St. Titus
Born: c. 1 CE
Died: c. 96 or 107 CE
Feast day: January 26
Patron saint of: Crete, the United States Army Chaplain Corps
Titus was one of Paul’s colleagues who we read about several times in the Pauline epistles of the New Testament. While the epistles imply he sometimes journeyed with Paul, he was also often charged with delivering Paul’s letters to various cities or following up with townspeople in the aftermath of a letter’s reception. Since Paul’s letters were sometimes harsh and left people confused, frustrated, or angry, this suggests that Titus had a way of listening to concerns and smoothing things over, or at the very least of providing a calming presence. Perhaps that’s why he was chosen as the patron of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. The Corps’ Order of Titus award recognizes “realistic, doctrinally-guided combat ministry training,” according to the U.S. Army website. Pursuing our vocations in a realistic, doctrinally guided way that brings order and agreement to situations of chaos is a worthy goal toward which any of us can strive.
Image: Anonymous, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
