Sts. Timothy and Titus

It is not uncommon to find friendships within the Communion of Saints, like saintly siblings Benedict and Scholastica, or friends like John Neumann and Francis Xavier Seelos. But these pairs of saints don’t share a common feast date, as Sts. Timonthy and Titus do.

A respected leader among early Christians in modern-day Turkey, St. Timothy was a companion and one of the closest collaborators of St. Paul. St. Timothy’s mother and grandmother, Lois and Eunice, respectively, are noted in Scripture for their great faith and virtue. Accompanying St. Paul on many of his missionary travels throughout the Gentile world, St. Timothy became one of St. Paul’s most trusted aides, having been assigned important tasks like co-authorship of many of the Pauline epistles. St. Paul sent St. Timothy to the Philippians, boasting of him, “I have no one comparable to him.” He became bishop at Ephesus, and it is reported in an apocryphal text that he was martyred there for putting a halt to a pagan procession by preaching the Gospel.

St. Titus also was a close collaborator of St. Paul, who aided in the mission to the Gentiles. St. Paul put him in charge of the church at Crete, according to Tradition. He is celebrated together with St. Timothy on Jan. 26, both held up as disciples of St. Paul, whose conversion the Church celebrates the previous day.

Their feast day is January 26.