, namely, he was breathing threats and slaughter against the Christians. For then, with God suddenly shining upon him, of a wolf he was made a sheep, of Saul a Paul, of a persecutor a preacher,

Acts 9:6; nay, soon after Stephen had been slain and stoned by him, being converted, he immediately succeeded him in preaching: « For after the mouth of Stephen fell silent, soon the trumpet of Paul sounded, » says Saint Chrysostom, in his Homily On the Conversion of Saint Paul. This was his antecedent, and as it were first-act, calling to the Apostolate; for the consequent and as it were second-act calling was that by which, having been consecrated bishop at Antioch, he was next sent to evangelize the Gentiles, Acts 13:2, the Holy Spirit saying: « Set apart for Me Saul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them. » Furthermore, Paul received a more abundant grace than the other Apostles, that God might the more show that what He gives is His own and not mans: as a physician shows the excellence of his art on a hopeless patient, says Saint Augustine on Psalm 130. Whence Christ called the other Apostles by word, but Paul He compelled to faith by casting him down and blinding him, says the same Augustine, Epistle 50 to Boniface.

Thirdly, Paul obeyed this calling of God at once plainly and fully, saying: « Lord, what do You will me to do? » Acts 9:6. Whence, having been baptized, « continuously he preached Jesus in the synagogues, that this is the Son of God. » Ibid., verse 20, and Galatians 1:15: « But when it pleased Him who set me apart from my mothers womb, and called me by His grace, that He might reveal His Son in me, immediately I did not yield to flesh and blood, etc. » Wherefore he immediately exposed himself for Christ to peril of life, with the Jews gnashing against him as an apostate, voluntarily exposing himself by preaching. For Paul was of keen intellect and ardent disposition, fiery by nature, as is clear from Acts 9:1. Whence, with Gods grace coming and informing his nature, he became Gods chosen organ, efficacious and outstanding; wherefore Saint Bernard, in his Sermon On the Conversion of Saint Paul: « The converted Paul, » he says, « was made the minister of conversion to the whole world, etc., and does not yet cease from the conversion of men — I mean by example, by prayer, by doctrine. »

Fourthly, Paul everywhere admires this grace of God in himself, and with marvellous lowliness of mind, gratitude, and exultation celebrates and proclaims it. Whence he begins his epistles thus, almost universally: « Paul, called an Apostle, not from men nor by man, but through Jesus Christ. » And: « To me, » he says, « the least of all the saints, this grace was given, to evangelize among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all as to what is the dispensation of the mystery hidden from the ages in God, who created all things, » Ephesians 3:8.

Fifthly, Paul, understanding the preaching of the Gospel to be entrusted to him by this calling of God, judged himself bound to it, so much so that if he neglected it, he would commit a grave sin. For this is what he says, 1 Corinthians 9:16: « For if I preach the Gospel, it is no glory to me; for necessity lies upon me; for woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel. » And: « God has placed in us the word of reconciliation.

Therefore for Christ we discharge an embassy, as though God were exhorting through us. We beseech you for Christs sake, be reconciled to God, » 2 Corinthians 5:20. Let those who feel themselves called by God to the apostolic state imitate Paul, that they may obey God who calls and cooperate strenuously. For, as Saint Basil says on Isaiah chapter 1: « Unless we persevere in the foundation of the Apostles, building precious things worthy of honor, then, as if propped up on no foundation, we shall go headlong, and our ruin will be no small one. »

Second endowment and virtue: a Lawful Mission

First, Paul was taught immediately by Christ through revelation and learned the Gospel, as he himself plainly asserts in Galatians 1:12. Hence certain Gnostics taught that of the Apostles only Paul knew the truth, because the mystery had been manifested to him through revelation; whom Irenaeus refutes in book III, chapter 13.

Secondly, Paul, being about shortly to set forth to evangelize the Gentiles, was caught up into the third heaven in the year of Christ 44, the ninth from his conversion, and there he heard secret words which it is not lawful for man to speak, 2 Corinthians 12:2 — so that, as it were, he might be sent by God like another Moses, and might appear to come forth as a heavenly doctor of the Gentiles from heaven. Whence Saint Bernard, Sermon 23 on the Canticle: « Thomas, » he says, « at the side, John on the breast, Peter in the bosom of the Father, Paul in the third heaven — obtained the grace of this secret. Thomas in the solidity of faith, John in the breadth of charity, Paul in the inwardness of wisdom, Peter in the light of truth. » And Saint Ambrose, on Psalm 47: « Behold, » he says, « Paul, when he persecuted the Church of God, was the side of the North. Now behold him, when he is read in the Church, that he is the watch-mountain (Zion), through whom we know and see the glory of Christ. »

Thirdly, nevertheless by Gods instinct he conferred his Gospel and doctrine with Saint Peter and the other Apostles, that they might approve it and give testimony of its truth before the faithful: « I conferred, » he says, « with them the Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, etc., lest perhaps I should run or had run in vain, » Galatians 2:2. And verse 9: « When they had recognized the grace given to me, James, and Cephas, and John, who were seen to be pillars, gave me the right hands of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, but they to the circumcision. »

Fourthly, Paul, although elected an Apostle by God, was nevertheless authorized by the Church. Whence by command of the Holy Spirit he was consecrated bishop by her chief men and sent to preach to the Gentiles, Acts 13:2. For the hierarchical order instituted by God demands this: that lower men should be governed and sent by higher men, lest fraud and deceit be able to lie hidden. For thus pseudo-prophets and heretics lie that they are sent by God, when they are sent by the devil, and therefore reject every mission and direction of the Pontiffs of the Church — of whom the Lord rightly complains through Jeremiah, chapter 23, verse 21, saying: « I did not send the prophets,

and they ran; I did not speak to them, and they prophesied. »

Fifthly, Paul, in doubts and controversies about observing the legal precepts, went to Saint Peter and the Apostles, and following their judgment, proposed the same to the whole Church of Antioch to be embraced and observed, Acts 15. So Saint Jerome, although a doctor of the Church, in tome II, Epistle 57 to Pope Damasus, asks of him a decision of the question: Whether in God three hypostases ought to be spoken of, or one? « From the shepherd, » he says, « the sheep demands protection. With the successor of the fisherman and the disciple of the cross I speak. I, following no one as first save Christ, am united by communion to your blessedness, that is, to the Chair of Peter. I know that the Church is built upon that rock, etc. Whoever does not gather with you, scatters; that is, he who is not of Christ is of Antichrist. »

Third endowment and virtue was: an Outstanding and Powerful Faith, even for working miracles

First, Paul excelled in faith. For as a doctor he everywhere preached and championed it against Jews, philosophers, orators, magicians, kings, and tyrants. Excellently Saint Chrysostom on Matthew chapter 20, explaining that text, But they cried out the more: « Such, » he says, « is the nature of faith: the more it is forbidden, the more it is kindled. The virtue of faith is secure in dangers; in security it is endangered. For what so slackens the vigor of faith as long tranquility? » The same on Matthew chapter 25: « Faith, » he says, « is a lamp; for as a lamp illuminates a house, so faith illuminates the soul. » The same on the article of the Symbol, I believe in God: « Faith, » he says, « is the light of the soul, the gate of life, the foundation of eternal salvation. »

Secondly, Paul, caught up into the third heaven, saw the mysteries which we believe by faith, 2 Corinthians 12:2. Indeed, Saint Augustine, book XIII On the Trinity, chapter 2, teaches that our faith in its own way both sees and is seen, namely in its own works and effects. Thus also through heroic works Paul displayed his immense faith to the whole world. Wisely Saint Bernard, Sermon 24 on the Canticle: « The death of faith, » he says, « is the separation of charity. Do you believe in Christ? Do the works of Christ, that your faith may live. Let love animate your faith, let action prove it. Let earthly work not bend down him whom faith of heavenly things lifts up. » And Saint Ambrose, Sermon 1: « The Christian faith, » he says, « as a grain of mustard seed, at first sight seems to be small, vile, slender, not showing its power; but when it begins to be ground by various temptations, it immediately puts forth its vigor, shows its sharpness, breathes out the warmth of the Lords credulity, and is tossed by such ardor of the divine fire that it itself glows, and compels its sharer to glow with it. »

Thirdly, Paul celebrates his own faith, and that of the Prophets and Apostles, throughout, and especially in the whole eleventh chapter to the Hebrews: « Faith, » he says, « is the substance of things hoped for, the argument of things not appearing. » See the rest that follows.

as a chosen arrow. How blessed it is to be wounded by this arrow!»

Secondly, Paul desired to die, that he might enjoy his Christ: «I am hard pressed,» he says, «between the two: having a desire to depart and to be with Christ,» Philippians 1:23. And: «Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?» Romans chapter 7, verse 24. Paul therefore was a dove groaning and sighing for heaven, as St. Augustine testifies on Psalm 54; he said with the Bride: «Stay me with flowers, compass me about with apples; for I languish with love,» Canticles 2:5.

Thirdly, Paul challenged enemies, hardships, perils, devils, and all of hell and the world, as it were to a duel for the love of Christ: «Who,» he says, «shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or peril? or persecution? or sword? as it is written: For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,» Romans chapter 8, verse 35.

Fourthly, from such an inflamed love of God flowed an ardent love toward his neighbors, so much so that he strove to convert the whole world to Christ, of which more below. Truly St. Jerome, epistle 14 to Celantia: «True love,» he says, «possesses great power: and one who is perfectly loved claims for himself the entire will of the lover. Nothing is more imperious than charity. If we truly love Christ, if we remember that we have been redeemed by His blood, we ought to wish nothing more, to do nothing at all, than what we know He wishes.»

Fifthly, Paul loved Christ so greatly that he seemed transformed into Him. For the effect of love, indeed its very pinnacle, is intimate union, ecstasy, and rapture into the beloved: for the soul is more where it loves than where it animates. This is what those words of Paul convey: «For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,» Philippians 1:21. «I am crucified with Christ. I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me,» Galatians 2:20. And chapter 6:14: «But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.» And verse 17: «From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.» Christ therefore appeared to be the mind, soul, life, and spirit of St. Paul, who through him spoke, worked, and suffered. «Do you,» he says, «seek a proof of Him who speaks in me, namely Christ?» 2 Corinthians 13:3. Hence St. Jerome prescribed to Pammachius this rule of life and love: «Let Christ be all, so that one who has given up all things for Christ's sake may find Him alone in place of all things, and with free voice may proclaim: The Lord is my portion.» Finally, Paul, fastened to the cross with Christ, by nails not of iron but of love, lived in Him an amorous life, as St. Dionysius says, chapter 4 of On the Divine Names, because Christ lived in him as the principle, rule, and end of all his thoughts, desires, words, and works. And this is what he says: «For me to live is Christ;» as if to say: My life is Christ, my thought is Christ, my desire is Christ, my love is Christ; my willing, my speaking, my working is Christ; I want nothing else, I savor nothing else, I do nothing else, I think and speak nothing else than Christ.

Sixthly, Paul and the Apostles, as if drunk with the love of God, everywhere belched Him forth, celebrating the great works of God, Acts 2:13. See what is said there: «For whether,» he says, «we are beside ourselves, it is for God: or whether we are sober, it is for you. For the love of Christ urges us on, etc., that they who live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who died and rose again for them,» 2 Corinthians 5:13. Hence everywhere he breathes Him forth and breathes Him into others: «Be ye filled,» he says, «with the Holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father,» Ephesians 5:19.

Seventhly, the name of Jesus was a delight to Paul, honey in his mouth, melody in his ear, jubilation in his heart. Hence in his few short epistles he repeats it two hundred and nineteen times, but the name of Christ four hundred and one times. «There is no one,» says Chrysostom, book 3 On the Priesthood, «who loved Christ more vehemently than Paul; no one who was more pleasing to God than Paul.» Hence in turn Jesus so soothed him with His consolations that he despised the pleasures of the flesh and the world, indeed loathed them as dung. He therefore said with the Bride: «My soul melted when my beloved spoke,» Canticles 5. And: «My beloved is mine, and I am His, who feeds among the lilies, until the day breathe and the shadows decline.» So we read of St. Ephrem that he so abounded in divine sweetness that he cried out: «Restrain, O Lord, the waves of Thy sweetness, for I cannot endure them.» And St. Xavier, the Apostle of the Indians: «It is enough, Lord, it is enough.» And Blessed Aloysius Gonzaga: «Depart from me, Lord.»

The Sixth was, A profound reverence and religion toward God

First, Paul, having God always before his eyes, reverenced Him, considering himself to be moving, acting, and speaking in His divine sight and that of all the angels. «We are made,» he says, «a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men,» 1 Corinthians 4:9. So St. Bernard dwelt and abided with God in a cloud. Likewise St. Benedict, who therefore with eyes lifted toward heaven

"What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man," 1 Cor. 2:9. Again, he calls them "the unsearchable riches of Christ, the dispensation of the mystery hidden from the ages in God, the manifold wisdom of God; that you may be able, he says, to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and to know also the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God," Ephesians 3:8 and 18.

The seventh virtue was: full conformity of his will with the divine will and resignation to it.

