Saints Timothy and Titus

Timothy and Titus were Saint Paul’s two trusted men, and the Church remembers them together on the day after their teacher’s conversion: first him, then those who stood by him. Almost everything we know about Titus comes from Paul’s letters — the Acts of the Apostles don’t even mention him. He was Greek, from a pagan family, and in all likelihood it was Paul himself who converted him. From then on he stayed by his side on almost all his journeys. Around the year 50 he went with Paul and Barnabas to the Council of Jerusalem, where they were debating a question that was explosive at the time: did the new converts who came from paganism have to follow Jewish law or not? But the job he was best at was a different one: sorting out trouble. During the third missionary journey Paul sent him to Corinth as a messenger of peace, because relations with that restless community had soured for reasons that remain obscure to us. And he also entrusted him with organizing the collection for the poor of Jerusalem — that is, the money, which is always the real test of trust. There’s a line in the Second Letter to the Corinthians that says more than any praise. Paul arrives in Troas to preach and writes: I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus there. A tough man like him admits that without that friend he couldn’t be at peace. Later Titus led the Church of Crete, and then went to Epirus and Dalmatia; in the cathedral of Candia, on Crete, his skull is still venerated. If your name is Titus or Timothy, today is your name day: rare names, which families choose with a certain intention. Behind every founder there are two or three people who hold the pieces together. Today is their day.