Jan 182010
![[Saint Paul the Hermit]](http://saints.sqpn.com/stp24002.jpg "20kb jpg of 'Saint Paul the Hermit', by Jusepe de Ribera, c.1650, oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris, France")
Also known as
- Paul the First Hermit
- Paul of Thebes
- Paul the Anchorite
- Pavly
- Pavlos
Profile
Paul grew up in an upper-class, Christian family. He was well educated, fluent in Greek and Egyptian. His parents died when the boy was 15. When the persecutions of Decius began a few years later, Paul fled into the desert to escape both them, and the machinations of his brother Peter and other family members who wanted his property. He lived as a desert hermit in a cave the remainder of his 113 year life, surviving off fruit and water, wearing leaves or nothing, spending his time in prayer; legend says a raven kept him supplied with bread. Late in life he came to know, and was buried by Saint Anthony the Abbot. His biography was written by Saint Jerome.
Born
- 5 January 342 of natural causes
- grave reported to have been dug by desert lions near his cave who guarded the body
- buried by Saint Anthony the Abbot
- dead man whose grave is being dug by a lion
- man being brought food by a bird
- man clad in rough garments made of leaves or skins
- old man, clothed with palm-leaves, and seated under a palm-tree, near which are a river and loaf of bread
- raven
- with Saint Anthony the Abbot
Additional Information
- Abbé Stéphane Ansart
- Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
- Catholic Encyclopedia
- Catholic News Agency
- First of the Hermits, by Mrs Lang
- Heiligen 3s
- Katherine Rabenstein
- Golden Legend, by Jacobus de Voragine
- Life of Paulus, the First Hermit, by Saint Jerome
- Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
- New Catholic Dictionary
- Olga’s Gallery
- Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
- Pictorial Lives of the Saints
- Saint Paul in the Desert Episcopal Church
MLA Citation
- “Saint Paul the Hermit“. Saints.SQPN.com. 14 January 2013. Web. 18 June 2013. <>
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