Titus

ON ST. TITUS, BISHOP AND APOSTLE OF THE CRETANS.

Around the Year of Christ 105.

Titus, Bishop and Apostle of the Cretans (St.)

[1] All the Latin Martyrologies, together with the Roman, commemorate St. Titus on this day. In the Roman Martyrology, under the day before the Nones of January, the following is recorded concerning him: "In Crete, the birthday of St. Titus, who was ordained Bishop of the Cretans by the Apostle Paul, and who, after most faithfully completing the office of preaching, attained a blessed end and was buried in the church where he had been appointed as a worthy minister by the blessed Apostle."

[2] Paul frequently mentions him, and also wrote an epistle to him from Nicopolis in Epirus. The Fathers and Doctors who have written commentaries on this epistle have gathered much in praise of Titus. I cite one of our own, Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide: "Titus," he says, "was a Gentile and Greek on both his father's and mother's side, and therefore, if we believe Chrysostom in his first homily here, he was a native of Corinth. Hence the Apostle repeatedly names Titus when writing to the Corinthians in his second letter, and used him among them as a kind of fellow countryman for collecting alms and other ecclesiastical affairs. This Titus, converted to Christ and baptized by Paul, St. Titus, Paul's interpreter attached himself to him and was a distinguished helper and interpreter in preaching. Hence in 2 Corinthians 2:13, Paul calls Titus his brother. For Titus was endowed with remarkable innocence of character and holiness, and indeed cultivated and preserved virginity throughout his entire life, Always a virgin as St. Ignatius teaches in his Epistle to the Philadelphians. Hence he was appointed by Paul as Archbishop of Crete and the other neighboring islands; indeed, sent by Paul to Dalmatia as well, Where he preached he preached there, as is clear from 2 Timothy 4:10. And finally, having erected and established many churches, he returned to Crete and died a holy death in the ninety-fourth year of his age, and was buried there." So far Cornelius.

[3] St. Ignatius mentions Titus in his third Epistle to the Philadelphians; Volaterranus in Book 19; Eusebius in Book 3 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 4; the author of the booklet on the 72 disciples; St. Isidore of Seville in his book On the Life and Death of the Saints, chapter 87; and others. Baronius also treats of him under the year of Christ 45, writing thus: Vol. 3, Ep. 150, qu. 11 "St. Jerome relates that Titus served as interpreter for the Apostle Paul, writing to Hebidia; indeed, Paul so greatly needed his service, Necessary to Paul that the absence of Titus brought no small detriment to his preaching, as he himself testifies when writing to the Corinthians in these words: 2 Cor. 2:12 'When I came to Troas for the Gospel of Christ, and a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find Titus my brother; but taking leave of them, I departed for Macedonia.' Jerome believed this happened for no other reason than that, just as Peter used Mark, so also Paul used Titus as his interpreter; 2 Cor. 7:6 in whose arrival he testifies that he greatly rejoiced, when he says: 'But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.' And what (says Jerome) was so great a consolation, and what rest of spirit in the presence of Titus, whom, because he did not find him, he took leave of them and departed for Macedonia? We have said several times that the Apostle Paul was a most learned man, educated at the feet of Gamaliel; and although he had knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and possessed the grace of speech and of diverse languages, whence he himself glories in the Lord and says: 1 Cor. 14:18 'I thank my God that I speak in the tongues of all of you'; yet he could not explain the majesty of divine meanings in worthy Greek eloquence. He therefore had Titus as his interpreter, just as blessed Peter had Mark, whose Gospel was composed while Peter narrated and Mark wrote." So far Jerome, and after him Baronius.

HIS LIFE FROM THE MENAEA.

Titus, Bishop and Apostle of the Cretans (St.)

From Various Authors.

[4] Celebrated by the Greeks on August 25. The Greeks celebrate the solemnity of St. Titus on the 25th of August, concerning which their Menologion says thus: "Likewise of St. Titus, Bishop of the city of Gortyna in Crete, disciple of the holy Apostle Paul. This blessed Titus, at twenty years of age, came from Crete to Jerusalem, and remaining there for one year until the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then ten more years, was ordained an Apostle. He preached the Gospel for eighteen years in Crete, and six years in the remaining islands, and in his homeland...." From these facts the number of ninety-four years is computed.

