St Titus: Disciple of St Paul, Bishop of Crete, Feast Day

St Titus was a Gentile convert of St Paul, his secretary, companion and "beloved son according to the common faith", whom the Apostle sent to settle the troubles of the Church of Corinth and then left in Crete as its bishop, writing to him the Epistle that bears his name. Almost everything we know of him comes from St Paul's letters; tradition adds that he died in peace in Crete at a great age. In the calendar of 1962 his feast falls on 6 February; here is his life, the letter St Paul wrote him, and the prayer of his Mass.

Who was St Titus?

Titus was born a Gentile, a pagan, and seems to have been converted by St Paul himself, who calls him "Titus, my beloved son according to the common faith" (Titus i. 4). When or where he was born we do not know: Butler dismisses as untrustworthy both the claim of the apocryphal Acts of St Thecla that he was born at Iconium and the statement of St John Chrysostom that he came from Corinth.

What we do know shows how close he was to the Apostle. Paul took him as secretary and fellow worker, called him "my brother" and "my companion and fellow labourer" (2 Corinthians viii. 23), and could not rest without him: "I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother" (2 Corinthians ii. 13). The lessons of his feast in the Breviary say that he shone with such holiness in the infant Church that he deserved to be counted among the disciples of the Doctor of the Gentiles. The life of his master is told in our page on St Paul, and the beginning of it all in our page on the Conversion of St Paul.

Titus at the Council of Jerusalem

Paul writes: "Then, after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me" (Galatians ii. 1). He went to the meeting of the Apostles on whether the Gentile converts must keep the law of Moses. Paul had allowed Timothy, "the son of a Jewish woman that believed" (Acts xvi. 1), to be circumcised, so as not to hinder his ministry among the Jews; but he would not allow it for Titus: "But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Gentile, was compelled to be circumcised" (Galatians ii. 3). To yield on Titus would have seemed to grant the error of those who held that the ceremonial law still bound Christians. The uncircumcised Titus thus stands in the Scriptures as a living proof of the freedom of the Gospel.

St Titus and the Church of Corinth

The Church of Corinth gave Paul much sorrow, and it was Titus he sent from Ephesus to set things right. He was received with respect, obtained the penance and submission of those who had given scandal, and refused to accept any present from the Corinthians, not even his own keep: "Did Titus overreach you?" Paul could ask them (2 Corinthians xii. 18). Butler says he grew to love that Church, and interceded with Paul for the pardon of the sinner Paul had punished. When he came back to Paul in Macedonia with good news, the Apostle wrote: "But God, who comforteth the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus" (2 Corinthians vii. 6).

Paul then sent him a second time to Corinth, to gather the alms for the poor Christians of Jerusalem; "being more careful," he says, "of his own will he went unto you" (2 Corinthians viii. 17). The Breviary praises the wisdom and gentleness with which he did it, so that he not only kept the Corinthians in the faith but stirred up their love for Paul.

Bishop of Crete

Paul preached in Crete, and when the needs of other churches called him away he ordained Titus bishop of the island to finish the work. "For this cause I left thee in Crete: that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and shouldest ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee" (Titus i. 5). St John Chrysostom, quoted by Butler, observes that the greatness of the charge shows how highly Paul esteemed his disciple. The Cretans have always regarded Titus as the first archbishop of their see.

Later Paul asked him to join him at Nicopolis in Epirus as soon as Artemas or Tychicus arrived to take his place (Titus iii. 12). The Second Epistle to Timothy shows Titus gone to Dalmatia (2 Timothy iv. 10), and the Breviary says tradition remembers his labours to plant the standard of the cross among the Dalmatians. Then he returned to Crete.

St Paul's letter to Titus

The Epistle to Titus is one of the three "pastoral" letters of St Paul, with the two to Timothy. In three short chapters Paul tells Titus to appoint priests in every city, and sets out the qualities of a bishop: "For a bishop must be without crime, as the steward of God: not proud, not subject to anger, nor given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre: but given to hospitality, gentle, sober, just, holy, continent: embracing that faithful word which is according to doctrine, that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to convince the gainsayers" (Titus i. 7-9).

He asks Titus to be firm with the Cretans, of whom, Butler drily remarks, Paul had a poor opinion, and to be himself a model: "In all things shew thyself an example of good works, in doctrine, in integrity, in gravity" (Titus ii. 7). Butler calls the letter "the rule of episcopal life".

The same letter gives the Church two of her Christmas readings. "For the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men" (Titus ii. 11-15) is the Epistle of the Midnight Mass of Christmas and of 1 January, and "the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared" (Titus iii. 4-7) the Epistle of the Mass at Dawn. Every Christmas, the Church reads a letter addressed to St Titus.

How did St Titus die?

