Chapter 2

Jerome says in the prologue to the Bible: “The Acts of the Apostles indeed seem to sound forth bare history and to weave the infancy of the newborn Church. But if we know that their author is Luke the physician, whose praise is in the Gospel, we shall likewise perceive all his words to be medicine for the languishing soul.”

At the beginning, therefore, he treats of Christ’s Ascension. When it had been accomplished, as he says there, the eleven apostles returned to Jerusalem to the upper room. Judas Iscariot, the twelfth, after his betrayal, had hanged himself in despair and, bursting open in the middle, had descended to hell.

All these apostles were persevering with one accord in prayer with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren, that is, Christ’s relatives on his mother’s side, not uterine brothers, for just as the Virgin bore Christ as her firstborn, so also as her only-begotten.

The crowd of people together was nearly one hundred twenty.

In those days between the Ascension and Pentecost, Peter, knowing that he had been established by Christ as supreme pastor, rose in the midst of the brethren and said: “Men, brethren, the Scripture which the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David concerning Judas must be fulfilled. He was the leader of those who apprehended Jesus and was numbered among us,” namely in the college of the twelve apostles.

This is what was written in Psalm 108: “Let his habitation become desolate, and let another receive his bishopric.” For all the apostles had been made bishops by Christ at the Last Supper.

“Therefore, from among these men who were gathered with us during all the time when the Lord Jesus entered and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these must be made with us a witness of his resurrection.”

By common counsel and consent they chose two of the seventy-two disciples of Christ who were more renowned for holiness: Joseph, who was called Barsabbas and surnamed Justus, the brother of James the Less, and Matthias, most learned in the Law.

Setting them in the midst, they prayed, saying: “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen,” namely by some sign, to take the place of Judas’s apostolate. When lots were given to them, the lot fell upon Matthias.

There is a twofold opinion about the nature of these lots. Dionysius says that this lot was a certain ray of splendor which appeared over Matthias. By this sign it was indicated to all who saw it that he was called by God to the apostolate in place of Judas.

But the other, common opinion is that they were ordinary lots, whether called divisory or consultative, which people frequently use to divide something or to learn what ought to be done in a doubtful matter.

It should be noted that, as Isidore says, Matthias was chosen by lot and is the first whom we read to have been ordained by the apostles. For this reason those ordained in minor or major orders are called clerics. The Greek word cleros, from which “cleric” is derived, is called in Latin “lot” or “inheritance.” Such persons are called clerics because they are of the Lord’s lot or because they have God as their portion, Distinction 21, Chapter 1.

It should also be noted that although the Lord Jesus chose twelve simple and unlettered apostles, lest the conversion of the world through their preaching be attributed to human ingenuity and wisdom rather than divine power, he nevertheless wished the apostles to take Matthias, a man learned in the Law, as their fellow apostle. This was to indicate to later rulers of churches that learned men, not the uneducated, ought to be assumed into the clergy and the governance of souls. Thus he also called Paul, most learned in the Law, from heaven to the apostolate.

Matthias was therefore numbered with the eleven apostles so that he might be the twelfth. This number, sacred twelve, denotes the fullness of their perfection and the saving effect of their office.

It is a superabundant number, because its aliquot parts multiplied within it exceed the number itself. Its aliquot parts are one, two, three, four, and six, which collected together make sixteen.

It also signifies that through those twelve apostles the fourfold evangelical teaching of Christ was to be propagated in the four parts of the world—east, west, south, and north—from which the world would receive knowledge of the Trinity together with the three theological virtues.

They are said to have composed the creed containing the whole substance of things to be believed, distinguished into twelve articles, each of them contributing his own part, as Hostiensis notes in the Summa.

They were prefigured by the twelve patriarchs, the sons of Jacob; by the twelve scouts of the Promised Land; by the twelve precious stones inserted in the high priest’s ornament; and by the twelve fountains of water found at Elim in the desert.

[Running head: Chapter Two. Folio 179.]

“And when the days of Pentecost were completed.” Pentecost was the fiftieth day from the solemnity of Passover. The Jews solemnized that day for a week in memory of the benefit conferred on them by God, namely the Mosaic Law on Mount Sinai.

Jews from diverse parts of the world gathered in Jerusalem for that feast according to the command of the Law, for through their various captivities the Jews had already been dispersed throughout the world.

On that fiftieth day from Christ’s Resurrection, while the apostles were gathered together with the other disciples of Christ of both sexes and with Mary the mother of Jesus, as they prayed at the third hour, there came from heaven a sound as of a mighty rushing spirit, that is, as though a strong wind were blowing. It filled the entire house of that upper room.

In that sound there appeared over all who were gathered divided tongues as of fire. By this visible sign the grace of the Holy Spirit was sent invisibly into them in the greatest fullness.

The visible fire which appeared over them was not the person of the Holy Spirit, who is an invisible spirit; nor did he assume that fire in unity of person as God the Son assumed human nature. Rather, that fire was newly formed by God and afterward resolved into preexisting matter, to show the invisible effect which he worked in them: that with fiery tongues they might promulgate throughout the world the fiery law of charity infused into their fervent hearts, kindling the hearts of their hearers to the love of God and neighbor, and that with burning zeal they might seek the salvation of souls.

This soon became evident in effect. Putting aside all the fear through which they had previously remained shut in, they left the house to preach publicly to everyone.

When that great sound was heard throughout the city, a very great multitude of diverse nations who had come for the feast suddenly gathered at that upper room to learn the cause of the sound. Seeing the multitude, the apostles began to speak in various languages of the mighty works of God.

Some understand this to mean that while the apostles spoke in only one language, perhaps Hebrew, all the hearers of other languages understood their own language under that one.

But if this had been so, the miracle could have been slandered and attributed more to the power of the hearers, who understood a foreign language, than to the power of the speakers.

Therefore Thomas says in the Summa that, as the text states, the apostles themselves spoke in various languages at different times: now Hebrew, which the Hebrews present understood; now Greek, which the Greeks perceived; now Italian, which the Romans knew; now Arabic; and so with the others.

For this reason those who had gathered said to one another in amazement: “Are not all these men Galileans? And how have we heard, each one, our own language in which we were born—Parthians and Medes,” and so forth.

Other irreligious and frivolous people mocked them, saying, “These men are full of new wine,” supposing that from drunkenness they spoke in such diverse ways.

Peter, however, preaching with the other apostles, rejected their speech and opinion that the apostles spoke so through drunkenness, because it was the third hour of the day, and the Jews regarded drinking before that hour as a great crime.

He declared that the prophecy of Joel had then been fulfilled in them, because Joel had foretold an abundant sending of the Holy Spirit, saying: “In the last days I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,” that is, upon both sexes of human beings, and so forth. Pouring out denotes superabundance.

Then Peter showed in his preaching that David’s prophecy concerning Christ’s death and resurrection had been fulfilled in what the Psalm says: “You will not give your Holy One,” that is, Christ, “to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life,” says Christ to the Father, which occurred in the Resurrection.

This cannot be understood of David, since he saw corruption, which was evident from his tomb. Peter also introduced the words: “The Lord said to my Lord,” and so forth.

When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and asked what they ought to do for their salvation. Peter answered that they should repent and receive baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. This was done.

The Holy Spirit descended upon those baptized in the form of fire, and they spoke in various languages. Three thousand baptized persons were added to them.

At that beginning, through the inspiration and dispensation of the Holy Spirit, baptism was conferred with this formula: “I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ,” so that such a name and Jesus himself might be made sweet in the hearts of the faithful, through whose invocation they saw themselves receive so great a gift, which was abominable to other unbelievers.

Luke says that those converted to the faith were persevering “in the teaching of the apostles, in the communication of the breaking of bread,” that is, Holy Communion, “and in prayers.”

Fear came upon every soul, and the apostles performed many miracles in Jerusalem.

Those who were converted sold their possessions, placed the price of the things sold before the apostles’ feet, held all things in common, and distributed necessities to each according as each had need.

Every day they broke bread from house to house. This is commonly expounded of the sacramental bread of the Eucharist. Having gathered together in some house, after prayers and certain devout ceremonies—which can piously be believed even if Scripture has not expressed them—they all received Communion, including laypeople. The sacrament was confected by the apostles themselves or by other disciples ordained as priests by Christ or his apostles.

One day, as Peter and John went up to the temple at the ninth hour of prayer, a disabled man, lame from his mother’s womb, who begged at the temple gate—that is, at the gate of the temple court called Beautiful—asked alms from Peter and John as they entered the temple.

