St. Paul
The great apostle and missionary of Christianity, author of the principal Epistles of the New Testament. As Saul of Tarsus he was originally one of the most bitter persecutors of the early Christians, but he was converted by a vision on the road to Damascus. His great missionary travels, described in the Acts of the Apostles, took him "in journeyings often, in peril of rivers, in peril of robbers . . . in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren."
He was finally beheaded at Rome. He is patron saint of preachers and tentmakers (see Acts xviii. 3). Originally called Saul, his name, according to tradition, was changed in honor of Sergius Paulus, whom he converted ( Acts xiii. 6-12).
His symbols are a sword and open book, the former the instrument of his martyrdom, and the latter indicative of the new law propagated by him as the apostle of the Gentiles. He is represented of short stature, with bald head and grey, bushy beard; legend relates that when he was beheaded at Rome ( 66 A. D.), after having converted one of Nero's favorite concubines, milk instead of blood flowed from his veins. He is commemorated on June 30.
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