Saint Paul

Saint Paul (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/StPaul_ElGreco.jpg)

Saint Paul was born in Tarsus, a city in Turkey, under the name Saul. His parents live in Jish, an Arab town in Israel. He studied in Jerusalem. His father was a well known and wealthy Pharisee.

Saul was a devout Pharisee who initially saw Jesus's followers as blasphemers. One day, when Saul was in Jerusalem, he saw a crowd of angry Jews screaming at a man named Stephen. Saul recognized Stephen from his school days. When he knew that Stephen had been baptized a Christian and was teaching other Jews about Jesus, Saul was furious. He gathered up stones and threw them to Stephen. After that day, he persecuted all the Christians in Jerusalem, sending a lot of them to the prison.

He was on his way to arrest the Christians in Damascus when he had a vision of Jesus that caused him to go blind and ultimately convert to Christianity after being healed. He was baptized by a disciple called Ananias, who is one of the Seventy Disciples and he was sent by God to heal Paul's blindness and join him with the Church.

There are three importance of his conversion experience:
The first is the description of the event in which he is described as falling to the ground hearing the words "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
The second is Paul's witness to the event before the crowd in Jerusalem.
The last is his testimony before King Agrippa II.
After being cured and experiencing conversion, Saul went into desert to reflect on his experience. When he returned, Saul was even more enthusiastic in spreading the message of Jesus than He had once been in persecuting Jesus' followers.

Saint Paul writing his epistles, 16th century (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/PaulT.jpg)

Missionaries like Paul spread the Good News and founded Christian communities throughout the Roman Empire. Paul established communities at Phillipi, Thessalonica, Corinth and Ephesus. During his second missionary journey, Paul began writing letters of advice, concern and instruction to the Christian communities he founded. These letters became known as the Epistles. Paul was beheaded in Emperor Nero's persecutions. Now there is a church named Saint Paul in Rome.