First, Paul in all things conformed himself and his own to the divine will: "That you may prove, he says, what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God," Romans 12:2. Hence he had the most upright intention in all his actions, intending in everything to please God alone; wherefore he counted as nothing the judgments of men, their praises or reproaches; nor did he allow himself to be drawn from what was just and right by any man's love or hatred, by flatteries or threats; but was everywhere sincere, upright, constant, immovable, and unperturbed, as if fixed in God, and therefore superior to all things, both prosperous and adverse: "To me, he says, it is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by man's day: but neither do I judge my own self. For I am not conscious to myself of anything, yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge not before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise from God," 1 Cor. 4:3. Hence again Paul, in all things, whether adverse or prosperous, gave thanks to God, Coloss. 3:17, and praised His providence, saying with the Psalmist: "I will bless the Lord at all times." The same St. Jerome prescribes to Pammachius: "I am healthy, he says, I give thanks to the Creator; I am sick, and in this also I praise the Lord's will. For when I am weak, then am I stronger, and the strength of the spirit is perfected in the weakness of the flesh." So St. Servulus, the poor paralytic, says St. Gregory, IV Dial. 14: "He was always eager to give thanks in his pain, to spend day and night in hymns and praises to God." Whence as he was dying, he said to those singing psalms with him: "Be silent: do you not hear what great praises resound in heaven?" And while attending to these, he gave up his soul to God, with a marvelous fragrance which he breathed forth.

Second, Paul worshiped and adored God with profound humility of heart and body: "We have, he says, grace, by which we may serve, pleasing God with fear and reverence. For our God is a consuming fire," Hebrews 12:28. And: "For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all paternity in heaven and on earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit in the inward man," Ephesians 3:14. And: "I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the understanding: I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the understanding," 1 Cor. 14:15.

Third, Paul frequently invoked God, and asked for the prayers of Christians, that God would enlighten the minds of the faithful and unbelievers to whom he preached: "I give thanks, he says, to my God in every remembrance of you, always in all my prayers making supplication for you all with joy," Philippians 1:3. And: "For the rest, brethren, pray for us, that the word of God may run and be glorified, even as among you; and that we may be delivered from importunate and evil men," 2 Thessalonians 3:1. And: "Be instant in prayer, etc., praying withal for us also, that God may open unto us a door of speech to speak the mystery of Christ," Coloss. 4:3. He writes the same in Ephesians 6:18 and 19.

Fourth, Paul, says St. Chrysostom in homily 1 on his praises: "He sacrificed himself to God day by day; which sacrifice he offered in a twofold manner: by dying daily, and by carrying about in his body the mortification without intermission. For he was constantly prepared for dangers, completing martyrdom by his will, and by mortifying in himself the nature of the flesh, he fulfilled the duty of a sacrificed victim to God, no less than that, but indeed much more. Wherefore he said: For I am being sacrificed, calling his blood the sacrifice. Nor was he content with these sacrifices alone, but because he had consecrated himself to God, he also strove to offer the entire world."

Fifth, Paul stands amazed and silent before God, the Holy Trinity, and His works and counsels: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, and recompense shall be made him? For of Him, and by Him, and in Him are all things: to Him be glory forever. Amen," Romans 11:33. Especially he marvels at the mystery of redemption, of the incarnation, of the passion and cross of Christ, and of the calling of the Gentiles and the reprobation of the Jews, and he deeply searches it and embellishes it grandly, calling it "the mystery, kept secret since eternal ages, which now is made manifest by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the eternal command of God, unto the obedience of faith," Romans 16:25. And he breathed forth his last breath amid the words of prayer, says St. Gregory, Bk. II Dial., ch. 37.

Second, Paul carried out God's will everywhere, like a terrestrial angel. Wherefore St. Chrysostom compares him to the Angels in homily 1 On the Praises of St. Paul; for of these it is written, Psalm 103:4 and Hebrews 1:7: "Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire." And Psalm 102:20: "Powerful in might, doing His word." For Paul not only fulfilled God's precepts, but even surpassed them, adding evangelical counsels, that he might preach the Gospel freely without charge: "What, he says, is my reward? That preaching the Gospel, I may preach the Gospel without charge," 1 Cor. 9:18.

"Paul," says Chrysostom, hom. 1 On the praises of St. Paul, "like fire and spirit ran through the entire world of lands, and by running through purified it. And this is altogether marvelous: that being such, he conversed on earth, and still surrounded by mortal flesh, fought with the strength of incorporeal powers. How worthy of condemnation are we, then, when one man has gathered into himself all good things, and we do not strive to imitate even the smallest part of them? Continually turning these things over in our mind, let us make ourselves blameless, and let us strive to attain to his zeal, that we may merit to come to the same goods."

Third, Paul in all things did that which is more perfect and more pleasing to God. Blessed Teresa vowed to do this, much more so Paul. Hence while preaching the Gospel he labored with his hands, lest he should be a burden to anyone. Hence he lived in perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience, like a Religious — indeed, like the leader and patriarch of the Religious. Of which more shortly.

Fourth, Paul kept his mind united with God through prayer and contemplation, not only by day but also by night. Whence Philip [Paul], when cast into prison with Silas, praying and praising God at midnight, shook the prison with an earthquake and unbarred all the doors, Acts 16:25. So St. James, the brother of the Lord, as his life records, had calloused knees from frequent and long kneeling in prayer. So St. Paula, inviting St. Marcella to Bethlehem, epist. 17, in St. Jerome: "Behold, she says, in this small hollow of the earth the Creator of the heavens was born! When through Shiloh and Bethel we have returned to our cave, we shall sing without ceasing, we shall weep often, we shall pray unceasingly, and wounded by the dart of the Savior we shall say together: I have found Him whom my soul sought, I will hold Him and not let Him go. And: As the deer longs for fountains of waters, so does my soul long for You, O God."

Fifth, Paul had immense zeal for propagating the divine honor: "So that from Jerusalem round about as far as Illyricum, he says, I have replenished the Gospel of Christ," Romans 15:19. With this zeal he opposed himself to St. Peter, the prince both of himself and of the other Apostles, and freely rebuked him before all, saying: "If you, being a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how do you compel the Gentiles to live as Jews?" Galatians 2:14. Wherefore Nazianzen rightly says, Orat. 25: "Were not the Apostles, he says, pilgrims? Were they not guests of many nations and cities? Into which they were divided, that the Gospel might run everywhere, that nothing might be without a share of the threefold light (the Holy Trinity), and least suffused with the light of truth, so that even from those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, the burden of ignorance might be shaken off."

Chapter II: On Paul's Character and Virtues Concerning Himself

The first virtue: Patience

First, Paul was of admirable, adamantine, and most ample patience. For he placed it as the foundation of the Apostolic life in his soul. Wherefore he himself, depicting the perfect Apostolic man, 2 Corinthians 6:4: "In all things, he says, let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in tribulations, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in sweetness; in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the arms of justice on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as seducers, and yet truthful: as unknown, and yet known: as dying, and behold we live: as chastened, and not killed: as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing: as needy, yet enriching many: as having nothing, and possessing all things." Whence St. Jerome to Nepotian: "Through good report, he says, and bad, on the right and on the left, the soldier of Christ marches, neither lifted up by praise nor broken by reproach; not swelling with riches, not depressed by poverty: he despises both joys and sorrows: by day the sun does not burn him, nor the moon by night." Such by Paul's example was St. Athanasius, who for 46 years, fleeing throughout the whole world, sustained the persecutions of the Arians with unconquered strength of soul, to whom therefore St. Gregory Nazianzen rightly gives this eulogy, orat. 20: "Athanasius was a diamond to those who struck him, a magnet to the wavering."

Second, Paul exercised this patience throughout his whole life everywhere, and by exercising it increased it as it were beyond measure. Wherefore St. Chrysostom, hom. 1 On the praises of St. Paul, prefers him to St. Job, "who, he says, is a marvelous athlete, and who could look at Paul himself as from the opposite side, on account of the patience and purity of life, on account of the testimony of God concerning that mightiest contest with the devil, on account of the victory which followed the contest; but Paul, enduring not only months but many years in the struggle, shone forth so brilliantly, not scraping the corruption of his flesh on a clod of earth, but frequently entering the very mouth of the intelligible lion, and fighting against innumerable temptations, was more enduring than every stone, who bore reproaches not from three or four friends, but from all the unbelievers, even from false brethren, spat upon by all and cursed." And shortly after: "But worms and wounds inflicted savage and intolerable pains on St. Job; and I confess it. But if through so many years the lashes of Paul, and with continual hunger also nakedness, chains, prison, ambushes, dangers

you consider, which he suffered from his own household, from strangers, from tyrants, and finally from the whole world; if you add also to these still bitterer things — that is, the sorrows for those who were falling, the solicitude which he bore for the Churches, the burning which he endured for each scandalized soul — you will see how that suffering soul was harder than every rock, and surpassing iron and diamond."

Third, there are three degrees of patience: first, to suffer patiently; second, willingly; third, exultantly, glorying in it, and seeking out passions and persecutions. In all these Paul excelled: for he gloried in tribulations, Rom. 5:3, and in them gave thanks to God. St. Francis Xavier in the most bitter persecutions and tribulations so abounded with divine consolations that, unable to contain them, he would say: "It is enough, Lord, it is enough"; but of labors and persecutions he would say and ask: "More, Lord, more. Do not free me from this cross, unless You send a heavier one." So his Life and the Acts of his canonization have it. This he had learned, this he had drawn from St. Paul and St. James, who says, ch. 1, vers. 2: "Esteem it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into divers temptations, knowing that the trial of your faith works patience; and patience has a perfect work." So Paul exults in his chains: "I, he says, the prisoner in the Lord," Ephesians 3:1, and he glories more in this title than if crowned with a diadem, says Chrysostom. See what is said there. Hence also St. Peter, 1 Epist. ch. 4, vers. 13: "Communicating, he says, with the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, that when His glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."

Fourth, Paul, chosen by God as an Apostle, was at the same time appointed leader of sufferings and of patience, that we might learn that the mark of an Apostle is patience of every kind: "This man, He said, is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My name before the Gentiles." He adds the reason: "For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake," Acts 9:15. See what is said there. Hence Paul, 1 Cor. 4:11: "Even unto this hour, he says, we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed abode; and we labor, working with our own hands; we are reviled, and we bless: we are persecuted, and we suffer it: we are blasphemed, and we entreat." And in his second epistle, ch. 12:12: "The signs, he says, of my Apostleship have been wrought on you, in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds."

But recounting his contests in particular and triumphing in them as in trophies, ch. 11:23: "In many more labors, he says, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes beyond measure, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes, save one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren: in labor and painfulness, in much watching, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness; besides those things which are without, my daily instance, the solicitude for all the Churches," etc.

Fifth, Paul with marvelous patience bore his rivals, the envious, detractors, and calumniators. See 2 Cor. ch. 10 and 11. And Philippians 1:17: "Some, he says, out of contention preach Christ, not sincerely, supposing that they raise affliction by my chains. What then? So long as in every way, whether by occasion or by truth, Christ is preached, in this also I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice, etc., because I shall be confounded in nothing, but with all confidence, as always, so now also shall Christ be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." And: "In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not destitute; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not," 2 Cor. 4:8. Truly St. Gregory, hom. 35 on the Gospels: "Patience, he says, is martyrdom in hidden thought."

Sixth, Paul heroically endured and overcame very many not only infirmities and distresses of body but also of soul, and indeed grave and continuous temptations of the flesh: "Lest, he says, the greatness of revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I asked the Lord that it might depart from Me, and He said to me: My grace is sufficient for you; for power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful," 2 Cor. 12:7.

The second virtue: Penitence and constant mortification

First, Paul continually wept over his sin of unbelief and of persecuting Christians — although committed from ignorance — and publicly confessed it often, with great feeling of sorrow, which he transmitted by his writings to all later generations and all ages. "I am, he says, the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I have persecuted the Church of God," 1 Cor. 15:9. And: "A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the first (not in time, but in malice, says St. Augustine on the title of Psalm 70): but for this cause I have obtained mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might show forth all patience, for the information of those who shall believe in Him unto life everlasting," 1 Tim. 1:15. So St. Peter every night at cock-crow falling on his knees and asking pardon, wept over his sin of denying Christ with most copious tears, so that his eyes were continually red, as if sprinkled with blood, and on his cheeks a channel, as if hollowed out by tears, appeared, as

the eyewitness and his disciple St. Clement testifies, and from him Nicephorus, Bk. II, ch. 37. So St. Jerome, epist. 3 to Florentius: "I, he says, defiled by all the filth of my sins, day and night await with trembling to pay the last farthing: but yet because the Lord looses those that are bound, and rests His words upon the humble and trembling one, perhaps He will also say to me as I lie in the tomb of my crimes: Jerome, come forth."

Second, Paul, in order to make satisfaction for this sin, was far more intent on the propagation of the faith than he had previously been zealous for its persecution, and therefore strove to bring all men and all Gentiles to Christ by immense labors.

Third, Paul's life was nothing other than continuous patience and penitence, to which he added voluntary punishments which he willingly took upon himself: "I chastise, he says, my body and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway," 1 Cor. 9:27. St. Jerome gives the cause, to Eustochium On the Custody of Virginity: "We are surrounded, he says, by great hosts of enemies; all things are full of foes: the flesh, fragile, and ashes shortly to come, fights alone against many; but when it has been dissolved and the prince of this world has come and found nothing in it, then it shall securely hear through the Prophet: You shall not fear the terror of the night." And further on: "If the Apostle, after nakedness, fasts, hungers, prison, scourges, tortures, cries out: Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? do you think yourself ought to be secure?"