Peacefully, in Crete, at a great age. Butler says that all that can be affirmed is that he ended a laborious and holy life by a peaceful death in Crete. The Breviary gives the tradition more precisely: "full of merits and of days", in his ninety-fourth year, on 4 January, he fell asleep in the Lord by the precious death of the just, and was buried in the church of which the Apostle had made him the minister. His name, the lessons add, was especially honoured by St John Chrysostom and St Jerome.

The so-called Acts of Titus, which claim to be written by "Zenas the lawyer" mentioned in the Epistle (Titus iii. 13), make him a Cretan of royal descent called to Judea by a voice from heaven; Butler regards them as a work of fiction.

What is St Titus the patron saint of?

As the first bishop of the island, St Titus is honoured as the patron saint of Crete. His Mass, from the Common of Bishops, with the Gospel of the sending of the seventy-two disciples, makes him also a natural intercessor for bishops, for priests and for missionaries: "The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers into his harvest" (St Luke x. 2).

The prayer of St Titus (Missal of 1962)

His Mass is that of the Common of a Confessor Bishop, with its own Collect and its own Gospel (St Luke x. 1-9).

Collect, 6 February

Deus, qui beatum Titum Confessorem tuum atque Pontificem apostolicis virtutibus decorasti: ejus meritis et intercessione concede; ut, juste et pie viventes in hoc saeculo, ad coelestem patriam pervenire mereamur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, Filium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

O God, who didst adorn blessed Titus, Thy Confessor and Bishop, with apostolic virtues: grant, by his merits and intercession, that, living justly and godly in this world, we may deserve to come to our heavenly country. 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.

The words "living justly and godly in this world" are taken from the letter Paul wrote him: "that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and godly in this world" (Titus ii. 12). The Church prays to St Titus in the words St Paul wrote to him.

When is the feast day of St Titus?

In the calendar of 1962 the feast of St Titus falls on 6 February, a feast of the third class in white vestments, with a commemoration of St Dorothy, virgin and martyr. No special feast of St Titus was at first kept in the West; it was Pope Pius IX who assigned him a feast on 6 February and ordered it to be kept by the whole Church. The Byzantine Church keeps him on 25 August. You will find his feast in our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962, and his place among the saints in our guide to the Catholic saints.

St Timothy and St Titus

The calendar of 1969 moved St Titus to 26 January, to be kept together with St Timothy, the other disciple to whom St Paul wrote pastoral letters, the day after the Conversion of St Paul. In the calendar of 1962 they are separate: St Timothy on 24 January and St Titus on 6 February. The life of his companion is told in our page on St Timothy.

St Titus and St Titus Brandsma

Searches often join the two names, but they are different men. Titus Brandsma is a saint of the twentieth century, canonized by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022. He is therefore not in the calendar of 1962, which keeps only the disciple of St Paul under the name of Titus.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is St Titus?

A Gentile convert and disciple of St Paul, his companion on his journeys and his envoy to Corinth, whom Paul made bishop of Crete and to whom he wrote the Epistle to Titus.

What made St Titus a saint?

His faith and zeal as Paul's fellow worker, his gentleness and disinterestedness at Corinth, and his long life as bishop of Crete, in which, the Collect says, God adorned him with apostolic virtues. Like the other saints of the early Church, he was venerated by the custom of the Church, without any formal canonization.

When was St Titus born?

We do not know. He was a Gentile by birth; the traditions that place his birth at Iconium, at Corinth or in Crete are untrustworthy, according to Butler.

How did St Titus die?

In peace, in Crete, at a great age; the Breviary says in his ninety-fourth year, on 4 January, and that he was buried in his own church.

Where in the Bible is St Titus mentioned?

In the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the Epistle to the Galatians, the Second Epistle to Timothy and, above all, the Epistle to Titus.

Are St Timothy and St Titus kept on the same day?

Not in the calendar of 1962: St Timothy is kept on 24 January and St Titus on 6 February. Since 1969 the reformed calendar keeps them together on 26 January.

The Iter Fidei app carries the calendar of 1962 with every feast and commemoration, the Roman Missal with the Christmas readings from the Epistle to Titus, and the Breviary, in Latin and English. Join early access here.

Sources. Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims version: Epistle to Titus; 2 Corinthians ii, vii, viii and xii; Galatians ii. 1-3; Acts xvi. 1; 2 Timothy iv. 10; St Luke x. 1-9. Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, 6 February (St Titus, Bishop in Crete). Roman Breviary (edition before 1960), 6 February, lessons of the second nocturn (in the Breviary of 1962 this third-class feast has a single, contracted lesson). Roman Missal (1962), Proper of Saints, 6 February; Christmas, Midnight Mass and Mass at Dawn; 1 January.