[5] His royal lineage. Life written by Zenas the Jurist. The Menaea give a fuller account: "Of the holy Apostle Titus, Bishop of Gortyna in Crete, disciple of the holy Apostle Paul. Blessed Titus was descended from the stock of Myroi, King of the Cretans, as Zenas the Jurist testifies, who wrote his life. St. Paul also mentions Titus. Titus therefore devoted the first years of his age to profane letters, which are held in great admiration among the Greeks."

[6] Already twenty years of age, he received a voice from heaven which said: "Titus, you must emigrate from here to save your soul; for this Greek and profane learning will profit you little for salvation." Titus desired to hear this voice again, for he knew that superstitious voices were sometimes also issued from the statues of idols. And so he remained yet another whole year. He reads the Sacred Scriptures. Then he was commanded through a vision to read the volume of the Hebrews. Therefore, when he opened Isaiah, he came upon this passage: [Isa. 41:1, according to the LXX; in the Vulgate: "Let the islands keep silence before me."] "Be renewed to me, you many islands. Israel is saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation"; and what follows. Therefore the Proconsul of Crete, who was St. Titus's uncle, when he had heard of the saving birth and miracles of Christ the Lord, which he was performing in Jerusalem and elsewhere, sent Titus to Jerusalem by the counsel of leading men; He is sent to Judea. for they considered him suitable to hear and speak with Christ and to report back to them what he himself had heard. Titus therefore, when he had come to Jerusalem, and had seen and worshipped Christ the Lord, remained in Jerusalem, and being present as a spectator of his miracles, he also witnessed his saving passion, burial, resurrection, divine ascension, and the coming and descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, and he believed, He is converted to the faith. and was numbered among the one hundred and twenty and three thousand who believed in Christ through the preaching of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles.

[7] Then he was consecrated an Apostle and sent with Paul to teach and consecrate others, He travels with Paul. as Paul thought fit; and he came with him to Antioch, and passed through Seleucia, Cyprus, Salamis, and Paphos; and thence he proceeded to Perga in Pamphylia, Antioch of Pisidia, and Iconium to the house of Onesiphorus; then to Lystra and Derbe; and everywhere with the holy Apostle Paul he preached the word of God. Then, when Rustilus, his sister's husband, was already serving as Governor of Crete for the second year, He comes to Crete with Paul, and then to Rome. Paul and Titus landed in Crete, and there they built a church; and departing thence they came to Asia, and from Asia he traveled with Paul all the way to Rome, until Paul was put to death by Nero.

[8] He dies at ninety-four years of age. Thence returning to Crete, and having ordained bishops and priests there, and having led a life according to the Apostolic norm, he rested in the Lord. He lived to ninety-four years of age. For he was twenty when he first set out from Crete to Jerusalem, and remained there one year until the Ascension of Christ into heaven, then ten more years; then, chosen as an Apostle by the chief disciples of the Lord, he completed eighteen years in the preaching of the Gospel. Again in Crete and the other islands he spent six years, and in his homeland thirty-nine, from which collected years the total of ninety-four is completed.

FROM PETER DE NATALIBUS AND OTHERS.

Titus, Bishop and Apostle of the Cretans (St.)

[9] Peter de Natalibus also records him on the same twenty-fifth day of August, in Book 7, chapter 108, and writes the following about him from Greek sources, as it appears: "Titus was a disciple of blessed Paul the Apostle, to whom the same Apostle directed a special epistle. Zenas the jurist wrote his life, whom the same Apostle mentions in the same epistle, in the third chapter. Titus's lineage. He traced his descent from Minos, King of Crete, born of noble parents on the same island. Desiring the poems of Homer and other philosophers, Calling. and occupied with these, when he was twenty years old he heard a voice from heaven that had come down upon him, saying that it was necessary for him to depart thence and save his soul. After this, * when nine years had elapsed, he was commanded to read the book of Isaiah, where it says: Isa. 41:1 'Be renewed to me, you many islands: Israel shall be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation.' He was therefore sent by his uncle, the Proconsul of Crete, to Jerusalem, to hear and see concerning the miracles of Jesus Christ. Going thence, he witnessed the passion of Christ, the resurrection, ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. And thus, receiving perfect certainty about Christ, he believed, Conversion. and was numbered with the 120 disciples, upon whom the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form."