Fourth, Paul continually applied himself to every kind of mortification of the flesh, of the senses, and of the affections: "Always, he says, bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Death therefore works in us, but life in you," 2 Cor. 4:10. He adds a twofold reason. The first, vers. 16: "Although our outward man be corrupted: yet the inward man is renewed day by day." The second, vers. 17: "For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, works for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal."

Fifth, Paul commends this mortification to the faithful: "They, he says, who are of Christ have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences," Galatians 5:24. "For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live," Romans 8:13.

The third virtue: Humility

First, Paul esteemed and called himself not only the least of the Apostles and of all the Saints, Eph. 3:8, but also the first and greatest of all sinners, 1 Tim. 1:14. Hence he does not command his own people, but begs them: "I beseech you therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called, with all humility and mildness," Eph. 4:1. The same St. Jerome teaches Rusticus, Epist. IV: "Serve, he says, the brethren, wash the feet of guests, when you suffer injury be silent, fear the prior of the monastery as a lord, love him as a parent. Believe whatever he commands you to be wholesome to you, and do not judge by the opinion of your superiors, whose office it is to obey and to fulfill what is commanded, as Moses says: Hear, O Israel, and be silent." And further: "Do not leap quickly to writing, learn for a long time what you would teach: do not believe your praisers; rather do not willingly lend your ear to mockers, who when they have flattered you and in some manner unhinged your mind, if you should suddenly look around, you would discover either the necks of storks bent behind you, or an ass's ears wagged with the hand, or a dog's panting tongue thrust out."

Second, Paul with the deepest humility subjected himself not only to God and the angels, but also to all men, making himself their servant and slave as it were. "I became, he says, weak to the weak, that I might gain the weak: I became all things to all men," I humbly accepted and bore the infirmities of all, the anguishes of soul, reproaches, and beatings, "that I might save all," 1 Cor. 9:22. Hence although he was an Apostle and a Bishop, yet he ruled his subjects not so much by commanding as by entreating and showing, teaching more by example than by word, according to that of St. Peter, 1 Epist. ch. 5:2: "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking care of it, not by constraint, but willingly, according to God: not for filthy lucre's sake, but voluntarily: neither as lording it over the clergy, but being made a pattern of the flock from the heart." Wisely St. Jerome to Paulinus: "However much, he says, you abase yourself, you will not be more humble than Christ." And, Epist. 7, writing of the monastery of St. Paula at Bethlehem: "Among all, he says, this is the contest of humility. Whoever shall be last, this one is reckoned first." And, in the Life of St. Paula: "Paula, when surrounded by frequent choirs of Virgins, in dress, in voice, in habit, and in gait was the least of all."

Third, Paul ascribed nothing of his virtue or of his great merits to himself, but the whole to God and to His grace. "By the grace, he says, of God I am what I am," 1 Cor. 15:10, and ch. 4:7: "For who distinguishes you? Or what have you that you have not received? And if you have received, why do you glory, as if you had not received it?" And ch. 1:26: "See your vocation, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble: but the foolish things of the world has God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world has God chosen, that He may confound the strong: and the base things of the world, and the things that are not," "

"that He might destroy the things that are: that no flesh should glory in His sight." Excellently St. Jerome to Eustochium, On the Custody of Virginity: "I do not wish, he says, that pride come to you from your resolve, but fear. You walk laden with gold; the robber must be avoided by you: this life is a stadium for mortals: here we contend, that we may be crowned elsewhere. No one walks safely among serpents and scorpions. And, says the Lord, My sword is drunk in heaven, and do you think peace is on earth, which produces thistles, and thorns which the serpent eats?"

Fourth, Paul in all things sought not his own glory but Christ's. "Do I now, he says, persuade men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ," Galatians 1:10. And: "We speak not as pleasing men, but God, who proves our hearts, etc., nor seeking glory from men, neither from you, nor from others." The same he teaches the Corinthians, 1 epist. 10:31: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever else you do, do all to the glory of God." And the Romans: "None of us, he says, lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For whether we live, we live to the Lord; or whether we die, we die to the Lord," Rom. 14:7. Truly Nazianzen, epist. 43, or according to another edition 30 to Gregory of Nyssa: "He calls inglorious that glory, and the worst ambition of demons." For glorious glory, and the best of the angels, is humility, by which one seeks not his own but God's glory. This is "legitimate ambition," as the same says, Orat. 33, namely modesty and moderation of soul and morals. Furthermore, of what kind and how great the humility of an Apostle and preacher must be, St. Gregory paints in golden sentences and lessons, Bk. 23 Moral., ch. 1, at the end: "The preacher of holy Church, he says, in everything he says, with diligent care examines himself, lest in that which he rightly preaches, he exalt himself by the vice of pride; lest his life be at variance with his tongue; lest the peace which he announces in the Church, he himself lose, while he speaks well and lives badly. But he strives most earnestly against the slanderous reports of his adversaries, and to defend by speaking what he lives, and to adorn by living what he says. Nor in all these things does he seek his own, but the author's glory: and all the grace of wisdom which he received in order to speak, he does not esteem to himself by his merits, but to have received by the intercessions of those for whom he speaks. And so while he casts himself down below, he stands above; because surely he profits the more for his reward, in that he renders by others' merits the goods which he is able to bring forth. He judges himself unworthy of all, even when he lives more worthily than all. For he knows that the goods that become known to men can scarcely be without danger. And although he feels himself wise, he would yet rather be wise and not seem so, and this he completely fears for himself, that which is betrayed by speaking; and if it is permitted, he longs to keep silent, since he sees silence to be safer for many; and he thinks those happier whom an inferior place within the holy Church hides through silence: and yet, in order to defend the holy Church, since by the force of charity he is driven to speak, he undertakes by necessity the duty of speaking, but from great desire he seeks the leisure of silence. The one he keeps by vow, the other he exercises by ministry. But the arrogant are ignorant of this manner of speaking. For they do not speak because causes arise, but desire causes to arise so that they may speak. The form of these is now signified by Eliu, who in his speaking immensely exalts himself by the vice of pride."

Fifth, Paul exercised exact care even for the lowliest of all: hence with many discourses he instructs male servants and maidservants, and even old women, to Titus 2:1ff.; Ephesians 5; Colossians 3:22; indeed, for the sake of Onesimus the fugitive slave, he wrote the entire Epistle to his master Philemon, that he might reconcile him to him. See what is said there in the argument. So St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, gave himself as a slave to the Vandals in order to redeem the son of a widow, and by that deed merited to free all his fellow citizens from the same slavery; therefore St. Augustine, St. Gregory, and the whole Church celebrate his humility and charity, as a living Christ, who for us, of the Lord of all, became the servant of all, an example and mirror.

Sixth, Paul openly preaches his sins, namely that he was an unbeliever, a persecutor of the Church, and a blasphemer: and his weaknesses and temptations, like the sting of the flesh, 2 Cor. 12:7, and the movements of concupiscence, Rom. 7:8 ff.; he truly conceals his visions, virtues, and charisms, and unless compelled does not bring them forth, as the rapture into the third heaven. "I am become, he says, foolish: you have compelled me," 2 Cor. 12:11. So much greater, the smaller he wished to be; the more famous, the more hidden: for God revealed his wisdom, virtues, and greatness to the whole world. Indeed, true greatness of soul is humility, by which one hides his greatness like the Incarnate Word, who hid Himself in the flesh; nay, ignores it. True greatness is to be among great things and to exhibit oneself as small, to despise great things, to seek small ones; that, although you are outstanding, you should not wish to be singular, but be as one of the rest of the flock: for this one is greater and loftier than all the great. True greatness is to ascribe all great things to God, not to oneself; and to esteem nothing great, except what is eternal and immense: God, I say, who is Himself the immense magnitude and loftiness of all things. This is what Ecclesiasticus warns, ch. 3:20: "The greater you are, humble yourself in all things, and you shall find grace before God." Whence St. Augustine, On Virginity, ch. 31: "The measure of humility, he says, is given to each according to the measure of his own greatness, to whom pride is dangerous, which lays further snares for those who are more advanced."

The fourth virtue: Magnanimity and loftiness of soul

First, Paul, as he was most humble in himself and in his own affairs, so in those things which pertain to Christ and to the glory of God, was of upright and most lofty soul.

Whence he exalts his office and apostolate: "In which, he says, I am appointed a preacher, and an Apostle, and teacher of the Gentiles," 2 Tim. 1:11. And: "As long indeed as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry," Rom. 11:13. See ch. 3, of the second epistle to the Corinthians, in which throughout he exalts the ministry of the apostolate above the ministry of Moses and Aaron.

Second, Paul trampled honors, riches, glory, and all the goods of the earth under his feet: "What things, he says, Philip. 3:7, were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. Nevertheless I count all things to be loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as dung," which both by their cheapness, filthiness, and stench are loathsome. The reason is that, dwelling in heaven by mind, he was higher than earth, and despising all earthly things beneath him, he held them as worthless. St. Gregory writes, Bk. I, epist. V, that he did the same when, having left the world, he was in the monastery: "Desiring nothing, he says, in this world, fearing nothing, I seemed to myself to stand on a certain summit of things, so that I almost believed that to be fulfilled in me which I had learned from the Lord's promise through the Prophet (Isaiah 58:14): I will lift you up above the heights of the earth. For he is lifted up above the very height of the earth who tramples by the contempt of his mind those very things which seem high and glorious in the present age." And, as the same says, Bk. 31 Moral., ch. 19: "The heights of the earth are the gains of things, the flatteries of subjects, the abundance of riches. Honor and the loftiness of dignities, which whoever still walks through low desires, by that very fact reckons high, in proportion as he thinks them great. But if once the heart is fixed in heavenly things, soon it is perceived how abject are the things which seemed high." Hence such are the eagles of which Job 39:27: "Will the eagle mount up at your command, and make her nest in high places?" For the saints have their nest in heaven, and say with Paul: "Our conversation is in heaven." For, as St. Chrysostom says, hom. 45 To the People: As if one were to look down from the highest peak of the loftiest mountain, all things appear tiny to him, and not only men and trees, but even entire cities and great armies seem to walk over the earth like ants; so he who, with mind raised to things above, transcending the clouds, stands in the heavens, and there fixes his seat, to him all human things, all power, glory, riches, appear so minute and trifling that he does not even judge them worthy on which to apply this nobility of the immortal soul. Hence first, he is an object of admiration to all; second, if he has any enemy, he is safe from his weapons and snares, since placed outside, indeed above every weapon's throw; third, those lower things, as removed from him by so great an interval, some he scarcely sees, some he does not even see. Hence

Third, Paul, greater as it were than the earth, and loftier than its whirlwinds, continually enjoyed the highest peace and tranquility of soul in adversity as in prosperity. For what could human mutability do against him, who, having left behind all things subject to change, had blocked all approaches to him? Wherefore, placed as it were on Olympus above the blast of the winds, always remaining immovable and superior to all events, he rejoiced in continual serenity of mind. Truly St. Cyprian, treatise On the Lord's Prayer: "He, he says, who has now renounced the world, is greater than its honors and kingdom; and therefore he who dedicates himself to God and to Christ desires not earthly but heavenly kingdoms." And St. Gregory, Bk. 5 Moral., ch. 34: "Great is he, he says, who longs for eternal things." To this is added St. Jerome on Lamentations, Bk. I, ch. 3: "He is truly and not partially great, who in the desert sustains the squalor of solitude, and in the cenobium the infirmities of the brothers, with equal magnanimity."

Fourth, Paul freely preached to philosophers, kings, tyrants, as if superior to all and master of all: wherefore intrepidly he admonished, rebuked, and chastised them. For, as St. Gregory says, Bk. 7 Moral., ch. 15: "The saints, placed as it were on the peak of a great mountain, fully despise the joys of the present life, and transcending themselves through spiritual loftiness, see beneath them within whatever swells outside through carnal glory. Whence they spare none of the contrary powers of the virtues, but those whom they perceive lifted up by elation, they press down by the authority of the spirit." So Paul, courageously disputing before Felix the governor of justice, chastity, and future judgment, struck and made him tremble, Acts 24:23. So in chains he boldly preached Christ, on whose account he was bound, to Festus the governor and judge, who therefore exclaiming said: "You are mad, Paul, much learning is driving you to madness." To whom Paul: "I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but I speak words of truth and soberness." And to King Agrippa saying: "In a little you persuade me to become a Christian," he answered: "I would to God, that both in little and in much, not only you, but also all that hear me this day, should become such as I also am, except these bonds," Acts 26:24 and 29. So at Athens he freely called the Sophists and Areopagites superstitious, Acts 17:22. So in Acts 16:37, the magistrates of Philippi, ordering Paul to be removed from prison through a guard, he magnanimously charged with injustice, saying: "They have publicly beaten us, who are Roman men uncondemned, and have cast us into prison: and now do they thrust us out secretly? No, but let them come, and let them themselves cast us out. And being afraid hearing that they were Romans, they came and besought them." How great is Paul's loftiness, who made his judges suppliants to him! So to Ananias the high priest unjustly ordering him to be struck: "God shall strike you, he said, you whited wall. For do you sit and judge me according to the law, and contrary to the law you order me to be struck?" Acts 23:3. For in sudden and unforeseen dangers the habit of fortitude most appears, says Aristotle, Bk. 3 Ethics, ch. 8.

