Paul in the churches

The church has painted, carved and cast Paul for seventeen centuries, and the image it settled on is consistent from the catacombs to the Vatican. He is bald or balding, with a high forehead and a long, pointed dark beard; he holds a book and, from the high Middle Ages, a sword. The book stands for his letters, the sword for the instrument of the martyrdom the tradition assigns him.

The illustrations on this site take that image and turn it. The sword and the scroll in every portrait here are the church’s own attributes, given back to Paul with the halo cracked, the horns added and the cap lettered. This page shows the originals.

The earliest portrait

The oldest images of Paul come from the catacombs of Rome, from the fourth century, when the church had already paired him with Peter as the founders of its Roman see. In this fresco he stands beside the enthroned Christ, the type already fixed.

Catacomb fresco of Christ enthroned between Peter and Paul, with four martyrs and the Lamb below — Christ enthroned between Peter and Paul, with four martyrs and the Lamb below. Fresco, Catacombs of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Rome, fourth century. Image: Unknown painter, 4th century, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The founders of Rome

Within a generation of Constantine the pairing became a programme. In the apse of Santa Costanza, Christ stands between Peter and Paul in the scene called the Traditio Legis, the handing over of the law. The man who called the law a curse stands at the side of the one who hands it over.

Apse mosaic of Christ standing on a hill between two apostles, with sheep and palms below — The *Traditio Legis*, apse mosaic, Santa Costanza, Rome, fourth century, much restored. Image: José Luiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Byzantine saint

The Greek church kept the same face and added the gold. This enamel medallion, made for the frame of an icon around 1100, names him in Greek as Ho Hagios Paulos, “Saint Paul,” and shows him with the book of his letters.

Gold cloisonné enamel medallion of Paul, bald and bearded, holding a book, named in Greek — Medallion with Saint Paul from an icon frame. Byzantine, about 1100; gold, silver and cloisonné enamel. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 17.190.673. Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The light on the road

The Renaissance and the Baroque painted the conversion more than any other scene of his life. Caravaggio’s version, painted for a chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, is the most famous; its treatment of the three accounts in Acts is discussed under The Damascus road: one vision, three stories.

Caravaggio painting of Saul fallen on his back beneath a horse, arms raised, in a pool of light — Caravaggio, *Conversion of Saint Paul*, 1600–1601. Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. Image: Caravaggio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The sword and the book

In the nineteenth century the papacy set a colossal Paul before Saint Peter’s, facing a Peter with his keys. Adamo Tadolini’s statue gives him both attributes at full size: the sword held downward in one hand, the book in the other.

Marble statue of Paul holding a sword and a book, before the facade of Saint Peter's — Adamo Tadolini, statue of Paul before the Basilica of Saint Peter, Vatican City. Image: AngMoKio, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

The cult of relics

Rome shows three sites of Paul’s death and burial, none of them recorded in scripture. The church at Tre Fontane marks the place of the beheading; the basilica on the Ostian Way keeps the sarcophagus; the Lateran keeps the head. Their evidence is examined under The failed prophet.

Marble high relief of Paul kneeling before an executioner with a raised sword — The beheading of Paul, marble high relief, San Paolo alle Tre Fontane, Rome. Image: Yong Woo Park, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Marble sarcophagus beneath an altar, seen through a bronze grille — The sarcophagus beneath the high altar, Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome. Image: StPaul.jpg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Gothic canopy over the high altar of the Lateran basilica, with a grilled upper chamber — The ciborium of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome (Giovanni di Stefano, 1367), whose upper chamber holds the reliquaries said to contain the heads of Peter and Paul. Image: Jastrow, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

What the images show

The iconography is a record of the church’s judgment on Paul. The church gave the man who never met ʿĪsā ibn Maryam (ʿalayhi al-salām, peace be upon him) a place beside Peter, at the gate of its chief basilica, over its high altars and in its reliquaries. The case this site sets out is that the place was usurped; the images show how completely the usurpation succeeded.

Every photograph on this page and in the articles is taken from Wikimedia Commons under the licence shown beneath it, and each links to its source.