Saint of the Day
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Apostle to the Gentiles, author of 13 New Testament letters — the most consequential missionary in Christian history.
Saul of Tarsus was born in the Roman province of Cilicia (modern Turkey) around 5 AD to a devout Jewish family with Roman citizenship — a rare and valuable combination. He was educated in Jerusalem under Rabbi Gamaliel, the most respected Pharisee teacher of the era. As a young Pharisee, he was zealous to defend Jewish tradition against what he saw as the dangerous Christian sect, holding the coats of those who stoned Saint Stephen (Acts 7:58) and traveling with letters from the high priest to arrest Christians as far as Damascus. On the road to Damascus around 35 AD, he was struck blind by a vision of the risen Christ asking 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' (Acts 9).
Read full biography →O glorious Saint Paul, who, from a persecutor of Christianity, didst become a most ardent Apostle of zeal, and who, to make known the Saviour Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth, didst suffer with joy imprisonment, scourging, stoning, shipwreck, and persecutions of every kind, and didst at last shed thy blood to the last drop, obtain for us the grace to accept, as favors granted by the mercy of God, the infirmities, sufferings, and misfortunes of this life, that the vicissitudes of this our exile may not make us grow cold in the service of God, but rather may render us ever more faithful and more fervent. Amen.