The Diocese of Detroit celebrated the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul on Jan. 25.

The Diocese of Detroit highlighted the day alongside the episcopal consecrations of Bishops Gerard Battersby and Robert Fisher.

“Today marks five years since the episcopal consecrations of Bishops Gerard Battersby and Robert Fisher,” the Diocese of Detroit said in a Facebook post. “Their tireless and faithful ministry to the people of God in southeast Michigan has borne tremendous fruit. On this Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, please join us in praying that Bishops Battersby and Fisher will continue to unleash the Gospel with the same fervor and zeal that Paul used to carry the message of Jesus to so many.”

According to Brittanica, St. Paul lived in the first century and worked as a tentmaker.  For about the first half of his life, he was a member of the Pharisees, and he actively persecuted members of the early Christian movement.  One day, as he was traveling to Damascus, St. Paul had a vision that God revealed Jesus to him as His son. St. Paul later traveled to Jerusalem to meet Jesus’s apostles, and then he spent the rest of his life preaching and writing.  

St. Paul is credited with writing 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament, although some of them were likely written by his followers.

Among his works, St. Paul wrote about his conversion on the road to Damascus in the Acts of the Apostles.  He described seeing a blinding light when the Lord appeared to him, and then he was unable to see. A man named Ananias brought St. Paul into his house and baptized him, and St. Paul described something like scales falling out of his eyes, and then he was able to see again.