- TITUS, a Disciple of St. Paul’s, was Galat. ii. 3. Tit. i. 4. Hieron. Ep. 150. Qu. 11.a Gentile in Religion and Birth, but was converted by St. Paul, who calls him his Son. St. Jerome says, that he was St. Paul’s Interpreter; and that probably, because he might write what St. Paul dictated, or explained in Latin what this Apostle said in Greek; or rendered into Greek, what St. Paul said in Hebrew or Syriac. St. Galat. ii. 1.Paul took him with him to Jerusalem, when he went thither in the Year 51 of the Vulgar Æra, about deciding the Question that was then started, Whether the converted Gentiles ought to be made subject to the Ceremonies of the Law. Some would then have obliged him to circumcise Titus; but neither he nor Titus would consent to it. Titus was sent by the same Apostle to Corinth,1 upon the occasion of some Disputes which then divided that Church. He was very well received by the Corinthians, and much satisfied by their ready Compliance: But would receive nothing from them, thereby imitating the Disinterestedness of his Master.
From thence he went to St. Paul into 2 Cor. vii. 6, 15.Macedonia, and gave him an Account of the State of the Church of Corinth. A little while after the Apostle desired him to return again to Corinth, to set things in order against his own Coming. Titus readily undertook this Journey, and departed immediately, carrying with him St. Paul’s second Letter to the Corinthians. Titus was made Bishop of the Isle of Crete about the 632 Year of Christ, when St. Paul was obliged to quit this Island, to take care of the other Churches. The following Year he wrote to him, to desire him, that as soon as he should have sent Tychicus or Artemas to him, to supply his Place in Crete, Titus would come to him to Nicopolis in MacedoniaTit. iii. 12., or to Nicopolis in Epirus, upon the Gulph of Ambracia, where the Apostle intended to pass his Winter.
The Subject of this Epistle3 is, to represent to Titus what are the Qualities that a Bishop should be endowed with. As the principal Function that Titus was to exercise in the Isle of Crete, was to ordain Priests and Bishops, it was highly incumbent on him to make a discreet Choice. The Apostle also gives him a Sketch of the Advice and Instructions that he was to give to all sorts of Persons; to the Aged, both Men and Women; to young People of each Sex; to Slaves or Servants. He exhorts him to exercise a strict Authority over the Cretans, and to reprove them with Severity; as being a People addicted to Lying, Wickedness, Idleness, Gluttony. And as there were many converted Jews in the Church of Crete, he exhorts Titus to oppose their vain Traditions, their Jewish Fables, and to shew them that the Observation of the Legal Ceremonies is no longer necessary; that the Distinction of Meats is now abolished, and that every thing is pure and clean to those that are pure. He puts him in mind of exhorting the Faithful to be obedient to Temporal Powers, to avoid Disputes, Quarrels, and Slander; to apply themselves to honest Callings, and to shun the Company of an Heretick, after the first and second Admonition.
The Epistle to Titus has always been acknowledged by the Church. The Marcionites did not receive it,d as also the Basilidians, and some other Hereticks.4 But Tatian, the Chief of the Encratites, received it, and preferred it before all the rest.5 It is not certainly known from whence it was written, nor by whom it was sent.
St. Titus was deputed to preach the Gospel in Dalmatia; and he was still there in the Year 65, when the Apostle wrote his second Epistle to Timothy. He afterwards returned into Crete, from whence, it is said, he propagated the Gospel into the neighbouring Islands. He died at the Age of ninety-four Years, and was buried in the Menæa. p. 259, 277.Island of Crete. We are assured that the Cathedral of the City of Candia is dedicated to his Name, and that Bolland. 4 Jan. p. 163, 164.his Head is there preserved entire. The Greeks keep his Feast on the 25th of August, and the Latins on the 4th of January.
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