Feast day: April 25

St. Mark the Evangelist

Evangelist · 1st century

Patron of Venice, notaries, lions

Author of the earliest Gospel, companion of Peter and Paul, and by tradition the founder of the Church of Alexandria.

Mark — called in the Acts of the Apostles 'John, whose surname was Mark' — was a Jew of Jerusalem whose mother's house was one of the gathering places of the first Christians; it was there, the tradition holds, that Peter went when an angel freed him from prison. A cousin of Barnabas, the young Mark set out as a helper on the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas, though he turned back partway, a failure that later caused a sharp parting between the two apostles.

He more than redeemed himself. He became a close companion of St. Peter, who affectionately calls him 'my son Mark,' and the ancient writers tell us that Mark served as Peter's interpreter and set down, accurately if not in order, the things Peter preached about the words and deeds of the Lord. From this came the second Gospel — the shortest, swiftest, and most vivid of the four, full of concrete detail, widely held to preserve the preaching of Peter himself.

By the constant tradition of both East and West, Mark then carried the faith to Egypt, founded the great Church of Alexandria, and became its first bishop, planting there a Christianity that would produce some of the Church's greatest theologians. He is said to have been martyred at Alexandria, dragged through the streets by his persecutors.

His relics were later carried to Venice, which took him as its patron and raised over them the magnificent basilica of St. Mark. His symbol, drawn from the vision of the four living creatures, is the winged lion — which became the emblem of Venice — because his Gospel opens with the 'voice crying in the wilderness,' like the roar of a lion.

His Gospel is widely considered Peter's memories written down — the apostle's eyewitness preaching in book form.

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mk 1:1)”
— St. Mark the Evangelist

Image: Frans Hals (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/09672c.htm