Fifth, with the same magnanimity Paul was most formidable to the demons, and he scourged them

...martyrdoms. Thus, certain from God's continuous oracle that he would be bound by the Jews and, unless God prevented it, killed if he went to Jerusalem, he nevertheless went on intrepid and eager, against the will of his companions and the other Christians, saying: "What are you doing, weeping and afflicting my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus," Acts 21:13. Again, Paul magnanimously shook off the dust of his feet in the face of the Jews who rejected the Gospel at Antioch in Pisidia, so that such an impious land should not only be brushed off, but utterly cast off, Acts 13:51.

Eighth, Paul commands all Christians to be courageous and magnanimous, as those about to enter into single combat with the devil, indeed with the whole army of demons and all the forces of hell. "Our wrestling," he says, "is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places: therefore take up the armor of God." Hence he immediately supplies them with weapons, and a complete panoply from head to heel, namely faith for a shield, hope for a helmet, the word of God for a sword, justice for a breastplate, truth for a belt, and for greaves the readiness to carry the Gospel throughout the whole world, Ephesians 6:12, 13, 14. Our Edmund Campion took on this spirit of Paul, a noble athlete of the faith, Apostle and Martyr of England, when, trusting in the evidence of his cause and the certainty of his faith, he challenged all the teachers of Calvin in England to a disputation: producing ten reasons for his challenge, he concluded them by exhorting all, that if they wish to be saved, they should receive the truth shining before their eyes, and despise the Lutheran enticements. "But what are these?" he says: "Gold, glory, the delights of Venus: despise them. For what else are these, but the bowels of the earth, resounding air, the cookshop of worms, dunghill wars? Despise them, Christ is rich, who will nourish you. He is King, who will adorn you. He is sumptuous, who will satisfy you. He is beautiful, who will lavish heaps of all happiness. Enroll yourselves under His banner as His soldiers, that with Him you may bring back triumphs, truly most learned and truly most illustrious." For Nazianzen excellently says, Oration 25: "For great and lofty men there is one fatherland, the heavenly Jerusalem to which we lay up our conversion: for all there is one race; if you would look at things below, dust; if above, that breath of which we have been made partakers, and which we are commanded to preserve, and with which I must stand at the tribunal, that I may give an account of the nobility and image divinely bestowed upon me."

Thus, certain from God's continuous oracle, he cast them out. Thus he struck Elymas the magician who was turning the proconsul Sergius Paulus from the faith, saying: "O full of all guile and all deceit, son of the devil, enemy of all justice, do you not cease to subvert the right ways of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind," Acts 13:10. Thus he expelled the Python demon, though it praised him, from the girl, Acts 16:18. Thus his handkerchiefs put unclean spirits to flight, Acts 19:12.

Sixth, by this loftiness of mind Paul despised all the threats of Nero and the tyrants, chains, racks, fires, swords, beasts, and crosses; "Paul can be killed, but he cannot be conquered," says St. Gregory, book XXXI of the Morals, chapter 15. The golden-mouthed St. Chrysostom, in homily 2 On the Praises of St. Paul, makes him superior not only to tyrants and demons, but also to Angels: "In zeal for this thing," he says, "he reckoned not only cities, peoples, armies, provinces, riches, and powers as worthless as sand; but for the sweetness of Christ he did not admire even the dignity of angels or archangels, nor did he desire anything like it. For what was greater than all things, he enjoyed the love of Christ: with this he thought himself happier than all, but without this he did not even desire to be a companion of dominions or principalities; rather, with this love he chose to be the lowest, even among the number of those punished, than without it to be among the highest and lifted up in honor." He assigns the reason, saying: "For to enjoy Christ's charity, this was to him life, this the world, this angels, this things present, this things to come, this kingdom, this promise, this innumerable goods. But besides these things, he reckoned nothing on the side of sad things. Of these things which are had here, he counted nothing harsh, nothing even sweet, but so despised all things which we behold, as rotten grass is wont to be despised. The tyrants themselves, and the peoples breathing fury, he esteemed as so many gnats; death, and torments, and a thousand punishments he thought to be like the play of children, provided he endured something for Christ. For he embraced these things willingly, and was more adorned bound with a chain than crowned with a diadem. For confined in prison, he dwelt in heaven, and more willingly received blows and wounds than others snatch up rewards: he loved sorrows no less than rewards, since he counted those very sorrows in the place of rewards; for that reason he called them favors." Wherefore Paul at Rome in his first imprisonment converted many from Nero's court, of whom Philippians 4:22: "All the saints," he says, "salute you, especially they who are of Caesar's household;" of whom many were crowned with martyrdom, as I said in the Chronotaxis, in the year of Christ 67. In his second imprisonment he converted Nero's concubine, and drew her away from him, and so won the palm of martyrdom, as I shall say below.

Seventh, Paul was so magnanimous that he did not flee, but knowingly and prudently sought out and went toward the most certain dangers to his life, chains, torments, and martyrdoms.

The Fifth Virtue, Evangelical Poverty

First, Paul and the Apostles, being poor, followed the poor Christ: "Needy on earth, rich in heaven, they bestowed spiritual riches upon believers," says St. Ambrose on 2 Corinthians 6. For they had heard from Christ, Matthew 5:3: "Blessed are the poor..."

"...in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Hence they also said to Him in Matthew 19:27: "Behold, we have left all things, and have followed You; what therefore shall we have?" "The most powerful had vowed this vow," says St. Augustine. The Apostles therefore made a vow of poverty, as Religious now do; equally also of chastity and obedience, as I shall show on Acts 5:2. For they themselves were the leaders, parents, and choragi of the religious and perfect life. Moreover, St. Jerome paints the life of Clerics from the Apostles thus to Nepotianus: "Let the cleric who serves the Church first interpret his name, and having stated the definition of his name, let him strive to be what he is called. For if κλῆρος in Greek is called sors (lot) in Latin, therefore they are called Clerics, either because they are of the Lord's lot, or because the Lord Himself is their lot, that is, the portion of the Clerics. He who is himself a portion of the Lord, or has the Lord as a portion, ought to show himself such that he may possess the Lord, and be possessed by the Lord," not by gold, or by any other created thing.

Second, Paul lived in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and weariness, 1 Corinthians 4:11, and 2 Corinthians 11:27. And Philippians 4:12: "I know," he says, "both how to be humbled (to suffer want), I know also how to abound (everywhere and in all things I am instructed), both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need: I can do all things in Him who strengthens me." "Paul," says Chrysostom, in homily 4 on the Second Epistle to Timothy, "was a man who often struggled with hunger, and slept supperless, a naked man, to whom even necessary clothing was often lacking. In cold," he says, "and nakedness." Truly St. Jerome, to Heliodorus: "He is abundantly rich," he says, "who is poor with Christ." Hence St. Paula in Bethlehem, poor with Christ, vowed that she would die a beggar, that she would leave not one coin to her daughter (Eustochium), and that at her funeral she would be wrapped in another's sheet. She was fully granted this triple vow, and so it happened to her exactly as she had wished. Thus St. Jerome in her Life.

Third, by Christ's example Paul traveled many and great provinces on foot, as I shall show on Acts 20:13. Therefore those follow the Apostles, indeed Christ Himself, who with St. Francis travel through villages and cities preaching the Gospel, not on horses and chariots, but on foot. At Rome in the church of St. Paul, a part of St. Paul's staff was shown to me, on which leaning he is said to have entered Rome on foot. Christ Himself prescribed this for the Apostles to do, Matthew 10:10 and 14. Hence in the rule of St. Francis, which expresses the Apostolic manner of living, chapter III, in the Constitution of Pope Benedict XII, it is forbidden under the gravest penalties, "that no one ride, unless grave necessity or ill health compels." The Third General Congregation, canon 12, gravely and seriously commends the same to the Religious of our Society, who in the manner of the Apostles travel through provinces. Thus St. Vincent Ferrer, an Apostolic man, who in preaching the Gospel traveled through Italy, France, England, Ireland, Spain, etc., made his journey not by riding, but on his own feet, content with only a staff on which to lean: and he did this for fifteen continuous years. But afterward, from a certain ailment which came upon him in the leg, compelled by necessity, he had a donkey on which he was carried, says the author of his Life, book II, chapter 7.

Fourth, Paul in such great labors of the Gospel was unwilling to receive support from the faithful, but worked with his own hands practicing tent-making, that he might provide sustenance not only for himself, but also for all who were with him: which clearly demonstrates his admirable poverty, charity, and zeal: "I have coveted no man's silver," he says, "or gold, or apparel, as you yourselves know: for such things as were needful for me and for them that are with me, these hands have furnished: I have shown you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the word of the Lord Jesus; for He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive," Acts 20:34. That famous Spyridon, Bishop of Trimythus, distantly imitated Paul, who practiced cattle-keeping, concerning whom Rufinus, book X, chapter 5; Sozomen, book I, chapter 11; Nicephorus, book VIII, chapter 42. And Zeno, Bishop of Majuma, who practiced wool-working, not from poverty, but from zeal and example of humility, concerning whom Sozomen, book VII, chapter 27, and Nicephorus, book XII, chapter 46. Hence also St. Jerome in his preface to Job calls Nepotianus and Rusticus to manual work. See Isidore of Pelusium, book I, Epistle 470, where he approves manual work by the example of Pittacus, king of Mytilene, who, turning a mill, prepared for himself flour and bread to eat. Moreover, the Fourth Council of Carthage, chapters 51 and 53, and the Council of Nantes, and from these canons 2, 3, 4, distinction 91, prescribe that Clerics provide themselves food and clothing by agriculture or honest craft, which understand, when they are poor and the Church cannot support them. Thus it was of old: for now by the decree of the Council of Trent, session 21, chapter 2, and of other older councils, it is sanctioned that no one be ordained, unless he can support himself either from his own goods or from those of the Church.

In this age Father Andrew Oviedo imitated Paul; he, from our Society, was made Patriarch of Ethiopia by the Pope, and there until his death he lived in such poverty that he drove the plow with his own hands and sowed the crops that he ate; whence, being recalled by Pope Gregory XIII, he sent him letters written in the margins which he had cut from his Breviary, because he had no other paper to write on; in which he earnestly begged the Pope to allow him to assist his Church, which he had betrothed to himself, until the end of his life. Upon seeing these letters Gregory wept, and bestowed his blessing upon him. And we now see the fruits of this poverty and constancy, namely the emperor of Ethiopia and his brother and nobles reconciled to the Roman Church, seeking a new Patriarch, Bishops, and Religious, who may fully...

...may convert them. Furthermore St. Jerome to Rusticus, epistle 4: "Do something," he says, "of work, that the devil may always find you occupied. If the Apostles, having the power to live by the Gospel, labored with their hands, lest they burden anyone, and gave refreshments to others, for whose spiritual goods they had to reap carnal things, why do you not prepare for your own use what is to come? Either weave a basket of rush, or plait a hamper of pliable twigs: let the ground be hoed, let the little plots be divided by equal boundary. Make hives for bees. Let nets also be woven for catching fish. Let books be written, that the hand may labor for food, and the mind may be filled by reading. Every idle person is in desires."

The Sixth, Angelic Sobriety and Chastity

First, Paul in such great poverty necessarily lived soberly. For we see workmen who live from manual labor and provide food for themselves and theirs, living soberly. Wisely St. Jerome, in his epistle to Eustochium on the keeping of virginity, prescribes this diet of sobriety to her: "Let your food be moderate and your stomach never filled. For there are many who, though sober from wine, are drunk by the abundance of food. Let your fasts be daily, and refreshment fleeing satiety: it profits nothing to carry an empty stomach for two or three days, if it be equally weighed down, if the fast be compensated by satiety. The mind, when filled, immediately grows torpid, and the watered ground sprouts the thorns of lusts." The same to Paulinus, epistle 43: "Let the food," he says, "be cheap and taken in the evening; consider herbs and pulses, and sometimes little fish, as the highest delights. He who desires Christ, and feeds on that bread, does not greatly inquire from how precious foods he produces dung; whatever is not perceived after the throat, let it be to you the same as bread and pulses."