When he looked toward them and expected alms, Peter said: “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have, this I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk.”

He was immediately healed and walked, entering the temple with them and praising God.

When all were astonished and many ran together to see the miracle, Peter said to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel and look upon us as though by our own power we had made this man walk? Jesus, whom you killed but whom God raised from the dead, has healed him.

“Repent therefore and be converted,” namely to faith in him, “that your sins may be blotted out. This Jesus is he of whom Moses foretold: ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brethren. You shall hear him as you hear me, according to all that he shall speak to you. Every soul that does not hear that prophet shall be exterminated from the people,’” namely from the assembly of the saints.

“All the prophets from Samuel onward announced these days. To Abraham also he said: ‘In your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”

[Running head: Sixth Title.]

“To you therefore first, God, raising up his Son, sent him to bless you,” namely this Jesus, “so that each one may turn from his wickedness.”

Many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of them became five thousand. Note that on the day of Pentecost three thousand had been converted to the faith, as was shown above. Now, however, when this miracle had been performed, five thousand were converted. Thus the primitive Church at Jerusalem already had eight thousand faithful.

While the apostles were speaking to the people, the priests, the magistrate, and the Sadducees came upon them, grieved that they preached Jesus and the resurrection from the dead. They seized them and put them in prison.

On the following day the rulers of the priests and the scribes assembled in Jerusalem, together with Annas, Caiaphas, and all who were of priestly lineage. Placing the apostles before them in their midst, they asked by what power they had performed that miracle, namely the healing of the lame man.

Peter answered that it had been done by the power and in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had crucified but whom God had raised. He added: “This is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the head of the corner; nor is there any other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

When they saw the constancy of Peter and John, perceived that they were unlettered men, and knew that they had been with Jesus, they marveled. They could neither conceal nor disparage the miracle, because the man who had been healed stood there before them.

After taking counsel among themselves about what they should do with the apostles, they called them back and commanded them with threats that they should speak and teach no more in the name of Jesus.

Peter and John answered them: “Whether it is right to hear you rather than God, judge for yourselves. For we cannot refrain from speaking of the things we have heard and seen.”

Released with threatening commands, they returned to their brethren and recounted what the chief priests had said to them. Praying together, they said: “Lord, who made heaven and earth, who said through the mouth of David, ‘Why have the nations raged?’ and so forth: look upon their threats and grant to your servants that they may speak your word with all confidence.”

When the prayer was finished, the place was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with confidence. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The multitude of believers had one heart and one soul. No one said that anything he possessed was his own, but all things were common among them. Nor was anyone in need among them, for the price of the possessions and fields they sold was entrusted to the apostles for distribution. Thus Barnabas, a Levite of Cypriot birth who was afterward appointed Paul’s companion in pilgrimage, sold a field he possessed and delivered the price to the apostles.

Ananias, a man converted to the faith, and his wife Sapphira sold their field. They brought Peter part of the price, asserting that he had sold it for no more, while he retained part for himself with his wife’s knowledge. Peter, knowing this in the Spirit, severely reproved him for so great a lie. At Peter’s rebuke Ananias suddenly fell dead and was carried away to the tomb.

A little afterward his wife Sapphira presented herself to Peter. When he questioned her about the amount of the price, she too lied. Reproved by Peter, she suddenly expired.

By this was intimated how damnable and deadly is the vice of private ownership in religious life, where all things ought to be held in common, as the first Christians lived at Jerusalem. On this see Cause 12, Question 1, Dilectissimus, and Question 2, Futura.

Through the apostles’ hands great wonders and signs were performed among the people. The multitude of men and women believing in the Lord increased more and more, so that they brought the sick into the streets and laid them on little beds, in order that when Peter came at least his shadow might fall upon any one of them. A multitude also ran together from the neighboring cities, bringing the sick and those afflicted by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.

The chief priests and those belonging to the sect of the Sadducees were filled with envious zeal, because the number of the faithful, their teaching, and the fame of their holiness increased more and more. They seized the apostles and sent them to prison.

That night, however, an angel of the Lord released them and commanded them to preach to the people in the morning, which they did. When the council assembled in the morning, it sent its officers to bring the apostles out of prison and set them before it. The officers went and reported that they had found the prison locked, the guards standing before it, but the prison itself empty. While the council members wondered what had become of them, someone arrived and said that they were in the temple teaching the people.

Then the magistrate went to them and brought them without violence, for they feared to use force against them on account of the people, lest the people stone them. Set in the midst of the council, the apostles were reproved for not having observed the command that they preach Jesus no more, but instead having filled the whole city with that teaching.

Peter answered them: “We ought to obey God rather than men,” and added that Jesus, whom they had crucified, had been raised by God. Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and considered killing them.

But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law held in honor by all the people, rose in the council and commanded that the men—that is, the apostles—be put outside for a short time. He said to those assembled in council: “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do concerning these men.”

He gave the example of two men who, in their presumption, had made themselves leaders of many by attempting innovations. One was a certain Theudas, who said that he was someone great and promised to lead the multitude gathered to his teaching across the Jordan. He was killed together with his four hundred men. After him came a certain Judas the Galilean, who gathered a company and asserted that tribute ought not to be paid to the Romans. He too was killed and brought to nothing with his followers.

From these examples Gamaliel concluded: “Depart from these men and leave them alone, for if this counsel is from men, it will be dissolved. But if it is from God, you will not be able to dissolve it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God.”

His counsel pleased them all. Calling in the apostles, they had them beaten and commanded them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. When dismissed, the apostles went away from the council rejoicing, because they had been judged worthy to suffer reproach.

This Gamaliel was Paul’s teacher, as Paul himself says. At length he became a Christian, together with his son. His body was found with the body of Saint Stephen through a revelation made by Gamaliel himself.

§ III: The Seven Deacons

As the number of the disciples increased, a murmuring arose against the Hebrews because the converts’ widows were overlooked in the daily ministry. This may mean that they were burdened excessively in manual labors, more than the Hebrew women, or that they were not admitted as the Hebrew women were. For even good women are sometimes accustomed to be jealous of one another when more services are required from others than from them, and they consider themselves despised.

The twelve apostles immediately quieted this murmuring. Gathering the multitude, they said that it was not right for them to abandon the word of God and serve tables, that is, to administer temporal goods.

[Running head: Chapter Two, Folio 180.]

“Therefore, brethren,” they said, “look among yourselves for seven men of good testimony, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this work, while we devote ourselves to prayer and preaching.”

This pleased the whole multitude, and they chose seven from among them who were judged especially fit and of the best reputation: Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timion [read: Timon], Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch. The apostles laid their hands upon them and instituted them as deacons.

Hence Gratian says at the end of Distinction 21, § 1: “We read that Levites were ordained by the apostles, of whom blessed Stephen was the greatest; but in the course of time the Church established subdeacons and acolytes for herself.” Thus far Gratian.

According to Thomas, in the fourth book, this must be understood with respect to the orders’ explicit and manifest distinction in their offices. With respect to their primary institution, however, Christ instituted every order just as he instituted every sacrament.

The last of the seven named above became a heresiarch; from him the Nicolaitans were named. It is related that he had an exceedingly beautiful wife. When a suspicion arose against him that he was jealous concerning her, he said, in order to remove that suspicion, that she and other wives ought to be common to everyone—that is, for carnal knowledge of them. See Cause 2, Question 7, Non omnis.

§ IV: Saint Stephen

Stephen, full of grace—that is, of the Holy Spirit—and fortitude, went beyond the office of administering goods to widows: he preached and performed wonders and great signs among the people.

One day certain Alexandrian, Cyrenian, and Asian Jews rose to dispute with Stephen, as I suppose, from the Scriptures concerning the coming of the Messiah. Since they could not resist his wisdom, they put forward false witnesses to accuse him of having spoken blasphemous words against God and Moses. They seized him and brought him before the council.

The false witnesses said: “This man does not cease to speak against the holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the traditions of Moses.” All who sat in the council looked upon him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel. The chief priest asked whether these things were so.

Stephen answered with a long discourse refuting the witnesses’ false charge of blasphemy. He commended God, saying, “the God of glory”—that is, the author, giver, and container, or possessor, of all glory. He commended their fathers in many ways, especially Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and, more than the rest, Moses, as well as David, Solomon, the temple itself, and the many benefits bestowed upon them by God.

At last, rebuking their hardness, he said: “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you have always resisted the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. For which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who announced the coming of the Just One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.”

