Sts. Timothy and Titus

I'm sorry this has been so sporadic lately. I've found that trying to do each saint on his or her feast day was too tall of an order. So I'm going to give it a shot to do just the major feast days, but if I miss a few (or more) I'm sorry.

Today the church celebrates the feast days of Saints Timothy and Titus.

St. Timothy (d. c. 97) Timothy joined St. Paul when he preached at Lystra. He became a close friend and confidant of St. Paul. Because he was the son of a converted Jewess, Paul allowed him to be circumcised to placate the Jews. He went with Paul on his second missionary. Timothy remained in Berea after Paul was forced to flee, and then was sent to Thessalonica to report on the condition of the Christians there and encourage them. This report led to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians. Timothy was with Paul when he was imprisoned at Caearea and then Rome. Timothy was also imprisoned but was freed. He became the first bishop of Ephesus, and was later stoned to death there because he opposed the pagan festival of Katagogian. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, one from Macedonia, and the second from the prison in Rome while awaiting execution.



St. Titus (1st century) Titus was converted by St. Paul and later became his secretary and followed him to the Council of Jerusalem. Paul refused to allow him to be circumcised. Paul sent Titus to Corinth to correct errors and settle dissensions and later to collect alms for the poor Christians in Jerusalem. Paul ordained him bishop of Crete so he could carry out Paul's work there. He received a letter from St. Paul from Macedonia giving instructions on spiritual matters, telling him the qualities of a good bishop, maintaining strict discipline among the Cretans, and telling him to establish presbyters (priests) in the cities of Crete. Timothy died there of advanced age. There are some stories written about Timothy that are considered a work of fiction like the Acts of Titus that was supposedly written by Zenas the lawyer (Titus 3:13).



pictures from Catholic Culture
all information taken from John J. Delaney's Dictionary of Saints