The life of Paulus

 PAUL OF TARSUS
One of the most oustanding pioneers of the newly established Church was Paul Tarsus, born of Jewish parents, a Pharisee as for the Law, a staunch and faultless follower of the paternal traditions to which he was introduced by Gamaliel, one of the most famous Rabbis in Jerusalem at that time, he persecuted with no respite those whom he considered a threat for the Jewish religion. On the way to Damascus, with letters from the High Priest to arrest and imprison men and women who professed this new faith, he was struck by a heavenly light,and falling to the ground, he heard a voice telling him: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" A short dialogue followed, and Saul was himself converted to the faith in Christ he had so far persecuted. From now on, Saul, the persecutor, henceforth called Paul, became one of the greatest preachers of the Good News, the Apostle of the gentiles.

THE APOSTOLIC JOURNEYS OF SAINT PAUL
First Journey 44 - 49 A.D.
After his conversion, Paul spent some time in the wilderness, in Arabia, and then back to Damascus he started preaching the new faith,. After 3 years he travelled to Jerusalem where he met Peter and James, called "the brother of the Lord". Back to Tarsus in Clicia, he was called by Barnabas and inrtoduced to the Church in Antioch. From here, Paul set off on his first apostolic journey which took him to Cyprus (Selamis, Paphos), crossing by boat from Selecia and back to Perga, Antioch in Pisidia, where, rejected by the jews, he turned to the pagans, Iconium (Konya) and Derbe, Attalia and back by boat to Antioch.

Second Journey - 50 - 53 A.D.
Again from Antioch, taking with him Silas, a Roman converted to the Christian faith, he headed for Galatia. Passing through Phrygia he came to Macedonia. He preached the Good News and established Churches in Philippi, Thessalonika and Beroea. In Athens he was invited to address the Council of the Areopagus and while some laughed at him when he affirmed that Christ rose up from the dead others followed him and became Christians. In Corinth he stayed with a Jew named Aguila and his wife Priscilla, who were tentmakers as himself and worked with them. Here he converted many Jews and Greeks and aroused the jealousy of influential Jews, who succeeded to bring him before the proconsul Gaio accusing him of breaking the law of Moses. When he refused to put him on trial, Paul returned to Antioch by boat stopping briefly in Ephesus and landing at Caesarea.

Third Journey - 54 - 58 A.D.
After a short stay in Antioch, Paul set out again on another missionary journey through Galatia and Phrygia encouraging and strenghtening the Churches he had previously founded. From Corinth he passed to Ephesus where for 3 whole years he preached Christ and insructed those who joined the fold, both Jews and pagans, the tenets of the New Way of the Gospel. Here he wrote some of his letters, those to the Corinthians and the one to the Romans, the latter considered as a systematic treatise of the theology urderlying all his teaching. After the silversmith'riot, Paul greeted good- bye to the Ephesian Christians and set out for Macedonia, then to Greece, back to Macedonia with a stop at Assos, touching Samos and stopping at Trogyllium and then to Miletos, where on the boat he bid farewell to the elders of the church of Ephesos, concluding his moving address with the words: 'none of you will see my face again', and from there to Jerusalem. Here, the elders tried hard to have Paul killed by the mob. But the Romans intervened and taking him into custody saved his life. While under arrest and awaiting trial, Paul, a Roman citizen, appealed to Caesar.
Fourth Journey - 60 - 61 A.D.
Two long years under arrest in Jerusalem, and finally, Paul, in chains, could leave for Rome. Sailing in rough sea, caught up in a hurricane, the vessel ended up shipwrecked on the island of Malta, where all the crew were forced to pass the winter. Here too, Paul preached the new, Faith, made converts and founded a church. In spring of the year 60 A.D. he could reach Rome. Under house arrest for about 2 years, here too, he could make contacts with Jews and pagans and make converts to the faith he had Embraced on the way to Damascus, when in a miraculous way he came face to face with Jesus, the risen Lord. He was sentenced to death and beheaded on Via Ostiense under Nero. His remains rest in the Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls, not far from the place of the martyrdom.