Hearing this, they gnashed their teeth at him. Stephen, gazing into heaven, saw the glory of God and said: “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

They cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears in detestation, considering that he had blasphemed because he said that he saw Jesus at the right hand of God. Casting him outside the city, they stoned him as he invoked and said: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Kneeling, he prayed for his enemies, saying: “Do not lay this sin against them.” After saying this he fell asleep in the Lord.

So that they could cast stones at him more freely, the witnesses stripped off their garments and laid them beside the feet of a young man named Saul, who, after his later conversion, was called Paul.

On that day a great persecution arose in the primitive Church at Jerusalem, so that all except the apostles were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. Devout men took care of Stephen after he had been stoned and made great lamentation over him.

Stephen was stoned in the same year in which Christ was crucified, namely on the third day of the following month of August. His body, however, was found in the year of the Lord 407 [read: 415] and the seventh year of the reign of Honorius.

According to Bede in his Chronicle, the discovery occurred in this manner. A holy priest named Lucian, who lived in the territory of Jerusalem, was resting upon his bed but keeping vigil when Saint Gamaliel, Paul’s teacher and an eminent doctor, appeared to him three times on different nights. He showed him their bodies under the appearance of four baskets: three golden baskets containing roses and a fourth silver basket full of saffron. He disclosed the place where they lay and said that they were the bodies of Saint Stephen, stoned by the Jews; Nicodemus, who buried Christ and was a Christian; and Gamaliel’s own son, who had also been faithful. He told Lucian to report this to John, archbishop of Jerusalem.

Lucian did so. The bodies were found in the designated place and translated to Zion with great veneration. Augustine relates in Book XXII of The City of God that at their discovery six dead persons were raised and seventy people were freed from various infirmities, some of whom were healed in the diocese of Hippo. Stephen’s body was afterward translated to Constantinople and then to Rome.

The feast of the discovery of his body used to be celebrated on the day after Christmas. But because it is more fitting to solemnize his martyrdom than the discovery of his body, the Church afterward transferred the feasts, so that his martyrdom would be commemorated immediately after Christmas and the discovery on the third of August, when he was stoned [read: when he was found].

§ V: Philip in Samaria

The faithful who had been dispersed and had withdrawn from Jerusalem passed through the cities evangelizing the word of God. Philip—not the apostle but one of the seven deacons—went down into a city of Samaria and preached Christ to its people. The crowds attended to his words when they saw the signs he performed by casting demons out of the possessed and healing the sick.

A certain man named Simon had previously practiced magic in that city, seducing the people of Samaria and saying that he was someone great. Everyone assented to him, saying, “This man is the great power of God,” and he had thus stupefied them for a long time.

When those people believed Philip as he evangelized the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus, and when they received baptism, Simon believed—or rather, pretended to believe—and was baptized. He attached himself to Philip, marveling at the very great miracles Philip performed.

When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God—namely by believing and receiving baptism—they sent Peter and John to them by common counsel, as the chief apostles, so that they might give them the sacrament of Confirmation. For they had only been baptized in the name of Jesus, but had not yet been chrismated.

[Running head: Sixth Title.]

[Running head: Sixth Title.]

The conferral of this sacrament has always been reserved to bishops. Peter and John, therefore, who were bishops, first prayed and then laid their hands upon those who had been baptized. Immediately they received the Holy Spirit, namely in the visible sign of fire. On this sacrament see the Third Part.

When Simon saw that people received the Holy Spirit through the imposition of the apostles’ hands, he offered the apostles a great sum of money so that they would give him that power, namely the power of giving the Holy Spirit.

Peter cursed him in detestation of the crime, saying: “May your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be possessed with money,” and so forth. Simon replied: “Pray yourselves to God for me, that none of the things you have said may come upon me.”

Simon was the first person in the New Testament to commit simony, and he committed it fully. He wished to buy that spiritual grace in order that he himself might later sell it to others, and in this the vice of simony consists: buying or selling spiritual things. Those who perpetrate such a vice are therefore named from him—that is, simoniacs. See Cause 1, Question 1, Qui studet. In detestation of so great a crime, the money itself was also cursed. For a full treatment of simony, however, see the Second Part, Title One, Chapter One.

Afterward an angel of the Lord told Philip to go toward the south on the road descending from Jerusalem to Gaza. Going there, he found a powerful Ethiopian eunuch, who was over all the treasures of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. The eunuch had come to worship in Jerusalem and was then returning to his country, seated in his chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.

Philip approached the chariot and heard him reading Isaiah. He said to the eunuch: “Do you think you understand what you are reading?” The eunuch answered: “How can I understand unless someone shows me?” He asked Philip to ascend into his chariot.

The passage of Scripture he was reading was this: “As a lamb he was led to the slaughter,” and so forth; “who shall recount his generation?” He therefore asked Philip whether the prophet said this of himself or of someone else, and of whom.

Philip explained that it was understood of Christ Jesus, announcing to him the mysteries of Christ and the way of salvation, namely through baptism. As they traveled together, they came to a place where there was water. When the eunuch affirmed that he believed everything Philip had preached to him, Philip baptized him. The eunuch returned to his country with joy, and Philip was found in Azotus.

Meanwhile Saul was ravaging the Church like a ravening wolf, entering the houses of those converted to the faith and dragging away men and women into custody.

§ VI: The Conversion of Saul

Saul himself, breathing threats and slaughter against the Lord’s disciples, went to the chief priest and requested authoritative letters so that, proceeding to Damascus, he might find believers of the Way and bring them bound to Jerusalem.

While he traveled and drew near Damascus, a light from heaven shone around him. Falling to the earth in terror, he heard a voice saying to him: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He was indeed persecuting Christ because he persecuted the faithful, the members of the Church of which Christ himself was the head.

Saul said: “Who are you, Lord?” The other replied: “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute. It is hard for you to kick against the goad.” Trembling, Saul said: “Lord, what do you wish me to do?” He answered: “Enter the city, and there you will be told what you must do.”

The men accompanying him stood astonished, hearing a voice but seeing no one. Because Saul saw nothing, they led him by the hands and brought him into the city. There he remained for three days in the house of a man named Judas, neither seeing nor eating nor drinking.

Meanwhile the Lord appeared to a disciple named Ananias, a simple man, and commanded him to go to Saul in Judas’s house. Ananias was afraid of Saul and said: “Lord, I have heard how many evils this man has done against the faithful in Jerusalem,” and so forth.

The Lord reassured him, saying: “Go to him, for this man is a chosen vessel for me, that he may carry my name before the nations, kings, and children of Israel. I shall show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Ananias went to Saul and said that the Lord Jesus, who had appeared to Saul on the road, had sent him. When he laid his hand upon Saul, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. After being baptized and taking food, he was strengthened.

Entering the synagogues of Damascus, Saul preached Jesus, declaring that he is the Son of God, and he confuted the Jews from the Scriptures as he disputed with them. They marveled all the more because this was the man who had formerly persecuted Christ’s disciples.

Here note, according to Augustine, that when power is granted, the wicked are to be restrained from evil and compelled to good, as this example shows. For if an evil will should always be left to its own freedom, why was Paul not left free in his persecution of the Church? Instead, he was struck down so that he might be created anew, blinded so that he might be changed, changed so that he might be sent. He was sent so that he might suffer as much for the truth as he had done while in error. See Cause 23, Question 4, Quis.

When the Jews took counsel and sought his death, and had the gates of the city guarded so that they might seize him, Saul learned of this and was lowered by the disciples at night in a basket through the city wall. Thus he escaped.

When he came from there to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they all feared him, not believing that he was a true disciple but thinking that he was pretending in order to harm them.

Barnabas brought him to the apostles and explained how he had seen the Lord on the road, had truly been converted, and had preached confidently in the name of Jesus at Damascus. Saul remained with them, going in and out in Jerusalem. He disputed with Greeks and spoke with Gentiles. Because he confuted them, they sought to kill him.

When the brethren learned this, they led him down to Caesarea and sent him to Tarsus. The Church throughout Judea and Samaria then had peace and was built up, walking in the fear of the Lord and being filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit.

§ VII: Peter, Tabitha, and Cornelius

Peter traveled about and came to Lydda. There, in the name of Jesus, he healed a paralytic named Aeneas.

At Joppa, which was near Lydda, a certain female disciple named Tabitha, full of alms and good works, died in those days. People sent for Peter and asked him not to delay coming there. When he arrived and found her dead, he raised her because of the tears and prayers of the widows and others for whom Tabitha had made garments and performed other works of mercy. When this miracle became known, many believed in Jesus.

