St Timothy: Disciple of St Paul, Life, Prayer and Feast

St Timothy was the young disciple whom St Paul called "my dearest son", the companion of his journeys and the first bishop of Ephesus, to whom the Apostle wrote the two Epistles that bear his name. The Breviary tells that he was stoned by the pagans of Ephesus for opposing a feast of Diana and died of his wounds, so that the Church honours him as a martyr. In the calendar of 1962 his feast falls on 24 January, a feast of the third class in red vestments. Here is his life as Scripture, Butler and the Breviary give it, the prayers of his Mass in Latin and English, and the answers to the questions most often asked about him.

Who was St Timothy?

Timothy was born, most probably, at Lystra in Lycaonia, in the interior of Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey). His father was a Gentile, his mother a Jewess who had become a Christian. St Luke introduces him in the Acts: "There was a certain disciple there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman that believed: but his father was a Gentile. To this man the brethren that were in Lystra and Iconium gave a good testimony" (Acts xvi. 1-2).

His faith came to him through the women of his family. "Calling to mind that faith which is in thee unfeigned," St Paul writes to him, "which also dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and in thy mother Eunice, and I am certain that in thee also" (2 Timothy i. 5). From childhood he had known the Scriptures: "from thy infancy thou hast known the holy scriptures which can instruct thee to salvation by the faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy iii. 15).

Why did St Paul circumcise Timothy?

When Paul came back to Lystra on his second journey, he took Timothy as his companion, and "taking him, he circumcised him, because of the Jews who were in those places. For they all knew that his father was a Gentile" (Acts xvi. 3). Butler points out the contrast: Paul refused to circumcise Titus, born of Gentile parents, to defend the liberty of the Gospel against those who held that circumcision was still binding; he circumcised Timothy, the son of a Jewess, to make him acceptable to the Jews and to show that he was no enemy of their law.

St John Chrysostom, Butler adds, praises here the prudence of the Apostle; we may praise as well the ready obedience of the disciple. Paul then laid hands on him for the ministry, and Timothy received, in the words of the Epistle, "the grace that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with imposition of the hands of the priesthood" (1 Timothy iv. 14).

What did St Timothy do? The companion of St Paul

From that day Timothy was at Paul's side, or sent ahead of him wherever the churches needed him. Paul calls him "my dearest son and faithful in the Lord" (1 Corinthians iv. 17), and tells the Philippians that he has no one else of the same mind: "as a son with the father, so hath he served with me in the gospel" (Philippians ii. 20-22).

Butler follows his steps through the Acts and the Epistles:

• At Berea, when Paul had to flee, Timothy stayed behind with Silas to strengthen the new converts (Acts xvii. 14).
• From Athens Paul sent him back to Thessalonica, under persecution, "to confirm you and exhort you concerning your faith" (1 Thessalonians iii. 2), and his report, brought to Paul at Corinth, gave occasion to the first Epistle to the Thessalonians.
• From Ephesus Paul sent him with Erastus into Macedonia (Acts xix. 22), then to Corinth, with the warm commendation: "if Timothy come, see that he be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do" (1 Corinthians xvi. 10).
• He went with Paul into Macedonia and Achaia, and was most probably with him during his imprisonment at Caesarea and in Rome; his name stands beside Paul's at the head of the Epistles to the Philippians, the Colossians and Philemon: "Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ" (Philippians i. 1).

Timothy too suffered prison for Christ: "Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty," says the Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 23).

St Timothy, first bishop of Ephesus

When Paul returned to the East after his first Roman captivity, he left Timothy at Ephesus to govern that church: "As I desired thee to remain at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some not to teach otherwise" (1 Timothy i. 3). The Breviary says plainly that he was ordained bishop there by the Apostle, and Butler notes that St John Chrysostom and other Fathers assume Paul entrusted him with the care of all the churches of Asia; he "is always described as the first bishop of Ephesus". St John the Apostle, by a strong tradition, later lived in the same city.

The two Epistles to Timothy

St Paul wrote him two letters, which belong to what are called the Pastoral Epistles, with the Epistle to St Titus, his other disciple and bishop of Crete. The first, written from Macedonia according to Butler, is a rule of life for a bishop: how to pray for all men, whom to ordain ("It behoveth therefore a bishop to be blameless..."), how to treat the old and the young, widows and priests, and how to guard the faith: "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust" (1 Timothy vi. 20).

The second was written from Rome, while Paul was in chains and near his death, to beg Timothy to come to him: "Make haste to come before winter" (2 Timothy iv. 21). Butler calls it "an out-pouring of his heart, full of tenderness towards this his dearest son". In it stand the last words of the Apostle about himself: "For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy iv. 6-7). The life and death of the Apostle are told in our page on St Paul, and the road on which it all began in our page on the Conversion of St Paul.

Is St Timothy the patron saint of stomach ailments?

The Epistle shows us something of Timothy himself. He was still young ("Let no man despise thy youth", 1 Timothy iv. 12), perhaps about forty, Butler thinks; he drank only water, and his austerities had harmed his health. Paul wrote to him: "Do not still drink water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thy frequent infirmities" (1 Timothy v. 23). St John Chrysostom remarks: "He did not say simply 'take wine' but 'a little wine', and this not because Timothy stood in need of that advice but because we do."

Popular lists of patron saints name St Timothy as a patron of those who suffer from stomach complaints, and this verse is plainly the reason. It is not a patronage fixed by the liturgy: Butler, the Breviary and the Missal say nothing of it.