Second, Paul fasted often, as he himself asserts in 2 Corinthians 11:27; he abstained from delicacies, wine, and meat. For, as St. Jerome says to Nepotianus: "The strongest fast is water and bread; but because it has no glory, and we all live by bread and water, it is, being public and common, not considered a fast." The same, to Heliodorus, epistle 3: "Nepotianus," he says, "tempered his fasts after the manner of a charioteer, according to weariness and strength." The same, to Rusticus, epistle 4: "Let fasts," he says, "be moderate, lest excess weaken the stomach and, demanding greater refreshment, burst into indigestion, which is the parent of lusts. Moderate and temperate food is useful both to body and soul." The other Apostles did the same, unless invited by others, they took part in a feast. For then by Christ's precept, they ate everything that was set before them, both for the sake of courtesy, and to avoid singularity, and lest they trouble their host. This is clear from the example of Timothy, to whom Paul writes in his First Epistle, chapter 5: "Do not still drink water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities." The same is clear from the vow of the Nazarite, which Paul made, Acts 21:26, and fulfilled the very next day: for the Nazarites abstained from wine, strong drink, and delicacies. "If food," he says, "scandalize my brother, I will never eat flesh," 1 Corinthians 8:13. And: "It is good not to eat flesh and not to drink wine," Romans 14:21. What Paul advised to others, certainly also to himself. Thus St. Peter lived on lupines, as St. Nazianzen testifies in his oration On Care for the Poor. Thus that St. James the brother of the Lord abstained from meat, wine, and strong drink, and lived on bread and water, Baronius writes from Eusebius, book II of the History, chapter 23, Nicephorus, and others, in the year of Christ 36, and others in his Life. Clement of Alexandria asserts that St. Matthew abstained from meat, book II of the Pedagogue, chapter 1. The reason is that the Apostles had to give an example of sobriety and every virtue to the whole Church, and to all states and ages: for they themselves were given to the world as a model of holiness, perfection, and heavenly life, to which they had to incite all by word, and more by example. For ridiculously will a full man exhort others to fasting, a luxurious man to abstinence, an incestuous man to chastity, one steeped in wine to the drinking of water. Thus St. Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indians, abstained from wine and meat unless he was among hosts, and took food only once a day, and that ordinary and moderate, not even satisfying his hunger with bread, says Tursellinus in his Life, book VI, chapter 7. Moreover St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, "used a frugal and sparing table, which among herbs and pulses sometimes also contained meats, on account of guests, or any of the weaker," says Possidonius in his Life, chapter 22.

Third, Paul had little sleep and kept vigil for a great part of the night, sometimes praying, sometimes working, sometimes carefully tending to the salvation of all the Churches. Hence he himself says that he lived in many vigils, 2 Corinthians 11:27. For the proper virtue of a shepherd is vigilance, by which he watches over his flock. Wherefore that distribution of time and hours which some assign to Paul seems less true and full, namely the Gloss on Acts 9:9, from Bede (but it is not found in Bede): "Some hand down," it says, "that Paul prolonged disputation from the fifth hour to the ninth and tenth, so that he gave five hours to work (tent-making), another five to teaching, two to food and prayer." But it adds, "this is supported by no authority;" and rightly, says Hugh, and Lorinus on the same place. For what was he doing in the remaining twelve hours of the natural day? It is certain that he did not sleep, but after a brief sleep gave himself to prayer and work. Hence at midnight he was found praying in prison, Acts 16:25. Truly St. Jerome to Eustochium: "To the saints," he says, "even sleep itself is prayer. Be a cicada of the nights: sing psalms in spirit, sing psalms also in mind, wash your bed by night, water your couch with your tears."

Fourth, Paul was of angelic chastity. Hence he lived celibate, indeed a virgin throughout his whole life. Hence proposing to the faithful the counsel of virginity and chastity...

...the Evangelical chastity, he says: "I wish (I would, I would prefer) all of you to be as I am myself," 1 Corinthians 7:7; so St. Ambrose on the same place, St. Jerome, Against Jovinian, and others everywhere. In this chastity he wonderfully grew through continual struggle with the goad of the flesh, constantly suppressing and subjugating it, 2 Corinthians 12:7. Hence among young women and matrons he moved as an angel, and led them not only to the faith, but also to chastity: as he drew away Nero's concubines, persuading them to chastity, and for that reason he was killed by Nero, made a victim of chastity, as St. Chrysostom teaches.

Fifth, although Paul had the gift of chastity, and was confirmed in it by God as much as in grace, yet he not only zealously avoided temptations and dangers, but also severely macerated his flesh and austerely chastised it, 1 Corinthians 9:27. For without this it is difficult, and almost impossible, to keep chastity, as St. Charles Borromeo asserted. Hence he did not want pious women, who would feed him, to accompany him: "Have we not," he says, "the power to lead about a sister, a woman, as also the rest of the Apostles?" 1 Corinthians 9:5 and 15; "but I have used none of these things." Indeed he forbade St. Thecla, hanging on Paul's lips and wishing to follow him, and sent her home, as the Life of St. Thecla relates. He did the same to others; for as soon as he had converted them, moving elsewhere, he left them there. For great danger to both chastity and reputation arises from frequent conversation with women, even pious and devout ones. See St. Cyprian, treatise On the Singularity of Clerics. Wherefore St. Francis Xavier, although he was a heavenly man, "yet never spoke with any woman, except openly in the light and with witnesses present, and only about necessary matters, judging that women are approached with less profit than danger," says Tursellinus, in his Life, book VI, chapter 6. Moreover St. Jerome thus prescribes to the Cleric Nepotianus: "Let women's feet rarely or never tread your little hostel: ignore all girls and virgins of Christ equally, or love them equally. Do not stay under the same roof, nor trust in past chastity. You can be neither holier than David, nor stronger than Samson, nor wiser than Solomon. Remember always, that a woman cast the colonist of paradise out of his possession." The same to Rusticus, epistle 4: "Look upon your mother in such a way," he says, "that you are not compelled to look upon others through her, whose faces may stick to your heart, and a silent wound may live under your breast. Know that the maidservants who are in her service are snares to you: because the lower their condition, the easier the ruin. And John the Baptist had a holy mother, and was the son of a high priest, and yet was overcome neither by his mother's affection nor by his father's wealth, so that he should live in the house of his parents with danger to chastity. He lived in the desert, and with eyes longing for Christ, deigned to look at nothing else. Coarse garment, leather belt, food of locusts and wild honey, all things prepared for virtue and continence. As long as you are in your own country, have your little cell for a paradise: pluck the various fruits of Scripture, use these as delights. If your eye, foot, hand scandalize you, cast them off. Spare no one, that you may spare your soul alone," etc. "The vessel of election, in whose mouth Christ resounded, macerates his body and subjects it to servitude, and yet sees the natural ardor of the flesh to oppose his judgment, so that what he does not will, this he is compelled to do, and as if suffering violence cries out and says: Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And do you think that you can pass without fall and wound, unless you guard your heart with all watchfulness, and with the Savior say: My mother and My brothers are these, who do the will of My Father? This cruelty is piety," etc. "To me the town is a prison, solitude is paradise." And below: "I wish that you not dwell with your mother, lest you add oil to the fire, and amid a crowd of girls see by day what you may think of by night." Possidonius writes of St. Augustine in his Life, chapter 26: "Of women," he says, "none ever lived within his house, none stayed, not even his own sister, who, a widow serving God for a long time, lived as a superior of the handmaidens of God up to the day of her death; nor even his uncle's daughters, and his brother's daughters, who likewise served God." And immediately giving the reason: "For this reason therefore," he says, "he said that women ought never to remain in one house with the servants of God, even the most chaste, lest some scandal or stumbling-block by such an example be placed before the weaker. And if perhaps he was asked by some women to be seen, or saluted, he never entered to them without clerical witnesses, nor ever spoke alone with women alone, unless some matter of secrets were involved."

The Seventh, Modesty, Gravity, and Affability

First, Paul "tempered the gravity of his manners with the cheerfulness of his countenance" (which St. Jerome writes about Nepotianus to Heliodorus), and was of a serene and pleasant face, as the indication of a serene and pleasant mind, and by it he attracted all to himself. The ancient images at Rome represent this face of his, and especially that one which St. Sylvester showed by a vision to the Emperor Constantine. Hence Nicephorus, book II, chapter 37, paints Paul thus: "Paul," he says, "was small in body and compact, and as it were curved, and slightly bent, of a fair face, bearing many years before him, of moderate head; in his eyes there was much grace, his eyebrows inclined downward; his nose beautifully bent, and somewhat long, his beard rather thick and full enough, and that no less than the hair of his head, sprinkled with gray. Both disciples of Christ (Peter and Paul), when they were beheld, bore something divine before them. So filled with the Holy Spirit and divine grace were they that the faithful who saw them, from the sight alone, conceived some hidden and latent grace, and conformed their manners and life together with the faith, and...

"...converted them to better things." Hence he always had the same mind, the same countenance, manners alike in all things. The fickle and feigned do otherwise, of whom it is said: "Within a Nero, without a Cato." And: "In front a lion, behind a dragon, in the middle a very Chimaera," says St. Jerome to Rusticus.

Second, commending this modesty to the faithful: "Let your modesty," he says, "be known to all men," Philippians 4:5. And verse 8: "For the rest, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever modest, whatsoever just, whatsoever holy, whatsoever lovely, whatsoever of good fame; if there be any virtue, if any praise of discipline, think on these things." And chapter 3, verse 17: "Be imitators of me, brethren, and observe those who walk so as you have our model." And 1 Corinthians 14:40: "But let all things be done decently, and according to order."

Third, Paul in his words was wonderfully affable and gracious, pleasant in conversation, kind and gentle in social intercourse: "We became," he says, "as little ones in your midst, as if a nurse should cherish her children. So desiring you, we were eager to deliver to you not only the Gospel of God, but also our own souls, because you have become most dear to us," 1 Thessalonians 2:7.

Fourth, Paul is dutiful in greeting, both all in common at the beginning of his epistles, and individuals by name at the end of the same; both to show his courtesy toward them, and because the greeting of the Saints is efficacious. For the salvation which he wishes upon them, he obtains and bestows by his merits: as the Blessed Virgin, greeting Elizabeth, sanctified her with the unborn child, and made the Baptist the precursor of Christ, Luke 1:44. Hence St. Chrysostom, on 2 Timothy 1: "It is sufficient," he says, "the salutation of Paul alone, to fill him with grace who is greeted by it." Indeed Paul, sent in chains to Nero, "greeted Nero's cupbearer and concubine," says Chrysostom, here in homily 54. She is believed to have been Poppaea Sabina, who was held in delights by Nero above the rest, says Baronius, and perhaps through her he gained Nero's favor, that he might be released free from his first imprisonment at Rome.

Fifth, Paul with his eyes, mouth, work, gesture, dress, and every action and movement breathed forth the composure of mind and manners, piety, devotion, holiness, and a heavenly life. "Paul," says Chrysostom in homily 1 On His Praises, "crucifying himself to the world, beheld not only the beauties of human bodies, but also all things which seem bright and adorned in things, just as we despise spark and ash, who, as if dead through and through to a dead thing, remained motionless." St. Francis, with mind and face intent on heaven, preached nothing else with his life and voice, dress and gesture, than "to heaven, to heaven." Hear St. Bonaventure, chapter IV of his Life: "The evangelical herald went around cities and towns, announcing the kingdom of God, not in the learned words of human wisdom, but in the power of the spirit. He seemed to those beholding him a man of another age; for he, with mind and face always intent on heaven, strove to draw all upward." And chapter XII: "Every age and every sex hastened to see and hear a new man given to the world from heaven." Thus also our namesake and near-equal St. Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indians, with mind and eyes fixed on the heavenly, thought, breathed, and preached nothing but paradise, and as a man fallen from heaven, he busied himself to lead all to heaven. Much more their leader and prince Paul, snatched into paradise, had put on heavenly manners, and as if an angel fallen from heaven, he seemed to be sent by God to call men back to heaven. Hence with the Psalmist he wonderfully cried: "Sons of men, why do you love vanity and seek a lie? Seek the things that are above, savor the things that are above, not those that are upon the earth." Let bodies be downward, let hearts be upward. Despise earthly things, look up to heavenly things. "For what is for me in heaven, and from You what have I willed upon earth, God of my heart, and my portion God forever?" St. Chrysostom excellently on the First Epistle to Timothy, homily 2: "Buy for yourself," he says, "such ointments whose scent can fill the world. The Apostles are known to have breathed forth such a fragrance. For we are," he says, "the odor of sweetness, to some indeed unto death, but to others unto life. But what does this mean? Indeed even a swine is said to be suffocated by the fragrance of a scent. But not only the body of the Apostles, but their very garments were full of the ointment of spiritual grace. For so did Paul's garments breathe out a most sweet odor, that they even drove off demons, Acts 19:12. What leaf, what cassia, what myrrh does such an odor not surpass in sweetness and usefulness?"

The Eighth, Zeal for Progress

First, Paul, though he stood at the summit of virtue, yet daily strove to surpass himself and climb to higher things. Hence he persuaded himself that he was imperfect: "Not as though I had already attained," he says, "or were already perfect; but I follow after, if by any means I may apprehend, wherein I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing, forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth myself to those that are before, I press toward the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation in Christ Jesus," Philippians 3:12. Wisely St. Jerome to Paulinus: "I am not content that anything mediocre be in you; I desire all to be highest, all perfect."

Second, Paul daily increased his labors: hence he always went into new and ever new regions and traveled them by preaching the Gospel. Paul, says St. Chrysostom in homily 2 On His Praises, daily rose higher, seeking greater contests, greater struggles, greater dangers, greater torments for Christ, just as a flame sent into a forest...

...continually creeps forward, until it subdues the whole forest, and grows into an immense conflagration.

Third, Paul strove to advance and perfect the faithful in spirit and virtue, and incited all to the increases of holiness. Hence Ephesians 4:15: "Doing the truth in charity," he says, "let us in all things grow up in Him who is the head, Christ." And verse 23: "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth." He prescribes the manner of growth in Romans 12:11: "In carefulness," he says, "not slothful, in spirit fervent, serving the Lord, rejoicing in tribulation, instant in prayer," etc. And St. Peter, Epistle II, 1:10: "Brethren," he says, "labor the more, that by good works you may make sure your calling and election." "Paul," says St. Augustine, sermon 11 on the Gospel according to Matthew, "desired men to be gods or angels."