At Caesarea there was a certain Gentile named Cornelius, a centurion of the cohort called the Italian. He was a religious man, fearing God with all his household, giving alms, and always beseeching God. At the ninth hour he plainly saw an angel of God—that is, in human form—who told him that his prayers and alms had ascended into God’s sight.

[Running head: Chapter Two, Folio 181.]

Cornelius had been praying for his salvation. The angel told him to send for Peter, who was then at Joppa in the house of Simon the tanner, and that Peter would tell him what he must do to attain salvation.

Cornelius sent two of his household. As they drew near the city of Joppa, Peter was praying on the upper part of the house at the sixth hour. He became hungry, and while food was being prepared for him he fell into an ecstasy. He saw heaven opened and a certain vessel, like a linen sheet, let down from heaven by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed beasts, creeping things, and birds.

A voice from heaven said: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” Peter answered: “Far be it from me, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common and unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time: “What God has cleansed, do not call common.” This occurred three times in the same manner, and afterward the vessel was taken back into heaven.

As Peter considered what the vision might signify, Cornelius’s messengers knocked at the door of the house and asked for Peter. The Spirit said to him: “Rise and go with those who are seeking you, doubting nothing, because I have sent them.”

By that vision it was given to be understood that Peter and the other apostles ought not to kill only Jews but also Gentiles, who were unclean through the rites of idolatry—killing them to their vices—and ought to eat them, that is, to incorporate them into the Church when converted to the faith. This was then done in Cornelius and his household, and afterward throughout the whole world.

When Peter reached Caesarea, Cornelius had called together his relatives and friends. He went to meet Peter and fell down to adore him. Peter immediately raised him, saying: “Rise, for I am a man like you.”

Entering the house, Peter asked Cornelius why he had summoned him. Cornelius explained the apparition of the angel who had spoken these things. He and those present were therefore ready to do whatever Peter commanded them.

Peter said: “In truth I have discovered that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation whoever fears God and works justice is acceptable to him.” He preached to them the Passion, Resurrection, miracles, and holiness of Jesus, “to whom all the prophets bear witness that through his name they receive remission of sins.”

While Peter was speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon everyone who heard the word, namely in the appearance of fire. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the grace of the Holy Spirit had also been poured out upon the nations, that is, the Gentiles. They heard him and them [read: for they heard them] speaking in various languages and magnifying God. Peter had all of them baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

When Peter returned to Jerusalem several days later, some Jews converted to the faith, zealous for the law, disputed with him about why he had entered among Gentile men and eaten with them, namely with Cornelius and his household.

Peter related to them his vision concerning these matters, Cornelius’s summons, and the Lord’s command, concluding: “Who was I that I could forbid God?” When they heard this they became silent and glorified God, saying: “Therefore God has also granted repentance unto life to the Gentiles.”

From this it is suggested that prelates, even if they are not bound to do so as a matter of obligation, nevertheless ought sometimes to give their subjects a reason for obscure measures they take, in order to suppress complaints. See Cause 2, Question 7, Petrus, and the following section.

Those dispersed at the stoning of Stephen traveled about preaching through Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, but only to Jews. At Antioch, however, when they spoke to the Greeks, a great multitude was converted there.

When the apostles at Jerusalem heard this, they sent Barnabas, full of faith and the Holy Spirit, to confirm the converts in faith and doctrine. Barnabas went to Tarsus, where Paul was, and brought him to Antioch. For a year they remained there in the Church, teaching the great multitude converted in that place. It was there, at Antioch, that Christ’s disciples were first called Christians, a name all the faithful will always retain.

When certain prophets later came from Jerusalem to Antioch, the prophet Agabus foretold that a great famine would come throughout the whole world. It occurred under the emperor Claudius.

Each of the disciples, according to his means, resolved to send assistance to the brethren living in Judea. They did so, sending it by the hands of Barnabas and Paul to the elders, namely those who had responsibility for the converts living in common.

§ VIII: Herod, Peter’s Deliverance, and Herod’s Death

At that time King Herod the Great [read: King Herod Agrippa I] began to afflict certain members of the Church. After he had killed the apostle James, John’s brother, by beheading him during the feast of Unleavened Bread, he proceeded to apprehend Peter also. He put him in prison under heavy guard, bound with two chains.

On the night before the day on which Herod intended to kill him, while the Church prayed for him without ceasing, an angel stood beside Peter amid a light. Rousing him, the angel said: “Rise quickly.” The chains immediately fell from his hands.

The angel told Peter to gird himself, put on his sandals, take his garment, and follow him. The first, second, and third gates—the third being made of iron—were opened miraculously. Peter went out with the angel. After they had proceeded along one street, the angel disappeared.

Peter came to himself, for at first he had thought that he was dreaming, and said: “Now I know truly that the Lord has sent his angel, who has rescued me from Herod’s hand,” and so forth.

Peter then went to the house of Mary, Mark’s mother, where many had gathered to pray for his deliverance. When Peter knocked at the door, a girl came to learn who was there. Recognizing Peter’s voice, she did not open immediately because of her joy, but ran to announce that Peter was there.

They said to her: “You are mad.” When she continued to affirm it, they said: “It is his angel.” Peter persisted in knocking. When they opened the door, they saw that it truly was Peter and were astonished. He recounted how he had been delivered, told them to make it known to James and the brethren, and departed for another, safer place.

Herod was frustrated in his malice against Peter, but he was also punished. Leaving Judea, he went down to Caesarea and remained there. He was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, but after winning over Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they sought peace because their territories received their food from him.

On the appointed day Herod, clothed in royal apparel, sat before the tribunal and addressed them. The people adored him as a god, crying out: “The voices of a god, and not of a man!” For his garment was wonderfully interwoven and ornamented with gold and silver, and as he sat in a place where the sun shone, a marvelous splendor appeared upon him. Because of this the people adored him.

Because he did not give glory to God, but took pleasure in the worship and divine veneration offered to himself, an angel of the Lord struck him. Consumed by worms, he expired.

[Running head: Sixth Title.]

When there were several prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch, among whom were Paul and Barnabas, and while they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said: “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have taken them,” namely to travel throughout the world preaching to the Gentiles.

After fasting and praying, they laid their hands upon them and sent them away. They came to Seleucia and from there to Cyprus. When Paul and Barnabas had traveled throughout the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain Jewish magician and false prophet named Barien [read: Bar-Jesus], or Elymas, with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a prudent man. The proconsul summoned Paul and Barnabas because he desired to hear the word of God from them.

But that magician Barien [read: Bar-Jesus] resisted them and sought to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Paul severely rebuked him for his malice and falsehood, called him a son of the devil, and struck him blind by his word alone. Seeing this, the proconsul believed, marveling at the teaching of the Lord.

From there they went onward to Pamphylia. There John, who was also called Mark and was Barnabas’s cousin, withdrew from them and went to Jerusalem to see his own people. Paul and Barnabas themselves came to Antioch and entered the synagogue of the Jews. At their request Paul rose and delivered a discourse.

He related how God had chosen their fathers and, leading them out of Egypt, had given them the Promised Land after their forty-year journey through the desert. In that land, after seven nations of Canaanites had been cast out and destroyed, God gave them judges until Samuel and, after him, kings, especially David. From David’s seed came Jesus Christ, whom John the Baptist had preached to the people as the Savior.

Although they had caused Pilate to crucify him without any cause, God raised him from the dead on the third day. He had been seen by many who were then preaching these things. David had foretold all this in the Psalm where he says, “You are my Son,” and so forth, and elsewhere, “You will not allow your holy one to see corruption.” The latter could not be understood of David.

Through Jesus everyone who believes is justified, not through the works of the Mosaic law. Paul exhorted them to faith in Jesus and warned them not to remain in hardness. Many Jews and proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas.

On the following Sabbath, when nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord, the Jews, filled with envious zeal, contradicted what Paul said and blasphemed.

Paul and Barnabas said to them steadfastly: “It was indeed necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you, namely the Jews. But because you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.”

When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of God. All who had been foreordained to eternal life believed.

The Jews incited devout and honorable women and the leading men of the city. They stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their territory. But the apostles shook the dust from their feet against them and came to Iconium.

At Iconium they preached in the Jews’ synagogue, and many Jews and Greeks believed. The Jews who did not believe stirred up a persecution and incited the Gentiles’ souls to anger against the brethren. But the Lord quickly granted peace, and many signs were performed through them.

