This religious statue is in one the façade of the Church named San Pedro, heritage in Portugal and Baroque architecture.
This granite statue placed on one side of the façade, shows us the saint dressed in a toga, as he is normally represented: with the sword in his hand that symbolizes his martyrdom.
SAN PAUL
"Family
Son of Hebrews and descendant of the tribe of Benjamin. He raised as a self-righteous Jew. As stipulated by Jewish law on the eighth day he was circumcised.
Studies
Instructed by Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder , he received a solid theological, philosophical, and legal training. He also spoke Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic.
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
He persecuted Christians and participated in the stoning of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
After his execution, he went to Damascus with a special authorization to imprison all the Christians he found in that city. During the way he was surrounded by a powerful light and heard a voice that said to him: “ Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? ” Paul replied: “ Who are you, Lord? ” The voice answered: “ I am Jesus , whom you persecute. Get up and enter the city. There you will be told what you have to do ”.
He got up and checked that he didn't see anything. In Damascus he remained blind for three days, without eating or drinking, until Ananias came and said to him:Saul, brother, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were coming from, has sent me so that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit . He laid his hands on her, and immediately he received his sight.
Baptism
Ananias baptized him as Paul, explained to him who Jesus was, instructed him in Christian doctrine, and sent him to preach the gospel. He went to Arabia for three years, giving himself up to prayers and reflections.
Trips
He returned to Damascus and a short time later traveled to Jerusalem. He met Barnabas and through him the apostles Peter and James . His stay in Jerusalem was brief, as he had to flee to escape the Greek-speaking Jews. He again he returned to Tarsus.
Fourteen years later Barnabas went to Tarsus and went with Paul to Antioch. During a famine that struck Judea, they traveled to Jerusalem to provide financial support for the community of Antioch, which would become a rallying point for Christian converts from paganism and an important center for Paul's evangelism.
About the year 49 an important meeting took place between Paul and the Jerusalem church, which had the objective of deciding whether Gentile converts should be circumcised. Peter, James, and John accepted Paul's mission to the Gentiles. Although both Paul and Peter had reached an agreement at the Jerusalem Council, the latter refused to share a meal with the Gentile Christians in Antioch and was publicly confronted by Paul. This is known as the Incident at Antioch .
He spent eighteen months in Corinth, with Silas and Timothy .. He headed for Ephesus, where he would spend two years working with the congregation and organizing missionary activities in the interior. He had to flee due to various riots. His next destination was Macedonia, after which he returned to Corinth where he stayed for three months.
During the year 57, he traveled again to Jerusalem. Some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple precincts and accused him of sponsoring a violation of the Law and desecrating the sanctity of the Temple by introducing some Greeks into it.
They tried to kill him in a riot, from which he was saved by arrest. Taken before the Sanhedrin, he defended himself by raising a dispute between the Pharisees and Sadducees, since the latter did not believe in the resurrection and the Pharisees did.
The tribune sent him to the procurator of the province of Judea, before whom he again defended himself. The prosecutor postponed the trial and imprisoned Pablo for two years. After the arrival of a new attorney, the case was reviewed and the apostle was sent to Rome to be tried by Caesar. He was shipwrecked off the Island of Malta and reached Rome in the summer of '62. He spent another two years under house arrest.
founding missionary
The most ardent propagandist of Christianity, he traveled as a missionary through Greece, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine. He was the founder of Christian communities and evangelizer in the most important urban centers of the Roman Empire such as Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus and Rome.
Writer
His writings adapted the message of Jesus to the Hellenistic culture prevailing in the Mediterranean world, facilitating its extension outside the Hebrew cultural environment where he was born and were unanimously accepted by all the Christian Churches. More than half of the books of the New Testament are attributed to him.
Death
Saint Paul is believed to have been beheaded during the persecutions of Nero around the year 62, in Rome , Italy."
(
visit link)