St Timothy and St Titus

From the Editor’s Desk (Tuesday, January 26, 2016, Gaudium Press) On the Feast day of these two companions of St Paul and bishops we are pleased to give a summary on them taken from EWTN web page.

St Timothy: First Bishop of Ephesus, companion of St Paul and martyr

Feast day: January 26

A native of Lystra, he was the son of a Jewish woman named Eunice and a Greek Gentile. Converted to the faith by St. Paul, Timothy willingly received circumcision in order to assuage the Jews to whom he and Paul would be preaching, especially as it was known that his father was a Gentile. Paul found Timothy a very valuable assistant and companion, using him on several missions, such as those to the Corinthians (1 Cor 4:17) and the Thessalonians (1 Thes 3:2-3). According to tradition, he was the first bishop of Ephesus, the basis for this being his journey to the city at the command of Paul to act as his representative (1 Tm 1:3). He is mentioned with St. Paul in the salutations of seven epistles in the New Testament and was teh addressee of two of three pastoral letters – 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. His martyrdom on January 22, 97 by a mob of angry pagans came about through his opposition to the celebration of the feast of Diana; it was recorded in the fourth-century Acta S. Timothei.

(Taken from Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

St. Titus: First Bishop of Crete, companion of St. Paul

Then, as regards the figure of Titus, whose name is of Latin origin, we know that he was Greek by birth, that is, a pagan (cf. Gal 2:3). Paul took Titus with him to Jerusalem for the so-called Apostolic Council, where the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles that freed them from the constraints of Mosaic Law was solemnly accepted.

In the Letter addressed to Titus, the Apostle praised him and described him as his “true child in a common faith” (Ti 1:4). After Timothy’s departure from Corinth, Paul sent Titus there with the task of bringing that unmanageable community to obedience.

Titus restored peace between the Church of Corinth and the Apostle, who wrote to this Church in these terms: “But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me…. And besides our own comfort we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his mind has been set at rest by you all” (II Cor 7:6-7, 13).

From Corinth, Titus was again sent out by Paul – who called him “my partner and fellow worker in your service” (II Cor 8:23) – to organize the final collections for the Christians of Jerusalem (cf. II Cor 8:6).

Further information from the Pastoral Letters describes him as Bishop of Crete (cf. Ti 1:5), from which, at Paul’s invitation, he joined the Apostle at Nicopolis in Epirus (cf. Ti 3:12). Later, he also went to Dalmatia (cf. II Tm 4:10). We lack any further information on the subsequent movements of Titus or on his death.

Source: EWTN

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