The multitude of the city was divided: some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When the Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, raised a great tumult so that they might abuse and stone them, the apostles learned of it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe.

Paul and Barnabas preached at Lystra. There a lame man who was unable to walk believed Paul’s teaching, and Paul healed him. Seeing this, the crowds cried out: “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.” They called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercury, because Paul was the leader in speaking.

The priest of Jupiter, together with the crowds, wished to offer bulls to them in sacrifice. Paul and Barnabas tore their garments and prevented them, crying out: “Why are you doing this? We too are mortal men like you. We announce to you that you must turn away from vain gods to the living one, the Creator of all things.” They scarcely restrained the people from sacrificing to them.

Certain Jews arrived from Iconium and Antioch and persuaded the crowd. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking him dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he rose and entered the city.

From there they went to Derbe, and then returned to Lystra through Iconium and Antioch [read: returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch]. They strengthened the souls of the disciples and exhorted them to remain in the faith, because “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

After appointing presbyters for them in each church and praying, they commended them to the Lord in whom they believed. Passing through Lisia [read: Pisidia], they came to Pamphylia, and afterward to Perga and Antioch, evangelizing everywhere and recounting how great were the things God had done through them and the conversion of the Gentiles.

§ X: The Council of Jerusalem

Certain converts from Judaism came down from Judea and taught the brethren: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Paul and Barnabas contradicted them, and no small dissension arose among the disciples at Antioch from this conflict of opinions. They decided to send men to the apostles at Jerusalem for a decision of this question. On one side Barnabas, Paul, and others were sent, and on the other side men holding the contrary opinion.

When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received honorably by the apostles and the Church. The apostles and elders assembled to consider this matter. Note that this was the first council of the Church.

When the question had been proposed, Peter rose. Because he was the supreme pontiff, he had to determine the question, which concerned a matter of faith, namely the observance of legal rites. He said: “Men and brethren, you know that from ancient days God chose that through my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel and believe, purifying their hearts by faith,” and so forth.

He concluded by determining that Gentile converts were not to be burdened with observance of the legal rites of circumcision and other ceremonies.

James the Less, whom the apostles had made archbishop of Jerusalem, then spoke in the council. He did not speak as though greater than Peter or as one determining the question, since this did not belong to him. Rather, on behalf of the council or of the others in the council, he approved and confirmed Peter’s determination, as the fathers at councils are accustomed to respond: “It is pleasing.”

When this had pleased everyone, the apostles and elders appointed Paul, Barnabas, and others as messengers to Antioch with letters containing these words:

[Running head: Chapter Two, Folio 182.]

“The apostles and elders, to the brethren from among the Gentiles who are at Antioch, in Syria, and in Cilicia: greetings. Because we have heard that certain men going out from among us have troubled you with words and overturned your souls, although we gave them no command,” and so forth.

They concluded: “It has seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit to impose no further burden upon you than these necessary things: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from fornication. Farewell.”

The first was prohibited in order to remove the suspicion and occasion of idolatry. The second and third were prohibited lest those who associated with Jewish converts, who abstained from these things in observance of the law, should become abominable to them by using such things, and indignation and contention should consequently arise between them. The fourth was prohibited because it is evil in itself, but also because the Gentiles thought it lawful, namely for an unattached man to lie with an unattached woman. They therefore prohibited it, according to Thomas in the Summa.

When the messengers returned to Antioch and the letters were read, everyone rejoiced and was consoled by them.

After some days Paul proposed to Barnabas that they should travel through the cities in which they had preached and strengthen the converts in the faith. Barnabas wished John, who was also called Mark and was his cousin, to accompany them on the journey. Paul opposed this, for he did not judge John fit for so great a ministry because, as a timid man, he had withdrawn from their company, or because, being too attached to his relatives, he had gone to Jerusalem to see them.

Barnabas, compassionate toward John’s weakness and attached to him, insisted that John should travel with him. A disagreement arose between Paul and Barnabas, so that they separated from one another.

God ordered all this providentially, so that, once divided, they would go to different regions and bear more fruit by preaching to more nations. Nor did they sin in that disagreement, because each was moved by a good zeal, as Vincent says in the Historical Mirror.

Barnabas therefore sailed to Cyprus with John, or Mark. Paul, however, traveled through Syria and Cilicia with Silas, strengthening the churches and commanding them to observe the precepts of the apostles and elders.

§ XI: Timothy, Macedonia, and Greece

When Paul and Silas reached Lystra, Paul found there a certain disciple—that is, a convert to the faith—named Timothy, the son of a faithful widow but of a Gentile father. This is the Timothy to whom the apostle wrote the two epistles contained in the canon.

When Paul learned that Timothy was of the best reputation, he decided to take him with him. Because Timothy was uncircumcised, Paul circumcised him and took him along, lest the Jewish converts in those regions, who were zealous for observance of the legal rites, should be scandalized by his taking an uncircumcised man with him.

When they passed through Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit forbade them to speak the word of God in Asia, namely by a revelation. When they attempted to go into Bithynia, the Holy Spirit did not permit them, perhaps by presenting some obstacle.

At Troas a Macedonian man appeared to Paul at night in a vision, beseeching him and saying: “Cross over into Macedonia and help us.” Understanding from this that it pleased God for him to preach in Macedonia, Paul went there.

After they had remained for some time at Philippi, which is part of Macedonia, Paul and his companions went outside the gate to a certain place of prayer. They met a girl who had a pythonic spirit and who brought her masters great profit by divination. She followed them, crying out: “These men are servants of the Most High God, who announce to you the way of salvation.”

When she had done this for many days, Paul, grieved by it, one day said to that diabolical spirit: “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from her.” It immediately left her.

When her masters saw that they had lost that source of profit, they became indignant against Paul and his companions. They brought them to the rulers in the marketplace and presented them to the magistrates, saying: “These men, being Jews, disturb the city and announce a custom that it is not lawful for us Romans to observe.”

The people ran together, and with the prisoners’ tunics torn off, the magistrates ordered them to be severely beaten with rods. They sent them into the inner prison, secured their feet in the stocks, and placed them under close guard.

At midnight, while Paul and Silas praised God, a great earthquake occurred. The doors of the prison opened and their bonds were loosed. The jailer awoke and, seeing the prison open, supposed that they had fled. Drawing his sword, he intended to kill himself.

Paul cried out: “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” The jailer took a light, entered, and fell at the feet of Silas and Paul. Believing in Jesus through their teaching, he was baptized with his household.

When day came, the magistrate ordered the jailer to release them. But Paul said: “They beat us publicly and without condemnation, although we are Roman citizens, and sent us to prison. Now they cast us out secretly. It shall not be so; rather, let them themselves cast us out.”

When the magistrates heard that they were Romans, they were afraid. They came and begged them to leave the city.

Augustine says against the heretic Petilian: “If you think that the laws of the earthly empire ought to be employed in your aid, we do not reprehend this, for Paul did it when, against those who injured him, he testified that he was a Roman citizen.” This also appears below in Chapter 22.

Leaving there, they came to Thessalonica. For three Sabbaths Paul argued from the Scriptures in the Jews’ synagogue, explaining that Christ had to suffer and rise again, and that “this is Christ Jesus, whom I announce to you.” Many Jews and Gentiles believed.

Other Jews, filled with zeal, stirred up certain wicked men from the common people and raised the city’s crowd against Paul and his companions. Coming to Jason’s house and not finding them there, they dragged Jason himself, a believer, and some others before the city’s rulers. They cried out that these men disturbed the city and acted against Caesar’s decrees by saying that Jesus was another king. After receiving surety from Jason and his companions, the rulers released them.

Paul was sent away secretly by night and came to Berea. Its people received the word of God eagerly, searching the Scriptures every day in the synagogue to see whether these things were so. Many fell [read: many believed] from among the Jews and Gentiles of both sexes.

When certain men stirred up a disturbance against Paul, the brethren sent him away. From there he was conducted to Athens, where he disputed with the Jews in the synagogue and with idolaters in the marketplace every day.

Certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said: “What does this word-sower wish to say?” Others said: “He seems to be an announcer of new demons,” because he preached the resurrection of the dead.

They seized him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying: “May we know what this new teaching of yours is? We wish to know what these things mean.” The Areopagus is a certain town or city where Mars was worshiped and where there was a principal school of philosophers.