Fourth, Paul took care that the Bishops and pastors of the Church should be excellent in doctrine and virtue. Hence he promoted only the most suitable, namely those who seemed most likely to advance Christians in the Christian cause. See how many and how great things he prescribes about this matter to Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, in Epistle I, throughout chapter 3, and to Titus, chapter 1, verses 6 and following. Thus St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, at Comana in Pontus, passing over many noble and chief men, who were proposed by various people, created as Bishop Alexander the Charcoal-burner, although reluctant, who, being a wise man, in his zeal for hiding had cast himself down to carrying charcoal into the city, because no one was more suitable than he; who consequently ruled that Church so excellently that he shed his blood for it and adorned it with his martyrdom. The witness is Gregory of Nyssa in the Life of the Thaumaturgus.

Fifth, Paul, although he had knowledge revealed and infused by God, yet in his leisure gave attention to sacred letters and reading. Hence, bound in prison by Nero, he commands his books and parchments to be brought to him by Timothy, 2 Timothy 4:13. And he prescribes the same, Epistle I, 4:13, saying: "Until I come, attend to reading." And Epistle II, 2:15: "Carefully," he says, "take care to present yourself approved to God, a workman not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." If Paul did these things, who was an ark of virtues and an ocean of wisdom, spirit, and zeal, what does it behoove us to do. Thus Nepotianus, says St. Jerome, in his Epitaph to Heliodorus, by assiduous reading and lengthy meditation, "had made his breast a library of Christ."

Sixth, Paul was as it were a man of fire (so also the other Apostles, says Chrysostom, in homily 4 on Acts, were as men of fire) and as a flame cast into stubble and forest, which, daily creeping forward, was growing into an ever greater and greater conflagration. Hence as fire does not fear the multitude of stubble or its roughness, nor is it harmed by it, but rather is increased and turns all things into itself: so also Paul was terrified or harmed by no abundance of men or enemies, by no threats or persecutions; but all these things were fuels and bellows, which daily kindled this fire of charity more; for he devoured all and turned them into himself, according to that of Canticles 8:6: "Love is strong as death, jealousy hard as hell; the lamps thereof are lamps of fire and of flames. Many waters could not quench charity, nor shall the floods drown it." Hence Christ also, when constituting Peter as His Vicar, Bishop, Pastor, and Apostle of the whole world, asked thrice: "Peter, do you love Me?" and when he answered: "Lord, You know that I love You;" He added: "Feed My sheep;" to signify that the pastor of souls ought daily to grow in love, that he may equally grow in feeding, and so that the measure of love is the measure of feeding. Therefore the Apostolic man, when he enters upon the apostolate, and, for example, goes to India, Ethiopia, England, Holland, should persuade himself that he ought now to be wholly other than he was, and from a Saul to become a Paul, from an animal man a spiritual man, from an earthly a heavenly one, that he may be as it were a new man fallen from heaven, coming into a new world, who may breathe out, vibrate, and shine forth divine love and ardor with mouth, face, gesture, and eyes; and that always more and more: and accordingly with St. Xavier, daily, with frequent burning sighs, may invoke the Holy Spirit and ardently recite His hymn, that He may kindle and inflame him more and more.

Seventh, Paul inspired his zeal for souls into all the faithful whom he converted to Christ, even commoners and women. Hence he made each one as it were Apostles, that each might be eager to propagate the glory and faith of Christ, and bring to it parents, children, relatives, servants, maidservants, neighbors. And by this means immediately through cities and towns the Christian religion was wonderfully propagated, and the grain of mustard seed grew into a great tree and crop. Let Apostolic men do the same; for thus they will have not the praise, fruit, merit, and glory of one apostolate, but of many. Otherwise one alone will accomplish little.

Chapter III: On Paul's Virtues Pertaining to His Neighbor

The First Is, Tireless Preaching of the Gospel

First, Paul preached nothing else but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, 1 Corinthians 2:2. And Ephesians 3:8: "To me," he says, "the least of all the Saints, this grace is given, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all, what is the dispensation of the mystery hidden from ages in God, who created all things, that the manifold wisdom of God may be made known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places through the Church..." the determination of the ages, which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.»

Secondly, Paul preached not in human wisdom and eloquence, but with great efficacy and zeal, «in showing of the spirit and power,» 1 Cor. chapter 2, verse 4. For, as he himself says, chapter 4, verse 20: «The kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power.» Whence St. Jerome in Apology to Pammachius, for the books against Jovinian: «I will produce Paul, he says, the Apostle, whom whenever I read, I seem to myself not to hear words, but thunders, etc.; wherever you look they are lightning bolts.» Hence he preached gratuitously: for he did not seek gain, but souls. Again intrepidly, freely, sincerely, strongly, with assurance: «Although we, he says, or an angel from heaven preach to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema,» Galatians 1:8. And 2 Timothy 4:1: «I charge thee, he says, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by His coming, and His kingdom: preach the word, be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine.»

Thirdly, Paul zealously catechized infidels and the faithful, especially the rude and the little ones of that first Christian age, so much so that most of his sermons were nothing other than catecheses. For he taught and confirmed the first rudiments of the faith: «We became, he says, as little ones in the midst of you, as if a nurse should cherish her children,» 1 Thessalonians 2:7. And: «As unto little ones in Christ, I gave you milk to drink,» 1 Corinthians 3:1. Christ first sanctioned and accomplished this: «Suffer, He said, the little ones to come unto Me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God,» Mark 10:13. Following this, St. Peter wishes all to become children again, Epist. I, chapter 2, verse 2: «Putting away, he says, all malice and all guile and dissimulations, as newborn infants, desire the rational milk without guile, that thereby you may grow unto salvation.» For, as St. Jerome says, epistle 12 to Gaudentius, «as water in a garden bed follows the finger that precedes it, so the soft and tender age is flexible to either side, and is drawn wherever you lead.» So formerly, by Eusebius's testimony, book VI History, chapters III, VIII and XII, in instructing catechumens in the Alexandrian Church Pantaenus, Clement, Origen, Heraclas were in charge; and in the preceding century John Gerson, Chancellor of Paris, who taught children the catechism and heard their confessions. And St. Vincent Ferrer, an Apostolic man, of whom Peter Ranzano thus writes in his Life: «He not only taught the advanced, but also instructed children called to him at certain hours, teaching them to sign themselves with the cross, the Lord's Prayer, the Angelic Salutation, the Creed of the faith, to worship God, to honor parents and any neighbors, and to fulfill due duties.» For these are the seminary of the Republic, who grow up into upright men and citizens. Wherefore St. Ignatius, founder of our Society, with the first fathers zealously practiced catechesis, and earnestly commended the same to all the Companions. See Ribadeneira, book III of his Life, chapter 24. Whence St. Francis Xavier laid the foundations of his apostolate in India through the catechesis of the rude and of children, and so through children he converted parents, servants, maidservants: indeed through the same he wrought great and many miracles, as Tursellinus relates in his Life, book II, chapters III, VI and VII. Xavier was followed by Gaspar Barzaeus, who converted Hormuz almost through children, and among other things cast down a Saracen temple, as Nicolaus Trigautius reports in his Life, book II, chapters IV and XIX. So God favors the humble, and through small and innocent children works wonders.

Fourthly, Paul chose many companions of his preaching and pilgrimage, as Barnabas, Silas, Luke, Titus, Timothy, Clement, etc., all of whom embracing as brothers, indeed sons, he transferred into his bowels as if he made them one with himself: and in turn he transmitted himself into their interiors, as if he made himself one thing with them; so that in himself he beheld all, and himself in all, regarding all their good and evil as his own. Hence happened that which Chrysostom writes about Religious, homily 77 on John, namely that many through charity are one so that through the same union of charity each one is many: «The union, he says, of ten Religious effects that one is ten: for one is in all ten, and all ten are in one. Wherefore each one has twenty hands, twenty eyes, and thus breathes and respires through ten souls, for each one bears as much care for the other as for himself. Therefore the eyes, hands and feet of all ten serve each one: for no one is content with care of himself only, but also bears care of the rest. And therefore one can do many things, because he can as ten. But if it is a union of one hundred Religious, each one will be able to do as much as one hundred can.» Thus Chrysostom. This is symbolically signified by those holy Cherubic animals, Ezekiel 1, which were four in number, and yet, Ezekiel 10:15 and 20, are called one animal: for through union all four were one, and thus four were in one, that each in turn was in four. Whence also he adds, chapter 1:9: «And their wings were joined one to another.» For Paul could not do all things by himself alone. Through Titus therefore he catechized, through Timothy privately he instructed these and those, through Silas he preached elsewhere, through Luke he wrote, etc. The apostolate therefore demands many and the conspiration of many. This St. Ignatius, founder of our Society, saw, namely that he alone could do little in propagating Christian faith and piety throughout the whole world. Wherefore he joined companions to himself, and instituted the Society, which scattered throughout the world, through this union and the grace of God accomplishes as much as with joy we see and hear. So St. Vincen-

tius Ferrer, going about provinces by evangelizing, took many priests with him, who assisted him and received the confessions of the penitents, as his Life has it. Furthermore Paul, when faith and the Church had been planted in some place, immediately gave to it some one from his companions, or from others, as Bishop, who would water and advance what he himself had planted. Thus to the Ephesians he gave Timothy, to the Cretans Titus, to the Rhegians Stephen, etc.

Fifthly, Paul went to the metropolises, as Corinth in Achaia, Ephesus in Asia, Athens in Greece, Philippi in Macedonia, Rome in Italy. For when these are converted, the remaining cities and villages subject to them are easily converted; for each follows the faith and religion of its metropolis and prince. Thus St. Xavier hurried to Meaco, the metropolis of Japan, and thence to the king of the Chinese: for when he was converted, he would have converted all China and Japan, which follows the religion of China.

Sixthly, Paul everywhere laid the first foundations of faith and the Church. «Thus, he says, I have preached this Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation, but as it is written: They to whom it was not announced of Him, shall see; and they who have not heard, shall understand,» Romans 15:20. He therefore everywhere with vast spirit and effort, first broke through the ice and the battle line; he first thrust the plow of faith into the fallow of paganism, with the briars and thorns of errors uprooted. Hence writing to the Corinthians, Epist. I, chapter 4:15, he says: «For if you have ten thousand pedagogues in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, by the Gospel, I have begotten you.» Our Xavier imitated this, of whom Father Nicolaus Trigautius thus writes, book I On the Life of Gaspar Barzaeus, chapter 15: «St. Xavier was one of those commanders who not only never imposed more on his soldier than he assumed for himself; but who, as Cato in Lucan, could say to his men: Test your dangers on me first. For he was accustomed to fortify his life for others against the most difficult things, and to taste beforehand all beginnings which are usually more difficult.»

Seventhly, Paul caught up into paradise, «there was being initiated in the secret discipline of holy things by truth, and thence received the force of speech for obedience to the faith in all nations. Whence he became the father of almost the whole world,» says Nyssen in Praise of St. Basil.

Eighthly, Paul preached both with words, and more with prayers and the example of his life. Whence he says: «Be followers of me, and observe those who walk so, as you have our model,» Philippians 3:17. St. Bernard skillfully notes, sermon 2 On the Resurrection, that Christ when commending His sheep to Peter the pastor, three times redoubled: «Feed My sheep,» John 21:15, to signify that he ought to feed them in three ways, namely by mind, tongue, hand. «Feed, he says, by mind, feed by mouth, feed by work. Feed by prayer of soul, by exhortation of word, by exhibition of example.» The same, epistle 201: «Feed, he says, by word, feed by example, feed by the fruit of holy prayers.» Hence again Paul says: «Be followers of me, as I also am of Christ,» 1 Cor. 11:1. St. Basil learned this from Paul, of whom Nazianzen said excellently in his Epitaph: «Basil's speech was thunder, because his life was lightning.» Finally Paul always and everywhere preached, even in chains and martyrdom, both with words, and with epistles of which he wrote many and more ardent ones from prison. Furthermore St. Chrysostom, book IV On the Priesthood, in the epistles of Paul recognizes «the polished charm of Isocrates, the ample sublimity of Demosthenes, the venerable majesty of Thucydides, the excellent dignity of Plato.» The same, homily 6 On Penance, calls Paul «the rhetor of Christ, the fisherman of the world, who through fourteen Epistles, as spiritual nets, captures unto salvation.»

The Second, Prudence

Firstly, Paul prudently seized the occasions of things. Hence captured by the Jews, when he saw his judges to be partly Pharisees, partly Sadducees, he exclaimed that he was a Pharisee, and was being judged concerning the resurrection of the dead, and so he drew the Pharisees to his side, who defended him against the Sadducees, Acts chapter 23, verse 6. Again, Paul's first care was for himself: «Lest perhaps, he says, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway,» 1 Cor. 9:27. «For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?» Add, the care and sanctity of self is the best disposition and way to caring for and sanctifying others. For so a mother, the greater and better foods she eats, the more milk she generates which is imparted to infants.

