The first of these

[who "spent their lives for the Lord, the Gospel and the Church"] called by the Lord himself, by the Risen One, to be a true Apostle, is undoubtedly Paul of Tarsus. St John Chrysostom praised him as a person superior even to many angels and archangels (cf. Panegirico, 7, 3). Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy, inspired by Luke's account in Acts (cf. 9: 15), describes him simply as "vessel of election" (Inf. 2: 28), which means: instrument chosen by God. Others called him the "13th Apostle", or directly, "the first after the Only".

Pope Benedict XVI