The text says that all the Athenians and foreign visitors devoted themselves to nothing other than hearing or saying something new.

[Running head: Sixth Title.]

Standing in the midst of the Areopagus, Paul said: “Men of Athens, I see that you are superstitious in all things. For as I passed by and saw your images, I found an altar upon which was written as its inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What you therefore worship in ignorance, this I announce to you.”

From this he took the subject of his preaching. He said that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who gives life and breath to all, made the human race from one man to dwell upon the earth. He appointed the established times and the boundaries of their habitation so that they should seek God, if perhaps they might touch or find him, although he is not far from each one of us.

“For in him we live and move and are,” as certain of your poets have said, “for we are also his offspring.” From this Bede proves that it is lawful for teachers or preachers to introduce the authorities of Gentiles. See Distinction 37, Turbat. The apostle, however, rarely did this.

When they heard the words of the apostle preaching the future resurrection, some mocked him. Others said: “We shall hear you concerning this again.” Some, adhering to Paul’s teaching, believed. Among them were Dionysius the Areopagite, the greatest philosopher mentioned above, and his wife Damaris.

Paul left Athens and came to Corinth. There he found a certain Jew named Aquila, Pontic by birth, and his wife Priscilla. They had come from Italy because the emperor Claudius had commanded all Jews to leave Rome. Paul joined them. Because they practiced the same craft, namely tentmaking, he remained with them and worked. Thus by the labor of his own hands he provided for himself and for his companions Timothy and Silas.

When the Jews contradicted and blasphemed Paul’s teaching, he said to them: “Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean; from now on I shall go to the Gentiles.” Leaving there, he entered the house of Titus Justus, a worshiper of God.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed with his whole household, and many Corinthians were baptized. At night the Lord strengthened Paul in a vision, telling him not to fear because the Lord was with him, and to preach steadfastly because a people in that city was to be converted to the faith. Paul therefore remained there for a year and a half, teaching the word of God.

When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews rose with one mind against Paul and accused him before the tribunal, saying: “This man persuades people to worship God contrary to the law.”

As Paul began to answer, Gallio said to the Jews: “If this were an injustice or a very wicked deed, O Jews, I would hear you. But if the questions concern a word and the names of your law, see to it yourselves. I do not wish to be a judge of such matters.” He drove them away from the tribunal.

At length Paul bade farewell to the brethren and proceeded to Syria, afterward to Ephesus, and from there to Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

When Paul was at Ephesus, a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian and an eloquent man powerful in the Scriptures, arrived there. Instructed in the way of the Lord and fervent in spirit, he spoke and diligently taught the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only John’s baptism.

When Priscilla and Aquila, who had come there with Paul, heard him, they took him aside and taught him the way of the Lord more diligently. When Paul [read: Apollos] came to Achaia, he brought much benefit to those who had believed, for he vehemently confuted the Jews in public, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus, whom he preached, was the Christ.

When Paul came again to Ephesus, he found certain disciples, that is, Christians. He asked whether they had received the Holy Spirit, namely visibly in the appearance of fire. They answered that they did not know whether there was a Holy Spirit and that they had been baptized only with John’s baptism.

Paul had them baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. When this had been done, Paul laid his hands upon them as a bishop chrismating them. The Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. They were twelve in number.

Paul disputed every day, persuading people concerning the kingdom of God. This continued for two years, so that all who inhabited Asia, Jews and Gentiles, heard the word of God.

God performed mighty works through Paul’s hands, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons from his body were carried to the sick. Their illnesses left them, and unclean spirits went out.

Certain Jewish exorcists attempted to invoke the name of Jesus over demoniacs in order to expel the demons, saying: “I adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of a certain Serve [read: Sceva], a chief priest, were doing this.

The wicked spirit answered: “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize; but who are you?” The man in whom the most wicked demon dwelt leapt upon them and prevailed against them, so that they fled naked and wounded from that house.

This became known to all the Jews and Gentiles who lived at Ephesus, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Many believers came and confessed their deeds. Many who had pursued curious arts brought together their books, namely books of magic, and burned them before everyone. When their value was calculated, they found it to be fifty thousand denarii.

§ XII: The Riot at Ephesus and Paul’s Journey to Jerusalem

When these things had been completed, Paul resolved in spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying: “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” He sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia, while he himself remained for a time in Asia.

At that time no small disturbance arose concerning the Way of the Lord. A certain silversmith named Demetrius made silver shrines of Diana, from which craft he provided no small profit to the artisans.

He incited the craftsmen against Paul, saying that Paul preached against the gods and asserted that things made by human hands were not gods. Consequently, the worship of Diana would be brought to nothing not only at Ephesus but throughout Asia, and the cult which all Asia and the world worships would be destroyed.

Hearing this, they were filled with anger and cried: “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” The city was filled with confusion. They rushed with one accord into the theater, seizing Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s companions.

Paul himself wished to enter among the people, but the disciples did not permit him, lest he be killed. Certain friends also begged him not to give himself over to the theater. Some cried one thing and others another. The assembly was confused, and most did not know why they had gathered.

The Jews pushed Alexander forward from the crowd. Alexander asked for silence with his hand and wished to give an account, but when they recognized that he was a Jew, they cried for nearly two hours: “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”

When the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said: “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is a worshiper of great Diana, the offspring of Jupiter? Since these things cannot be contradicted, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. For you have brought forward these men, who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of your goddess.

[Running head: Chapter Two, Folio 183.]

“If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls; let them accuse one another. For we are also in danger of being charged with today’s sedition, since there is no guilty cause by which we can give an account of this gathering.” Having said this, he dismissed the assembly.

After the tumult ceased, Paul called the disciples, exhorted them, bade them farewell, and went into Greece. When he had remained there for three months, the Jews laid snares for him as he was about to sail to Syria. He therefore decided to return through Macedonia.

Timothy, Secundus, Gaius, and others from Asia and Thessalonica accompanied him. When they reached Troas, they remained there for seven days.

One day, when they had assembled to break bread, Paul disputed with them and prolonged his discourse until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they had gathered.

A young man named Eutychus sat upon a window to listen. As he was overcome by a deep sleep while Paul disputed at length, he fell down from the third story and was taken up and brought forward dead.

Paul went down to him, lay upon him, embraced him, and said: “Do not be troubled, for his soul is in him.” Paul went back up into the house, broke bread and ate, and prolonged his discourse until dawn. They brought the young man in alive and were greatly consoled.

Paul and the disciples boarded a ship and came to Assos. From there they sailed opposite Chios, afterward came to Samos, and on the following day reached Miletus. Paul was hurrying, if it were possible, to celebrate the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem.

From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the Church. When they came to him, he said:

“You know how, from the first day on which I entered Asia, I was with you throughout the whole time, serving God with all humility and with the many tears and trials that befell me through the Jews’ snares. You know how I withheld nothing useful from you, but announced it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and Gentiles repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“And now, behold, bound in spirit, I go to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me throughout all the cities and says that bonds and tribulations await me at Jerusalem. But I fear none of these things, nor do I make my soul more precious than myself, provided that I complete my course and the ministry of the word.

“And now I know that you will see my face no more. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all, for I did not shrink from announcing to you the whole counsel of God.” On this see Distinction 43, Ephesiis.

“Attend therefore to yourselves and to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishops to rule the Church of God, which he acquired with his own blood. I know that after my departure grievous wolves will come among you, not sparing the flock,” namely heretics and false preachers.

“And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace. Keep watch, retaining in mind what I have said. I coveted no one’s silver, gold, or clothing. You know that my own hands ministered to the things I and those with me needed.

“I showed you all things: that by laboring in this way it is necessary to support the weak and remember the word of the Lord Jesus, for he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

This saying is not found in the Gospels, yet it must not be doubted that Christ said it, since the apostle, to whom the Gospel was revealed by Christ, reports it. For Christ both did and said many things that the Evangelists passed over in silence. See Extra, De celebratione missarum, Cum Marthae, and also Cause 16, Question 1, Praedicator.

At last Paul knelt and prayed with them. Everyone wept greatly and kissed him, grieving especially because he had said that they would not see him again. They conducted him to the ship.

§ XIII: The Journey to Jerusalem and Paul’s Arrest

“Sailing, we came to Cos, on the following day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.” Note that Luke, the author of the book, speaks here and in other places about this journey in the first person—“we came”—because he was Paul’s companion on the journey and his inseparable comrade.