Secondly, Paul, says Chrysostom, homily 5 On His Praises, «in words and acts was varied and manifold, not changing his opinion, nor becoming another from another; but himself always remaining what he was, varied the use of those things which were said according to the opportunity of causes. For so we see a physician now burning, now warming; now prescribing fasting, now food; now offering hot water, now cold: because the sick man and the variation of sickness demands this. Hence Paul now keeps the law, now despises it; now preserves the present life, now contemns it; now demands monies, now refuses; now circumcises, now excludes circumcision.» Wherefore St. Gregory Nazianzen calls Paul and the Apostles ambidextrous. «A good leader will be made by labor in business, industry in acting, counsel in providing, and speed in completing,» says Cicero. Such was Paul through all things.

Thirdly, Paul prudently accommodated himself to persons, that with Jews he might appear a Jew, with Gentiles a Gentile, with the weak weak: «To all, he says, I became all things, that I might save all.» St. Xavier imitated this excellently.

Hence both prudently studied to conciliate to themselves princes and magistrates, by praising their office and polity as if instituted by God, and ordering that Christians render to them, though Ethnics, obedience, honor and tribute, Romans 13:1ff. Let Apostolic men imitate this, and bind to themselves both lay and ecclesiastical princes: for these can greatly either promote or hinder their works. Whence also St. Peter, Epist. I, chapter 2, verse 13: «Be subject, he says, to every human creature for God's sake, whether to king as preeminent, or to leaders as sent by him, for the punishment of evildoers, but the praise of the good: because this is the will of God.» For this reason Paul earnestly orders prayer to be made «for kings and for all who are in high station, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life, in all piety and chastity,» 1 Timothy 2:2.

Fourthly, Paul collected alms for the poor Christians who were at Jerusalem, through Timothy and his companions, lest anyone suspect him of asking for himself, or of converting anything to his own uses, 2 Corinthians 8:20. So also St. Xavier ordered Gaspar Barzaeus, that he should send alms offered to him to almoners, and assigns many causes and utilities of this matter, which Tursellinus reviews in his Life, book VI, chapter 12.

Fifthly, Paul was the most prudent physician of the diseases of the soul; for to each he displayed congruent and proper remedies, which St. Gregory drew from him and accurately distributed in the whole third part of the Pastoral, where he fully teaches in what manner and mode are to be admonished men, in what manner women; in what manner the joyful, in what manner the sad; in what manner subjects, in what manner Prelates; in what manner the dull, in what manner the wise; in what manner the modest, in what manner the impudent; in what manner the sick, in what manner the healthy; in what manner the slothful, in what manner the precipitate; in what manner the meek, in what manner the irascible; in what manner the obstinate, in what manner the inconstant; in what manner the humble, in what manner the elated, etc. The same, part II, depicts the living idea of a true Pastor thus: «So it is necessary that he be pure in thought, exemplary in action, discreet in silence, useful in word, near to each in compassion, suspended above all in contemplation, by humility a companion to those acting well, by zeal of justice raised against the vices of delinquents, not diminishing care of internal things in the occupation of externals, not abandoning providence of externals through solicitude of internals,» which then he prosecutes individually in order through the whole book.

The Third, Zeal

Firstly, Paul embraced the whole world with charity and studied to «offer it to God, says St. Chrysostom, homily 1 On His Praises; he namely flew around as it were land and sea, Greece and at the same time Barbary, and absolutely every region as great as is under heaven, not with simple labor, as if running journeys in vain, but at the same time plucking up the thorns of sinners, and sowing the word of piety everywhere, putting errors to flight, restoring truth, making angels out of men; nay rather promoting men themselves as it were from demons into angels.» Hence as a lightning bolt, as Chrysostom says, homily 2, most rapidly he traversed and subdued the world. Apelles painted Alexander the Great holding a lightning bolt in his hand, because like a lightning bolt he had pervaded and subjugated him. Whence also Alexander could usurp that of Julius Caesar: «I came, I saw, I conquered.» Paul surpassed Alexander, because he subdued the world by word, not by sword, by Christ, not by Alexander. Thus St. Chrysostom, whose words I shall recite, Acts 20:16. From this zeal he labored more than the rest of the Apostles, as he himself says, 1 Cor. 15:10.

Secondly, the heart of Paul was so great, broad and ample, that the whole world seemed small to him. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 32 on the epistle to the Romans, in the Moral: «I would wish to see, he says, the dust of that heart: but if anyone shall have called it the heart of the whole world, and the primary element of our salvation, he would not have erred. That heart was so broad, that it took into itself entire cities, peoples and nations. For my heart, he says, is enlarged, but although it was broad, yet often the love which itself enlarged it occupied and pressed it. For from much tribulation, he says, and anxiety of heart I wrote to you. And I would also wish to see that heart dissolved, kindled and ignited toward each of those perishing, a second time bringing forth the abortions of children, seeing God made a victim, more sublime than the heavens themselves, broader than the world, more cheerful than the solar rays, more fervent than fire, more solid than adamant, sending forth rivers (for rivers shall flow from his belly, he says, of living water), where was a fountain leaping forth and watering not the surface of the earth, but the souls of men. Whence not only rivers, but also fountains of tears flowed forth night and day. The heart, I say, which lived a new life, not this our own. For I live, he says, now not I, but Christ liveth in me. Therefore the heart of Christ was the heart of Paul, and the tablet of the Holy Spirit, and the volume of charity.»

Thirdly, Paul had an admirable zeal for souls. For this impelled him to so many labors continually to be drawn out for them and animously to undergo all the perils of life. «I am jealous, he says, of you with God's jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ,» 2 Cor. 11:2. Therefore by zeal he seemed to be an angel, indeed a Seraph. For, as St. Ambrose says, on Psalm 118, sermon 18: «Angels without zeal are nothing, and lose the prerogative of their substance, unless they sustain it by the ardor of zeal.» And shortly after: «And why do we marvel, if angels have it? God the Father Himself says: Being jealous I have been jealous for Jerusalem with a great jealousy: because God is great, therefore the zeal also is great; and according to the quality of the power of each, so also the zeal is either mediocre or great. By zeal Jerusalem is vindicated, by zeal the Church is gathered, by zeal faith is acquired, by zeal modesty is possessed. The Lord Jesus also says: The zeal of Thy house has consumed me.» And again: «A priest ought to have zeal, who studies to preserve uncorrupted the chastity of the Church.

Thus Phinehas the priest, by his zeal killing the idolatrous prince, restrained idolatry, calmed God's indignation and vengeance, and merited a perpetual pontificate, Numbers 25:11. Ambrose continues: «Good zeal and useful in a priest, especially that he be not negligent, nor remiss (whence it is commonly said: He who does not zeal, does not love); the zeal of God is life. Elijah had zeal, and therefore was caught up to heaven. With zeal, he says, I have been zealous for the Lord God of hosts,» 3 Kings 19:10. «Mathathias had zeal, who against the sacrileges of Antiochus stirred up the people to resist,» 1 Maccabees 2:27.

Fourthly, Paul exercised zeal against idols, demons, vices and the vicious, by uprooting the former, by correcting the latter, following Christ, who says, Luke 12:49: «I came to send fire on the earth, and what do I will except that it be kindled?» and the Psalmist, who says, Psalm 118:139: «My zeal has made me pine away, because my enemies have forgotten Thy words.» Whence St. Ambrose in the place already cited: «Those who have zeal, he says, consider as their enemies all who are enemies of God, although father, brothers, companions. To all he says: They have been made enemies to me, as David says.» And St. Gregory, II part of the Pastoral, chapter 6: «Let the ruler be, he says, by humility a companion, against the vices of delinquents raised by zeal of justice, that he prefer himself in nothing to the good; and when the fault of the depraved demands it, let him forthwith acknowledge the power of his priority, that he may not fear to exercise the rights of rectitude against the perverse.» Thus Paul orders Titus, chapter 1, verse 13, that he sharply rebuke the harsh.

Fifthly, of Paul as it were a man of fire, the speech was equally fiery, in the manner of Elijah, of whom it is said: «Elijah the prophet arose as it were fire, and his word burned as it were a torch,» Ecclesiasticus 48:1. Whence also he was caught up to heaven in a fiery chariot. For, as the Psalmist says, Psalm 118:140: «Thy speech is exceedingly fired, and Thy servant has loved it.» «By this fire, says St. Ambrose, ibid., that apostolic gold is proved. Heated by this fire Jeremiah says: And there was a flaming fire in my bones. By this fire those precious stones are illuminated, but hay and stubble are consumed. Therefore this fire cleanses the soul, consumes error. This is the fire which burns before the Lord: for unless someone has assumed the burning of devotion, he will not be able to have the presence of the Lord. With this fire the bush was burning, and was not consumed. For the divine word burns, that it may correct the conscience of the sinner, it does not consume to destroy.» Excellently St. Augustine, on Psalm 68: «Who, he says, is consumed by the zeal of the house of God? He who all things which perchance he sees there to be perverse, labors to amend, desires to correct, does not rest: if he cannot amend, he tolerates, groans. He does not shake the grain from the floor, he sustains the chaff, that it may enter into the storehouse, when the chaff has been separated.» And St. Chrysostom, homily 52 on Acts: «He who, he says, has been taken by the fire of Christ, becomes such, as would be a man dwelling alone upon the earth: so much is glory and ignominy of no concern to him. He so contemns temptations, and scourgings, and prisons, as if he suffered them in another's body; or just as if he possessed an adamantine body. But the things which are pleasant in this life, he so laughs at, and does not feel, as we ourselves dead at dead bodies: and as flies do not fall into the midst of a flame, but flee, so also the affections of the soul do not dare to approach them.» The Gentiles celebrate with full mouths the twelve labors and heroic deeds of Hercules, which the Poet thus chants:

First by his valor he subdued the Lion of Nemea. Extinguished was the snake that sprouts, Hydra the second. Third, the huge Erymanthian Boar was conquered. With golden horns he kills the Stag fourth in order. Fifth he casts down the Stymphalides with horrisonous bow. Sixth he took away from conquered Hippolyta her belt. The seventh labor washed out Augeas's stable with waters. Eighth he tamed the Bull with great struggle. Then ninth he slew the horses of Diomedes along with the king. Tenth he conquered Geryon with his triple body. Eleventh, dragged off, Cerberus saw new stars. Last, victor, he bore off the golden apples of the Hesperides.

Far more truly and by greater right does sacred Scripture celebrate the heroic deeds of Samson, David, Judas and the Maccabean brothers; but Paul surpassed all these, not binding and conquering bodies, but souls; not subjugating beasts, nor only men, but also demons; not one nation, but subjecting the whole world to Christ. Paul therefore is the true Hercules of Christ, true Samson, true David, true Maccabee, who erected not twelve, but a thousand trophies, accomplished a thousand triumphs.

The Fourth, Compassion

Firstly, Paul together suffered with the infirmities of all and was tortured, as if he were the mother of all: hence he labored to cure them and to take them upon himself, following that of Isaiah concerning Christ, chapter 53, verse 4: «Truly He has borne our languors, and He has carried our sorrows.» Excellently St. Gregory calls preachers hinds and ibexes, which beyond other animals give birth most difficultly, and with the greatest effort and torment. Whence concerning them he mystically explains that of Job, chapter 39, verse 1: «Hast thou known the time of the birth of the ibexes on the rocks, or hast thou considered the hinds bringing forth? They bow themselves to the foetus, and bring forth, and emit roarings. I see, he says, Paul as it were a hind emitting in his birth-pangs the roarings of great pain: O senseless, he says, Galatians, who has bewitched you? And: Are you so foolish, that having begun in the spirit, you would now be consummated in the flesh? You ran well; who has hindered you that you should not obey the truth? What was the roaring in this hind's birth, who long bore conceived foetuses with so many difficulties, and at times recognized that the births had returned to the womb of malice? Let us consider what pain she had, what labor, who even after she was able to bring forth the conceived, was again compelled to rouse the extinct.» See the same, book XXX of the Morals, chapters IX and X.

Secondly, Paul often wept out of compassion. Hence, when anyone fell into sin, sadness, more troublesome than any worm, consumed him, says St. Chrysostom, Homily 1 On His Praise: "Hence continual fountains of tears, he says, flowed from him not only by day, but also by night, and he was more vehemently afflicted in each individual than any woman in childbirth, on account of which he also said: My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you," Gal. 4:19. "And in the case of him who had committed fornication, says St. Chrysostom, hom. 3 On the Praise of St. Paul, he grieves no less than the man himself who was lamenting his own sin, and on his behalf entreats others, saying (2 Cor. 2:8): Confirm your charity toward him. But even when he separated him from the body of the Church, with how many tears and groans he did this: Out of much, he says, tribulation and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made sorrowful, but that you might know the charity which I have more abundantly toward you," ibid., v. 4. The same, hom. 6 on Matthew: "Paul, he says, is read to have wept often, but never to have laughed, just as Christ." The same, hom. 2 On the Praise of St. Paul: "No one, he says, lamented his own evils with such feeling as Paul lamented those of others."

Thirdly, Paul, seeing the more avaricious and stingy souls of the Christians whom he had converted with regard to giving the sustenance owed to him by natural and divine right, did not grow cold in evangelizing, but embracing them with greater charity, refused their offerings and gifts, and preached to them freely, teaching night and day with tears, and admonishing each one of them, as he himself says, Acts 20:31. See St. Chrysostom, hom. 44, whose words I have quoted there. Hence again he says to the more tight-fisted Corinthians, Epist. II, ch. 12, v. 15: "I will most gladly spend and be spent myself for your souls, although loving you more, I be loved less."