[10] "After he was consecrated Bishop by the Apostles, he was sent with Paul to preach to the nations. Sailing to the island of Crete, [He preaches in Crete. He converts his kinsman Rutilius. He is made Bishop of Crete.] they preached Christ, whom Rutilius, Titus's kinsman, mocked. But meanwhile the son of Rutilius died and was raised by Paul; and so Rutilius, believing with his whole household, was baptized. Paul then ordained Titus as Bishop of Crete, He comes to Rome. and leaving him in Crete, departed. After two years, however, Titus came to Paul in Rome, with whom he remained until Paul's execution by Nero; and together with Luke the Evangelist he buried his body." He buries Paul.

[11] "After this, Titus came to Crete, where, graciously disputing about the faith of Christ, when at last the unbelievers persisted, he prayed to the Lord, and immediately the idol of Diana, He converts many. which they worshipped, fell and was reduced to dust, and forthwith five hundred souls believed in Christ and were baptized. Titus then consecrated priests and deacons, while he himself presided over the metropolis. When one day he passed before the palace He overthrows with a curse the profane work of the Proconsul Secundus. which Secundus the Proconsul was building in the name of Jupiter by the Emperor's command, he cursed it, and immediately the work was utterly destroyed. Then Secundus came to Titus with tears, asking that he be kept unharmed from the work. Titus enjoined him to begin the work in the name of the one God of the Christians, and so he would be able to complete the work; and this was done. He converts him. When the work was completed, Secundus was baptized with his son."

[12] He is visited by Angels. His face shines. He dies. He is renowned for miracles. When therefore blessed Titus was approaching death, he saw Angels sent to him; and his face shone like the sun. Commending his spirit and the people entrusted to him to the Lord, he rested in peace in the ninety-fourth year of his age, on the eighth day before the Kalends of September. He was buried in the metropolis of Crete, where he rests, radiant with miracles. So far Peter de Natalibus, whom certain other Latin writers follow, and who venerate Titus on this day.

[13] Concerning Titus, the Chronicle of Dexter has this under the year 220: "Titus, surnamed Justus, having been made a bishop, He is believed to have preached in Spain. first followed St. Paul, then Eugenius, and preached in Carpetania, where his memory and the greatness of his miracles are celebrated. This Titus had converted to the faith Pliny the Younger, returning from Bithynia and Pontus, on the island of Crete, where by Trajan's command he had erected a temple to Jupiter." Nor are there lacking those who think he suffered on the seventh of Sextilis at Novum Comum. Whether the Pliny the Second was converted by Titus, I do not dispute. He is certainly not that Secundus who is venerated at Como on the seventh of August, who is known to have been a soldier from the Theban Legion who underwent martyrdom under Maximian, as we shall say elsewhere. That Titus is said to have preached in Spain, I readily accept; but why Dexter should mention him only under the year 220, I do not see.

[14] I am entirely persuaded that the ninth epistle of the great Dionysius the Areopagite, addressed to Titus the Bishop, was written to this very Titus, Epistle of Dionysius to him. which I also see was the opinion of George Pachymeres. Our Peter Halloix, in question 3 on the life of St. Dionysius, number 6, says it is disputed by no one.

[15] His head in Crete. Moreover, the venerable head of St. Titus is preserved entire at Candia, the archiepiscopal city of Crete, and with great ceremony is at certain times displayed for the people to see. The chief church is dedicated to this same holy Apostle, as Nicolaus Christophorus Radziwill testifies in his Jerusalem Pilgrimage, Epistle 1.

* Rather one year, as the Menaea have.