From there they went to Syria and Tyre, from Tyre to Cholomayda [read: Ptolemais], and on the next day came to Caesarea. There they entered the house of Philip, one of the seven deacons mentioned above. He had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

When Paul remained in Philip’s house for several days, a prophet named Agabus came from Judea. Entering the house where Paul was with his companions, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet with it, and said: “Thus says the Holy Spirit: the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man whose belt this is and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”

When this was heard, Paul’s companions and others of that place begged him not to ascend to Jerusalem. Then Paul said: “What are you doing, weeping and afflicting my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

“When we could not persuade him,” Luke says, “we rested, saying: ‘The Lord’s will be done.’”

After those days they ascended to Jerusalem, where the brethren received them gladly. On the following day Paul and his companions went in to James the Less, where the elders of the Church had also assembled.

After greeting them, Paul recounted one by one how great were the things the Lord had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. They magnified God for these things.

They said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. But they have heard that you teach the Jews who are among the Gentiles to withdraw from Moses and that they ought not to circumcise their sons or observe the other ceremonies.”

Therefore, to remove the scandal and this opinion held by the Jews, they advised him to sanctify himself in the temple according to the custom of the law with four Jewish converts who were under a vow. The Jews zealous for the law would thereby judge that the things they had heard about Paul were false, since he too observed the law by fulfilling vows of this kind with others.

Paul did this. On the following day he entered the temple with those four to make the offering.

When the Jews who had come from Asia saw Paul in the temple, they stirred the whole people against him. Laying hands upon him, they cried: “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who everywhere teaches against the people, the law, and this place. Moreover, he has brought Gentiles into the temple.”

The whole city was therefore moved. They seized Paul and dragged him outside the temple, that is, outside the temple courts.

As they sought to kill Paul, the tribune heard that the whole city was in confusion and ran to the place with soldiers. Seeing him, the Jews ceased beating Paul. The tribune seized Paul, bound him with two chains, and asked who he was.

[Running head: Sixth Title.]

Some in the crowd shouted one thing and others another. Since the truth could not be discerned because of the tumult, the tribune ordered Paul to be taken into the fortress. When he reached the stairs, the soldiers had to carry him because of the violence of the people, who cried: “Away with him!”

Paul asked the tribune whether he might speak to him. The tribune said: “Are you not that Egyptian who before these days stirred up a tumult and led four thousand assassins into the desert?”

Paul answered: “I am a Jew, a citizen of no obscure city. I ask you to permit me to speak to the people.” When permission had been granted, Paul stood upon the stairs. After a great silence had been made so that he might be heard, he spoke in Hebrew, saying:

“Men, brethren, and fathers, hear the account I give you. I am a Jewish man from Tarsus in Cilicia, educated at the feet of Gamaliel and brought up in this city, a zealot for the law just as you now are.”

He then recounted what had happened concerning him: how, as he went to Damascus to persecute and seize Christians, a light shone around him near Damascus. His companions saw the light but did not hear the voice that said to him: “Saul, Saul,” and so forth, as appears above in Chapter Two.

He continued: “It happened that when I returned to Jerusalem and prayed in the temple, I fell into an ecstasy and saw him saying to me: ‘Hasten and depart quickly from Jerusalem, because they will not receive your testimony concerning me. Go, for I shall send you to the nations.’”

They listened to him as far as this word. Then they raised their voices and said: “Remove such a man from the earth, for it is not right for him to live.”

While they shouted, cast off their garments, and threw dust into the air, the tribune ordered Paul to be taken into the fortress, beaten with scourges, and tortured, so that he might learn the reason they cried out against him in this manner.

When they had bound him with straps, Paul said to the centurion: “Is it lawful for you to scourge a Roman citizen who has not been condemned?” The centurion reported this to the tribune.

The tribune asked whether Paul was a Roman. When Paul affirmed it, the tribune said: “I obtained this citizenship for a great sum,” namely a sum of money. Paul replied: “But I was born in it.” Those who were about to torture him immediately withdrew from him when they discovered that he was a Roman, and the tribune was afraid.

On the following day, wishing to know more diligently why Paul was accused by the Jews, the tribune released him from his bonds and ordered the priests and the whole council to assemble. Bringing Paul forward, he placed him among them.

Looking upon the council, Paul said: “Men and brethren, I have lived before the Lord in all good conscience even to this present day.” The chief priest Ananias commanded those standing near him to strike his mouth.

Then Paul said to him: “God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall. You sit judging me according to the law, yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck.”

In this the apostle did not curse. Rather, in prophecy he said that the old priesthood, as though whitewashed by hypocrisy, was to be destroyed.

When the bystanders said, “Do you curse God’s high priest?” he answered: “I did not know that he was the chief priest.” Nor did Paul speak falsely in this, for he did not regard the man as the true high priest, because in reality he was not: the figure had ceased. These are Augustine’s words in Cause 23, Question 1, Paratus.

Paul knew that one part of those assembled in the council consisted of Pharisees and the other of Sadducees. He cried out in the council: “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am judged concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead.”

From this a dissension arose among them, and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees rightly confess both.

A great clamor therefore arose. Certain Pharisees stood and contended for Paul because he belonged to their sect, saying: “We find nothing evil in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

When a great dissension arose among them, the tribune feared that Paul would be torn apart. He ordered the soldiers to snatch him from their midst and take him into the fortress. On the following night the Lord stood beside Paul and said: “Be constant, Paul. For as you have borne witness concerning me at Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.”

The next day certain men gathered and made a vow that they would neither eat nor drink until they had first killed Paul. They were more than forty men.

They disclosed this vow to the chief priests, saying that the priests should ask the tribune to send Paul to them again under the pretext of learning something more certain. Once this was done, they would kill him on the road.

The young son of Paul’s sister heard this. He entered the fortress and told Paul of the plot. Paul asked a centurion to take the youth to the tribune because he had a secret to report. Approaching the tribune, the young man explained the plot prepared to kill Paul.

The tribune feared that the Jews might seize Paul by force and that he himself might consequently suffer an accusation, as though he had assented to this deed for money, since Paul was a Roman. He ordered two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to be prepared. At the second hour of the night they were to conduct Paul safely to Felix the governor.

The tribune sent a letter explaining the cause of this transfer: Paul was a Roman and had committed nothing worthy of death, but the Jews accused him concerning questions of the law and had prepared deadly snares for him, so that he should be judged more diligently by Felix. All this was done.

When the governor Felix received the letter and heard from Paul that he was from Cilicia, he said: “I shall hear you when your accusers arrive.” He ordered Paul to be kept in custody.

Here note, according to Augustine, that Paul took counsel not for his own transitory life but for the Church of God when he caused the conspirators’ plan to kill him to be disclosed to the tribune, namely by sending his nephew to him. Hence it was holy that an armed soldier should conduct him to the place where he was to be brought, lest he suffer from their snares. See Cause 23, Question 3, Maximianus.

And if in that escort one of those conducting him had been killed in a clash by Paul’s rivals, or conversely one of the rivals by the escort, it would not have been imputed to Paul. See Cause 23, Question 5, De occidendis.

§ XIV: Paul before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa

After five days the chief priest Ananias came down to Caesarea with certain elders and an orator named Tertullus. They approached the governor Felix against Paul.

When Paul was summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, speaking words intended to capture goodwill: “We have found this man to be pestilent, stirring up sedition among all the Jews throughout the world. He also attempted to violate the temple. We wish him to be judged according to our law. The tribune Lysias came upon us and violently snatched him from our hands.” The other Jews affirmed that these things were so.

With the governor’s permission Paul answered. He said that the Jews had not found him disputing with anyone in the temple or gathering a crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city, nor could they prove the things of which they accused him.

“But I confess to you that I serve my God according to the sect called that of the Pharisees, having hope in God and in the resurrection of the dead, which they themselves also await. After several years I came to give alms to my nation and to make an offering and fulfill a vow. They found me purified in the temple, neither with a crowd nor in a tumult.

“Let them say what iniquity they found in me when I stood in the council, except only this one statement that I cried while standing among them: ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am judged by you today.’”

Felix said: “When the tribune Lysias comes down, I shall hear you.” He ordered the centurion to guard Paul while granting him some repose.

[Running head: Chapter Two, Folio 184.]

After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He summoned Paul and heard from him the faith of Jesus. While Paul disputed about justice, chastity, and the future judgment, Felix trembled and answered: “Go for now; at a suitable time I shall hear you again.”

