St. Philip the Apostle

My Uncle Phil passed away one year ago today, so to day I will feature St. Philip the Apostle in his memory.

According to the New Testament, Philip was one of Jesus' twelve Apostles. He was from Bethsaida in Galilee and is connected in the Gospel with Peter and Andrew who were from the same town. He was the one who introduced Nathanael to Jesus.

Philip the Apostle is often confused with Philip the Evangelist who (in the Acts of the Apostles) was appointed with Stephen to oversee the charitable contributions and was the one who witnessed to the Ethiopian eunuch on the road from Jerusalem. They are clearly not the same person in scripture, but this confusion has resulted in later traditions of Philip's life to be confused.

Church tradition is that Philip was sent with his sister, Mariamne, and Bartholomew to preach in Greece, Phrygia and Syria. He was martyred in the city of Hierapolis about the year 80. For some reason, he is another patron of pastry chefs. His Feast day is celebrated on May 3, in the General Roman Calendar -- the Eastern Orthodox celebrate on November 14 and the Anglicans and Lutherans on May 1.