Fourthly, just as Paul received all the fallen kindly back into grace, so he supported the wavering with every help. "Who," he says, "is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I do not burn?" 2 Cor. 11:29; and being concerned about the same, ch. 12:20: "I fear," he says, "lest perhaps when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and I shall be found by you such as you would not; lest perhaps there be contentions, envies, animosities, dissensions, etc., among you; lest, when I come again, God humble me among you, and I mourn for many." "For," says Chrysostom, hom. 3 On the Praise of St. Paul, "he absolutely desired to present every person to God, and presented all so far as it depended on him: for as though he had begotten the whole universe, so he was disturbed, so he ran, so he hastened to bring all into the kingdom of God, by teaching, promising, meditating, praying, supplicating, terrifying, putting to flight the demons who corrupt souls: sometimes by letters, sometimes by presence: now by speech, now by deeds: now through disciples, now through himself he tried to raise up the wavering, to strengthen the standing, to lift up those lying on the ground, to heal the broken, to revive the sluggish with the oil of exhortation."

Nepotian imitated St. Paul, concerning whom St. Jerome in his Epitaph to Heliodorus says: "Understanding the clerical state, he says, not as an honor but as a burden, he made it his first care to overcome envy by humility, to assist the poor, to visit the sick, to invite to hospitality, to soothe with kindness, to rejoice with those who rejoice, to weep with those who weep; he was the staff of the blind, the food of the hungry, the hope of the wretched, the consolation of the mourning. Thus he excelled in each virtue, as though he did not possess the others. Among the presbyters and his equals he was first in work, last in rank."

Fifthly, Paul took care not only of souls, but also of bodies. Hence he zealously made a collection of money in Achaia and Macedonia for the poor of Jerusalem, 2 Cor. 8 and 9. He himself therefore, providing his own livelihood by the labor of his hands, also fed others; though poor himself, he enriched others; hungry himself, he fed others; going on foot, he put his companions on the ship, Acts 20:13 and 34: "For I do not seek what is yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up treasure for the parents, but the parents for the children," he himself says, 2 Cor. 12:14. Truly St. Jerome to Paulinus: "The true temple of Christ, he says, is the soul of the believer: adorn that one, clothe that one, offer gifts to that one, receive Christ in that one." The same, epistle 4 to Rusticus: "St. Exuperius, he says, Bishop of Toulouse, an imitator of the widow of Sarepta, hungry himself feeds others, and with face pale from fasting, is tortured by another's hunger, and he distributed all his substance into the bowels of Christ. Nothing is richer than he who carries the body of the Lord in a wicker basket, the blood in glass, who cast out avarice from the temple, etc."

Sixthly, Paul, by his own and Christ's example, earnestly recommends to Christians that they tolerate, support, and care for the mutual weaknesses of one another and of any others. For this is not only an indication of great and robust virtue, but also a meritorious cause, that God in turn may tolerate and care for our weaknesses. "We," he says, "who are stronger, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak," Rom. 15:1. And ch. 14, v. 1: "Take to yourselves him who is weak in faith." And Gal. 6:2: "Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ." See what is said there.

Seventhly, Paul carefully avoided and was on guard against any scandal: "Be without offense to Jews and Gentiles, as I also please all in all things, not seeking what is profitable to myself, but what is profitable for many, that they may be saved," 1 Cor. 10:32-33. Hence he forbade meats offered to idols to be eaten because of scandal. See Rom. ch. 14, and 1 Cor. 8. Wisely St. Jerome, in the Epitaph of Nepotian to Bishop Heliodorus: "Your house, he says, and your way of life, as though set on a watchtower, is the teacher of public discipline: whatever you do, all think they must do for themselves. Beware lest you commit something which either

those who wish to criticize may seem worthily to have torn apart; or those who wish to imitate may be compelled to fall into sin."

Fifth, Love of Enemies

Firstly, Paul so loved the Jews, his most hostile enemies and plotters, who thirsted for his blood and daily desired to tear him apart, says St. Chrysostom, that he continually preached to them, everywhere first entering the synagogues of the Jews before turning to the Gentiles, as is evident from Acts, ch. 13 and following. There admire the heroic constancy of Paul, by which though so often repelled by the Jews, he always returned to them, hoping he would convert them. For, as St. Chrysostom says, hom. 1 to the People: "The soft and slothful man falls at the very first onset, but the vehement and excited man, though interrupted a thousand times, will press on so much the more in divine matters, filling all things as far as in him lies. For it is most characteristic of one who loves never to desist from those things which please the beloved."

Secondly, he desired to die a thousand times for their salvation, indeed to undergo the torments of hell, Rom. 9:1: "I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sadness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I myself was wishing to be anathema from Christ for my brethren," namely for the Jews. See what is said there.

Thirdly, Paul bore the false apostles who envied him with humility, broke them with patience, dispelled them with prudence, overcame them with magnanimity, subdued them with charity. See the whole of ch. 10 and 11 of the second epistle to the Corinthians, and what I said there. "The more," says Chrysostom, hom. 3 On the Praise of St. Paul, "his enemies raged, the more he pitied their madness. For just as some most indulgent father is affected toward a son seized with frenzy, by whose insults and blows the more he is struck, the more he pities and weeps for him: so Paul, who would consider the very magnitude of the sufferings of those by whom he was afflicted as fury, applied to them the greater consolations of piety: he often wept, vehemently grieved for them; those wishing to insult them he forbade and excused. For he was deeply pierced and utterly cut to pieces when he saw them perishing."

Fourthly, Paul earnestly commends to the faithful the love of enemies as a mark of Christ and of Christianity: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink: for by doing this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good," Rom. 12:20. For Christ Himself sanctioned this above the Gentile Philosophers and the Jews, Matt. 5:43: "You have heard, He says, that it was said (to the Jews): You shall love your neighbor, and shall hate your enemy. But I say to you: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, who makes His sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust."

Fifthly, Paul ascribed the persecutions, contradictions, misfortunes and other impediments thrown in his way during preaching to the devil. Hence he wisely investigated his machinations, and bravely and constantly overcame them. Thus, having excommunicated the Corinthian fornicator, he commands him to be absolved after his penance, lest he fall into faintheartedness and despair, "so that we may not be circumvented, he says, by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his thoughts," 2 Cor. 2:11. And ch. 11:14: "Satan transforms himself into an angel of light." And ch. 12:7: "There was given to me a thorn of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me." And 1 Thess. 2:18: "We wished to come to you, etc., but Satan hindered us." Hence he prays, Rom. 16:20, saying: "And the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet quickly." And to the Ephesians, ch. 4:27, he warns: "Do not give place to the devil." Thus also St. Peter, Epist. 1, ch. 5:8: "Be sober, he says, and watch, because your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour: resist him, strong in faith."

Sixth, Martyrdom

Firstly, Paul throughout the whole time of his apostolate was a Martyr: for he underwent a long martyrdom in perpetual dangers, hardships, persecutions, which he himself recounts, 2 Cor. 11. Hence he himself, from his first chains under Nero, like a candidate for martyrdom, eagerly awaiting and aspiring to it, writing to the Philippians, ch. 2:17: "But even if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and congratulate with you all," as if to say: My sacrifice is the preaching of the Gospel, you are my victim which I sacrifice, let my blood be the libation: I will therefore willingly pour out my blood for you and for your faith, that by it I may, as it were, season, consecrate, pour out and offer you as a victim to God. And, 1 Cor. 15:31: "I die daily through your glory, brothers, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord." Whence St. Bernard, sermon 1 on the day of Sts. Peter and Paul: "These, he says, are the illustrious Martyrs, leaders of Martyrs, princes of Apostles, two great luminaries, whom God placed in the body of His Church, as it were the twin light of the eyes. They have been given to me as masters, and as mediators, to whom I can safely commit myself."

Secondly, Paul placed the crown of martyrdom upon the laurel of his apostolate. For when he had led the Romans away from Simon Magus, the concubine away from Nero, to Christ, says Chrysostom, book 1 Against the Detractors of the monastic life, by Nero in the 13th year of his reign, struck with the axe at the column which is still seen near Rome at the Salvian Waters, he concluded and adorned his course with glorious martyrdom. Who shall recall the final feelings of his soul in that last moment of life, who the vows and prayers of his soul burning with desire for God and Christ, who his colloquies with Christ, who his sighs, who his joys, who his raptures—

—who can portray, much less attain by thought? Surely in that border of life and death, in that horizon of time and eternity, already as it were a citizen of heaven, indeed as a Seraph, he was wholly carried away into Christ in mental ecstasy. Hence repeating Jesus with both mouth and voice, his head, though cut from the neck, gave three mighty leaps, by which by a great miracle it brought forth as many fountains from the earth, which Rome still enjoys, perpetual witnesses indeed of the fountains of doctrine and grace, which while living he poured forth and gushed into Rome and the whole world. Hence also by the unusual ardor of his face and voice, he converted his lictors and the soldiers to Christ. Finally from his severed neck flowed not blood, but milk, so that he seemed not so much to die bloodied as to live milky and, even dying, to extend his accustomed milk of doctrine to the faithful. Truly St. Jerome, to Eustochium On the Keeping of Virginity: "Precious, he says, in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints. This is the only worthy recompense, when blood is repaid with blood, and we, redeemed by the blood of Christ, willingly die for our Redeemer."

Thirdly, Paul was the leader and standard-bearer of martyrdom for the faithful, and went before the other Martyrs by such great example, that at Rome and elsewhere many hundreds of thousands of the faithful, courageously following him, poured out their blood for Christ, and not only underwent martyrdom, but even sought it. "That you might walk without offense, the disciples of the Lord, stripping off the garment of their own body, paved the way for you with their martyrdom amid the adversities of crowds," says St. Ambrose, book IX on Luke. The same St. Ambrose, book VII, epistle 1, which among all is number 53, relates that St. Paul appeared to him and revealed the place in which the bodies of Sts. Gervasius and Protasius the martyrs, his disciples and followers, were buried, and commanded that he should bring them out and build a church in their name, in which he should honorably enshrine them. "They (Sts. Gervasius and Protasius) appeared to me, he says, with a third person, who seemed to be like the Blessed Apostle Paul, whose face a painting had taught me, to such an extent that he himself spoke with me, while they were silent, saying: These are they who, obeying my admonitions, despising estates and riches, followed the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ; desiring nothing earthly, nothing carnal, persevering in the service of God for ten years in the midst of this Milanese city, deserved to attain this, that they should become Martyrs of Christ. You will find their bodies in that place where you stand and pray."

Furthermore, Paul, dying, transmitted and consecrated his soul to heaven, his fame to eternity, the faithful to the Church, his body and blood with the faith to Rome, and having become not only a citizen, but also Consul and Roman Emperor, he obtained there the citadel of empire, and having overthrown the worship of demons and of paganism, set up the standards of Christ's cross, so that now Rome, having become Christian instead of Pagan, might submit to Christ not only her own head, but also that of the whole world subjected to her. Truly Tertullian, in the Scorpiace, ch. 15: "The rising faith, he says, Nero first stained with blood at Rome. Then Peter is girded by another, when he is bound to the cross. Then Paul attains the birthright of Roman citizenship, when there he is reborn by the nobility of martyrdom." The same, On Prescription against Heretics, ch. 36, celebrating the Roman Church: "O happy Church, he says, to whom the Apostles poured forth all their doctrine with their blood." See St. Chrysostom, hom. 32 on the epistle to the Romans, in the Moral section, where among other things he says: "Who will now grant me to embrace the body of Paul, to be fastened to his tomb, to see the dust of that mouth through which Christ spoke? He obtained his wish not in life, but after death. For the body of St. Chrysostom, translated to Rome, was buried at the threshold of the Apostles Peter and Paul, that he might seem to be their doorkeeper: where we venerate him, as it were a disciple and follower of Paul associated with him, with the worship and devotion that is due. Furthermore Chrysostom, hom. 6 On Penance, calls Nero the conquered, but Paul the conqueror: "He spurned, he says, the Cilician tentmaker, bound, poor and worn out by hunger, the king of Roman opulence commanding all. Who then is more illustrious? he who conquered in chains, or he who was overcome in purple? he who was despised while commanding, or he who when commanded paid no heed to the command of the one commanding? he who when alone conquered, or he who though surrounded by an innumerable army was conquered? Bound with a chain, he laid low the king of diadems." Finally Paul was

A certain one as it were a God walking on earth, And a holy angel in the flesh: In the regeneration to be similar to the Son of God, And in his own measure God.

These things have been briefly said about the portrait of Paul. For our Father Thomas Massutius forms the same more fully and copiously in an entire work, which he adorns with this title and subject matter.

The Author's Vow

From St. Hilary, book I On the Trinity.

"I am conscious, Father, almighty God, that I owe You this as the foremost duty of my life, that all my speech and thought may speak of You. For neither can this very faculty of speaking, granted to me by You, render me any other greater reward than that by preaching You it may serve You, and demonstrate You as You are, namely Father of the Only-Begotten God, either to an ignorant age or to a denying heretic. And in this indeed is only the profession of my will: as for the rest, the gift of Your help and mercy must be prayed for, that You may fill the extended sails of our faith and confession with the breath of Your Spirit, and propel us into the course of the preaching we have begun." Amen.