At the same time he hoped that Paul would give him money. For this reason he frequently summoned Paul and spoke with him. When two years had passed, Felix received Porcius Festus as his successor. Wishing to gain favor with the Jews, Felix left Paul bound.

When Festus came into the province, he ascended from Caesarea to Jerusalem. The chief priests approached him against Paul and asked as a favor that he order Paul to be brought to Jerusalem, while they laid snares to kill him on the road.

Festus answered that, since Paul was being kept at Caesarea and Festus himself would soon go there, those who wished to accuse Paul of anything should go there. After eight days Festus went down to Caesarea, sat before the tribunal, and ordered Paul to be brought forward.

The Jews alleged many grave charges that they could not prove. Paul gave his account, saying: “I have sinned in nothing against the law of the Jews, against the temple, or against Caesar.”

Festus, wishing to gain favor with the Jews, asked whether Paul wished to be judged concerning these things by him at Jerusalem. Paul answered: “I stand before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be judged. I have not harmed the Jews, as you know better. If I have harmed them or done anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if I have done none of the things of which they accuse me, no one can condemn me to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

Then Festus conferred with his council and said: “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.”

After some days King Agrippa and Bernice came down to Caesarea to greet Festus. When they had remained there for several days, Festus told the king about Paul: how, when Festus went up to Jerusalem, the Jews sought Paul’s condemnation.

Festus had answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to condemn any man before the accused had his accusers present and received a place to defend himself and clear away the charges.

Festus continued: “When I came here and sat before the tribunal, the Jews who accused Paul brought no charge of evil against him. Instead, they had certain questions against him concerning their own superstition and concerning a certain deceased Jesus, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

“Being uncertain about this question, I asked Paul whether he wished to go to Jerusalem and be judged there. He appealed to Caesar. Therefore I ordered him to be kept until I send him to Caesar.”

Agrippa told Festus that he wished to hear Paul. On the following day King Agrippa and Bernice entered the audience hall with much display, and Festus ordered Paul to be brought in. Festus recounted what had occurred with him and how Paul had appealed.

Festus intended to send him to Caesar but had nothing certain to write about him. He therefore wished the king to question Paul so that Agrippa might inform Festus what to write. For it did not seem reasonable to send a prisoner without stating the cause.

Agrippa said to Paul: “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Paul stretched out his hand and began to give his defense, saying:

“Concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I judge myself blessed to defend myself before you today, especially because you know all the customs and questions that exist among the Jews. I therefore beg you to hear me patiently.

“All the Jews have known my life from my youth, for I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of your religion, believing in the resurrection of the dead. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, O king.

“I myself once thought that I ought to do many hostile things against the name of Jesus. I did this at Jerusalem, imprisoning many of the saints and madly persecuting them even into foreign cities.”

He added the vision and the words spoken to him by Jesus as he approached Damascus to seize those converted to faith in Jesus, concluding:

“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not unbelieving toward the vision, but announced to Jews and Gentiles that they should do penance and turn to God. For this reason the Jews seized me when I was in the temple and attempted to kill me.”

As Paul said these things, Festus cried with a loud voice: “You are mad, Paul; much learning turns you to madness.”

Paul answered: “I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but speak words of sobriety and truth. Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you believe.”

Agrippa said to Paul: “In a little you persuade me to become a Christian.” Paul answered: “I pray God that, both in a little and in much, not only you but all who hear me may become such as I am, except for these chains.”

The king, the governor, and Bernice rose and said to one another: “This man has done nothing worthy of death.” Agrippa said to Festus: “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

§ XV: Paul’s Voyage toward Rome

When it was decided that he should go to Italy, Paul and the other prisoners were delivered to a centurion named Julius. “Boarding a ship bound for places in Asia, we set sail. From there we reached Sidon,” where the centurion permitted Paul to visit his friends and attend to his needs.

They then reached Lystra, which is part of Cilicia [read: Myra, which is part of Lycia]. There the centurion transferred Paul to another ship, an Alexandrian vessel sailing to Italy. Sailing onward, they reached a certain place called Fair Havens.

When navigation was no longer safe, Paul urged that they remain because of the imminent dangers of the sea. But the centurion trusted the shipmaster and pilot more than Paul and wished to sail from there in order to remain in a more convenient place.

They were driven by a violent storm. On the following day they cast out the cargo, and on the third day they threw the ship’s equipment overboard with their own hands. Neither sun nor moon appeared for many days. Because the storm was no small one, all hope of our salvation had now been taken from their minds.

After they had fasted for a long time, Paul stood in their midst and said: “O men, you ought to have listened to me and not sailed from Crete, and so to have avoided this loss. Now I advise you to be of good courage. No soul among you will be lost, but only the ship.

“For this night an angel of God, whom I serve, stood beside me and said: ‘Do not fear, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. God has given you all who sail with you.’ Therefore, men, be of good courage.”

On the fourteenth night, as they approached a certain island, they feared at midnight that they would come into rough places and suffer shipwreck. The sailors sought to flee from the ship and lowered the boat under the pretext that they were going to lay out anchors. Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers: “Unless these men remain in the ship, you cannot be saved.”

[Running head: Sixth Title.]

Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the boat. As daylight began to appear, Paul urged everyone to take food, saying: “Today is the fourteenth day that you have remained fasting and waiting, taking nothing. Therefore I ask you to take food for your safety, because not a hair from the head of any of you shall perish.”

When he had said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the sight of everyone. After breaking it, he began to eat. All became more courageous and themselves took food. There were no fewer than 276 souls in all aboard the ship.

When they had eaten their fill, they lightened the ship by casting the wheat into the sea. The stern was being broken apart by the sea’s force, while the prow remained fixed and immovable.

The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners lest anyone swim away and escape. But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, forbade this. He ordered those able to swim to cast themselves first into the sea and escape to land. They carried the others upon planks, and some upon things belonging to the ship. In this way everyone escaped to land.

“When we had escaped, we then learned that the island was called Mitelene [read: Melite (Malta)].” The barbarians showed them no small kindness. They kindled a fire and refreshed all of us because of the threatening rain and the cold.

When Paul gathered a considerable quantity of brushwood and placed it upon the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened upon his hand. When the barbarians saw the beast hanging from his hand, they said to one another: “This man is surely a murderer. Although he escaped from the sea, vengeance does not allow him to live.”

Paul shook the beast into the fire and suffered no harm. They expected him to swell up and die. After waiting a long time and seeing no harm in him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

Publius, the chief man of the island, received them kindly for three days. Paul entered the room of Publius’s father, who was afflicted by fevers and dysentery, prayed, and healed him. Everyone on that island who had sick persons brought them to Paul, and he healed them.

After three months they came to Syracuse. Sailing from there after three days, they reached Rhegium, and on the following day Puteoli. Finding brethren there, they were asked to remain with them for seven days. Thus at last they came to Rome.

When the brethren heard of their arrival, they came to meet them as far as the Appian Forum and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he gave thanks to God and took courage.

When they came to Rome, Paul was permitted to remain by himself with the soldier who guarded him. After the third day he summoned the leading Jews and said to them:

“Men and brethren, although I did nothing against the people or the custom of our fathers, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. When they had examined me, they wished to release me because there was no cause of death in me. When the Jews contradicted, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not as though I had anything of which to accuse my nation. For this cause, therefore, I asked to see and speak with you.”

They said to him: “We have neither received letters concerning you from Judea nor has any arriving brother announced or spoken anything evil about you. But we ask to hear what you think, for concerning this sect it is known to us that it is contradicted everywhere.”

When they had appointed a day for him, many came to him in his lodging. From morning until evening he expounded and bore witness to the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets. Some believed Paul, but others did not believe.

When they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul said one word: “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah: ‘Go to this people and say to them: Hearing, you shall hear and not understand. For the heart of this people has grown gross,’” and so forth.

“Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles.” The Jews therefore left, having much debate among themselves concerning this word.

Paul remained for two whole years in his rented lodging and received everyone who entered to see him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching Jews and Greeks the things concerning the Lord Jesus.

Here ends the Acts of the Apostles that were written by Luke the Evangelist and approved by the Church. The other accounts of acts written by various persons are apocryphal, as appears in Distinction 15, Sancta Romana.

With a few exceptions, the deeds contained in Luke’s Acts are principally those of the apostles Peter and Paul: first those of Peter up to Chapter 13, except for Paul’s conversion, and the remainder those of Paul alone.

We shall now treat the deeds of those same apostles that are found in various books, and their martyrdom, but first, very briefly, Mary the mother of Jesus.