We know extremely little

about the other Apostles...while we have a rich biography, in part an autobiography, of this thirteenth companion, this Apostle born out of time (1 Cor 15:8).

Giuseppe Ricciotti
Paul the Apostle

As to thy last Apostle's heart

Thy lightning glance did then impart
Zeal's never-dying fire,
So teach us on Thy shrine to lay
Our hearts, and let them day by day
Intenser blaze and higher.


John Keble

You who were a vessel of election for Christ,

...pray for us.
You who were made preacher, apostle and doctor of the Gentiles in truth, pray for us.
You whose apostolate was confirmed by marvels and wonders, pray for us.


Litany of St. Paul

Who can altogether despair

over the enormity of any crime whatever when they hear that Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the Lord's disciples, suddenly becomes a vessel of election?"

Bernard of Clairvaux


Sermons for the Advent and Christmas Season
Cistercian Publications
Kalamazoo, MI

[Paul's] mind was

like some instrument of music, harp or viol, the strings of which vibrate, though untouched, by the notes which other instruments give forth, and he was ever, according to his own precept, 'rejoicing with them that rejoice, and weeping with them that wept'."
John Henry Cardinal Newman

Even when he gives vent

to his sufferings most forcefully, he emerges absolutely certain of the charism that has been given to him, his vocation, his mission as a gift of the Holy Spirit."

Carlo-Maria Cardinal Martini
In the Thick of His Ministry
St. Paul Publications, Slough

Greatly admiring our Redeemer

we sing the marvel of the Savior,
of his mercies and clemency.
Christ chose him to be leader of His flock
who had once raised the cross for the Lamb.
Sequence for the Conversion of St. Paul

Paul the apostle of Christ

sought to conform his thinking and behavior according to the example of Christ. Indeed, this will become his major defense to those who dismiss his ministry as inferior and weak."

Paul Barnett Paul, Missionary of Jesus
ISBN 978-0-8028-4891-8

From thee, illustrious Teacher Paul,

Sounds forth the Church's trumpet call,
throughout the world, from pole to pole,
like tempest's blast, like thunder's roll.

(from a French hymn to St. Paul)

Blessed Paul, pray for us

You who obtained the mercy of God, pray for us.
You in whom the Son of God was revealed, pray for us.

Litany of St. Paul

With a lightning flash from heaven

and from outside it enlightens [Saul,] someone as yet incapable of receiving light within. And a voice came... We cannot doubt a truth that enters through both windows--that is, both eyes and ears.

Bernard of Clairvaux

Sermons for the Advent and Christmas Season
Cistercian Publications
Kalamazoo, MI

O return to us, Paul, Christ's Apostle!

Now is the hour of hatred and darkness.
Come and pour out Christ's love in all its splendor
throughout a world that is striving for true peace.

Hymn to St. Paul

Paul's life after his conversion

illustrates a zeal for the gospel tempered by grace, which contrasts with his prior relentless zeal for persecution."

Bill Doggett
Commentary for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul


New Proclamation Commentary for Feasts, Holy Days and Other Celebrations
Fortress Press

Paul links all

the great creative acts of God in the Old Testament with what has happened to him."

Carlo-Maria Cardinal Martini


The Testimony of St. Paul
St. Paul Publications, Slough

Heavenly secrets are stored within this vase,

contained within this ark so precious,
in this vessel of election for God.
Of all abysses, he is the most profound;
of the heights, he is the most celestial,
summing up all within himself.
Sequence for the Conversion of St. Paul

Addressing this society which bore within it

an undeniable religious anguish, Paul declared that what it was suffering from was a great absence, an absence which could be remedied by only one being, one truth, one presence.

Daniel-Rops


St. Paul: Apostle of Nations
Fides Publishers, 1953

The lamp his holy words display

Hath filled the world with glorious rays,
and doubt and error are o'erthrown
that truth may reign and reign alone.

French hymn to St. Paul

Paul, once converted,

became a minister of conversion to the whole world.

Bernard of Clairvaux



Sermons for the Advent and Christmas Season
Cistercian Publications
Kalamazoo, MI

The story [of Paul's conversion]

is dramatic in and of itself, but at its heart it demonstrates that even the most fervent enemy of Jesus is not beyond the reach of his love and redemption."

Bill Doggett
Commentary for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

New Proclamation Commentary for Feasts, Holy Days and Other Celebrations
Fortress Press

The Apostle instinctively experiences his sufferings

not as a solitary personal fate, but as Christ's sufferings in him, because they occur within the ministry that the Lord Jesus has entrusted to him.... he calls them Christ's sufferings in himself.

Carlo-Maria Cardinal Martini

In the Thick of His Ministry
St. Paul Publications, Slough

This one conversion [of St. Paul]

marvelously puts before us both the great extent of mercy and the effectiveness of grace.

Bernard of Clairvaux


Sermons for the Advent and Christmas Season
Cistercian Publications
Kalamazoo, MI

Whoever comes close to Paul

is transformed, bit by bit, and learns to live as he did, and to pray as he did.


Bl. James Alberione
(Sermon, February 1938)

To the one who loves St. Paul,

he does not appear as a stern wielder of the sword, but as the most ardent and tender person ever to love Christ."



Bl. James Alberione
(Sermon, February 1938)

Later the Vessel of Election

traveled there (to Rome)
to draw comfort from that faith
which is the beginning of the path of salvation.


Dante
Inferno, 2: 28

In praising Paul,

I praise the apostolate; even more, I praise God, the Author of Paul and of the apostolate."


Cornelius a Lapide
(paraphrasing Gregory Nanzianzen's words on Athanasius)
The Personality of St. Paul