Saint Paul the Hermit
![[Saint Paul the Hermit]](stp24002.jpg "20kb jpg of 'Saint Paul the Hermit', by Jusepe de Ribera, c.1650, oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris, France; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
-
Paul the First Hermit
Paul of Thebes
Paul the Anchorite
Pavly
Pavlos
- Memorial
- 15 January
- Profile
- Grew up in an upperclass, Christian family.
Well educated, fluent in Greek and Egyptian.
His parents died when he was 15.
When the persecution of Decius began a few years later, Paul fled into the desert to escape them, and the machinations of his brother Peter and the rest of his family 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 Abbott.
His biography was written by Saint Jerome.
- Born
- c.230 at Lower Thebes, Egypt
- Died
- 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
- Patronage
-
clothing industry,
weavers
- Representation
- 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;
with Saint Anthony the Abbot
- Additional Information
-
Golden Legend, by Jacobus de Voragine
Olga's Gallery
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Saint Paul in the Desert Episcopal Church
New Catholic Dictionary
Catholic Encyclopedia
Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
Life of Paulus, the First Hermit, by Saint Jerome
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