How did St Timothy die?

St Timothy is styled a martyr in the ancient martyrologies. The lesson of the Breviary on his feast tells how he died: unable to bear that the sacrifice owed to God alone should be offered to idols, he tried to turn the people of Ephesus away from their impiety while they were sacrificing to Diana on her festival, and was overwhelmed with stones; the Christians carried him, half dead, to a mountain near the city, and there he "fell asleep in the Lord" on the ninth day before the Kalends of February, that is, 24 January, the day of his feast.

The Acts of St Timothy, which Butler judges to have been written at Ephesus in the fourth or fifth century, add that this happened under the Emperor Nerva in the year 97, during a pagan festival called the Katagogia, when the crowds walked through the streets carrying idols and clubs, and that he was killed with stones and clubs. Butler adds that what were held to be his relics were brought to Constantinople in the reign of Constantius, and that St John Chrysostom and St Jerome both speak of the wonders at his shrine as a matter of common knowledge.

The prayer of St Timothy (Missal of 1962)

His Mass is Statuit, from the Common of a Martyr Bishop, with a proper Epistle taken from the first Epistle that St Paul wrote to him: "But thou, O man of God, fly these things: and pursue justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience, mildness. Fight the good fight of faith" (1 Timothy vi. 11-16). The Gospel is "If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother..." (St Luke xiv. 26-33).

Collect, 24 January

Infirmitátem nostram réspice, omnípotens Deus: et, quia pondus própriæ actiónis gravat, beáti Timothei Mártyris tui atque Pontíficis intercéssio gloriósa nos prótegat. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

Look upon our weakness, almighty God: and since the burden of our own deeds weighs us down, may the glorious intercession of blessed Timothy, Thy Martyr and Bishop, protect us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Secret

Hóstias tibi, Dómine, beáti Timothei Mártyris tui atque Pontíficis dicátas méritis, benígnus assúme: et ad perpétuum nobis tríbue proveníre subsídium. Per Dóminum nostrum.

Graciously accept, O Lord, the offerings dedicated to Thee through the merits of blessed Timothy, Thy Martyr and Bishop, and grant that they may avail us for perpetual help. Through our Lord.

Postcommunion

Refécti participatióne múneris sacri, quǽsumus, Dómine, Deus noster: ut, cujus exséquimur cultum, intercedénte beáto Timotheo Mártyre tuo atque Pontífice, sentiámus efféctum. Per Dóminum nostrum.

Refreshed by partaking of the sacred gift, we beseech Thee, O Lord our God, that, through the intercession of blessed Timothy, Thy Martyr and Bishop, we may feel the effect of the worship we perform. Through our Lord.

The Collect suits any day: it asks for the protection of the saint, not in our strength, but in our weakness and under the weight of our sins.

When is St Timothy's feast day?

In the Roman calendar of 1962 the feast of St Timothy, Bishop and Martyr, falls on 24 January, the day of his death according to the Breviary, a feast of the third class in red vestments. It opens a little group of three feasts: the Conversion of his master St Paul on 25 January, then St Polycarp of Smyrna, disciple of St John, on 26 January. The calendar of 1969 moved St Timothy to 26 January, joining him to St Titus in a single memorial of "Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops". Our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962 gives the whole month, and our guide to the Catholic saints, listed by feast day places him among the saints of the year.

Another St Timothy, a Roman martyr, is commemorated in the 1962 calendar on 22 August with Sts Hippolytus and Symphorian; he is not the disciple of St Paul.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was St Timothy in the Bible?

The disciple and companion of St Paul, born at Lystra of a Gentile father and a Christian Jewish mother, named in the Acts of the Apostles and in several of Paul's Epistles, and the addressee of the two Epistles to Timothy.

Where did St Timothy live?

He was born at Lystra in Lycaonia, travelled with St Paul through Asia Minor, Macedonia and Greece, and spent his last years as bishop of Ephesus, on the coast of Asia Minor, where he died.

How was St Timothy martyred?

According to the Breviary, he was stoned by the pagans of Ephesus while trying to stop a festival of Diana, and died of his wounds on a mountain near the city; the later Acts of St Timothy say he was killed with stones and clubs under Nerva in 97.

How old was St Timothy when he died?

His age is not recorded. Butler thinks he was about forty when St Paul wrote to him; if he died in 97, as the Acts say, he would have been an old man.

Was St Timothy married?

Neither Scripture nor Butler mentions a wife. The Epistles show him as a young man wholly given to the ministry and to an austere life.

How did St Timothy become a saint?

As a disciple of the Apostles and a martyr, he was venerated by the Church from antiquity and is named a martyr in the ancient martyrologies; there was no canonization process in his time.

The Iter Fidei app carries the Roman Missal of 1962 with the Mass of St Timothy, the Breviary with the lessons of his feast, the Douay-Rheims Bible and the traditional calendar. Join early access here.

Sources. Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims version: Acts xvi. 1-3; xvii. 14; xix. 22; 1 Corinthians iv. 17; xvi. 10; Philippians i. 1; ii. 19-22; Colossians i. 1; Philemon 1; 1 Thessalonians iii. 2; 1 Timothy i. 3; iii. 2; iv. 12-14; v. 23; vi. 11-20; 2 Timothy i. 5; iii. 15; iv. 6-7, 21; Hebrews xiii. 23. Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, 24 January (St Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, Martyr). Roman Breviary, 24 January, lessons of Matins. Roman Missal (1962), Proper of Saints, 24 January, and Common of a Martyr Bishop.