The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee celebrated the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul on Jan. 25.

In a Facebook post, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee highlighted the great apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus — a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. Excelling above others in zeal for the Jewish law and tradition, Saul became one of the fiercest persecutors of Christianity and was present for the martyrdom of Saint Stephen. 

“God had other plans for his life," the post read." Saul was traveling to Damascus, and he and his company were surrounded by a great light from heaven.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice speak to him."

"‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’  He said, ‘Who are you, sir?’  The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.  Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do’ (Acts 9:4-6,)” the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee continued in its post. 

Later, Paul traveled to Jerusalem to meet Jesus’ apostles and spent the rest of his life preaching and writing.

Among his writings, Paul wrote about his conversion on the road to Damascus in the Acts of the Apostles. He described seeing a blinding light when the Lord appeared to him, and then he was unable to see. A man named Ananias brought Paul into his house and baptized him, and Paul described something like scales falling out of his eyes, and then he was able to see again

This restoration of sight came from Paul’s obedience to Christ, the Facebook post states. At that time, he was baptized and proclaimed the truth of Jesus. Through this, Saul turned himself from an enemy of the church into an apostle to serve as a principal instrument in the spread of the gospel.

According to Brittanica, Paul is credited with writing 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament, although some of them were likely written by his followers.