Saint Titus

A disciple and associate of Paul (who presumably brought him in the Church), Titus is not one of those early missionaries mentioned  by Luke in the Acts of Apostles and nothing is known of his family. He apparently met Paul near his probable home in the Dalmatia Province of Greece, on the Eastern shores of the Adriatic at Nicopolis (‘city of victory’ -  just a few miles from Actium where Augustus Caesar defeated Marc Anthony and Cleopatra in a great naval battle.) He accompanied Paul to Jerusalem (Gal 2:1) and an issue was made there by Paul that Titus not be circumcised in order to be a Christian.
Somewhere between the writing of Paul’s two surviving letters to the church at Corinth, Titus was sent by the Apostle to that community to oversee the correctives Paul had included in that First Letter. Even though Titus was unknown to the Corinthians, his assignment apparently brought good results. (2 Cor 7:13f) Titus was to rendezvous with Paul at Troas (near Bosphorus) and report back on his mission, but never made it that far, much to the Apostle’s distress. (2Cor 2:13) Titus did finally meet with Paul in Macedonia.
 
Paul entrusted Titus with a further assignment at Corinth: the organization of a collection for the Church at Jerusalem that was suffering the results of a drought and famine in Palestine. (2 Cor 8:6; 16f) In that second mission, Titus is presented by Paul as “my partner and fellow worker…” and praised for the selflessness of his approach to the Corinthian church. Paul later sent him (home?) to Dalmatia (2Tm 4:10) and then to Crete where he was to correct abuses and appoint able presbyters for the scattered  communities of Christians there. (The letter to Titus)
 
Nothing else that is not fiction is known of Titus. His character is deduced only from the great trust Paul obvious had in him and the importance of the assignments he was set upon and that Paul considers him a brother.
 

Prayer

God our Father,
You gave saint Titus the courage and wisdom of an apostle:
May his prayers help us to live holy lives
and lead us to heaven, our true home.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 
(adapted from the Roman Liturgy. The Feast if SS. Timothy and Titus, January 26)