Titus (Biblical)
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| Saint Titus | |
|---|---|
| Bishop | |
| Died | 96 or 107 AD, Gortyn, Crete |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Orthodoxy and Lutheranism |
| Feast | 26 January; 6 February (General Roman Calendar of 1962) |
| Attributes | Bishop |
 Saints Portal |
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In the Christian New Testament, Saint Titus, (a common Roman first name) was a companion of Paul of Tarsus, mentioned in several of Paul's epistles, including the Epistle to Titus. Titus was with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch and accompanied them to the Council of Jerusalem,[1] although his name nowhere occurs in the Acts of the Apostles.
He appears to have been a Gentile – for St. Paul sternly refused to have him circumcised, because Paul believed Christ's gospel freed believers from the requirements of the Mosaic Law – and to have been chiefly engaged in ministering to Gentiles. At a later period, Paul's Epistles place him with St. Paul and Timothy at Ephesus, whence he was sent by Paul to Corinth for the purpose of getting the contributions of the church there in behalf of the poor Christians at Jerusalem sent forward.[2] He rejoined the apostle when he was in Macedonia, and cheered him with the tidings he brought from Corinth.[3] After this his name is not mentioned till after Paul's first imprisonment, when we find him engaged in the organization of the church in Crete, where the apostle had left him for this purpose.[4] The last notice of him is in 2 Timothy 4:10, where he appears with Paul at Rome during his second imprisonment. From Rome he was sent into Dalmatia, no doubt on some important missionary errand. The New Testament does not record his death.
According to church tradition, Paul ordained Titus Bishop of Gortyn in Crete. He died in AD 107 at about 95 years of age.
The feast day of St Titus was not included in the Tridentine Calendar. When it was added later, it was assigned to 6 February, as in the General Roman Calendar of 1962, which Traditionalist Catholics still use. In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church assigned the feast to 26 January so as to celebrate the two disciples of Paul the Apostle, Titus and Timothy, on the day after the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.[5] The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America accepted the same date for celebrating these two together with Silas (see Calendar of Saints).
[edit] "Titus Timotheus"?
Richard G. Fellows argues that the name Titus in 2 Corinthians and Galatians is nothing more than an informal name used by Timothy. The theory proposes that 1 Cor. 4.17, 16.10, 2 Cor. 2.13, 7.6, 13-14, 12.18 and Acts 19.22 all refer to the same journey of a single individual, Titus-Timothy.
However, other biblical passages seem to dispute this theory, namely 2 Timothy, an epistle to Timothy, which states that Titus has gone to Dalmatia (2 Timothy 4.10).
[edit] References
- ^ Galatians 2:1-3; Acts 15:2
- ^ 2 Corinthians 8:6; 12:18
- ^ 7:6-15
- ^ Titus 1:5
- ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 116
[edit] External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Epistles to St. Timothy and St. Titus
- Fellows, Richard G. "Was Titus Timothy?" Journal for the Study of the New Testament 81 (2001):33-58.
