St. Mark the Evangelist

Their story

Mark wrote the shortest of the four Gospels, and most scholars believe it was the first to be written. The Acts of the Apostles mentions a John Mark whose mother's house in Jerusalem was a gathering place for the first Christians, and tradition identifies him with the evangelist. He was a cousin of Barnabas, and he went with Barnabas and St. Paul on their first missionary journey. Partway through that journey, Mark left them and went home. Paul was so disappointed that when Barnabas wanted to bring Mark on the next journey, Paul refused, and the two apostles parted ways. Barnabas took Mark with him to Cyprus. Yet the story did not end there. Years later Paul wrote from prison asking for Mark, because he was helpful in the ministry. Mark had been given a second chance and had grown into a faithful servant of the Gospel. Mark was also close to St. Peter, who called him "my son." According to early Christian writers, Mark wrote down Peter's preaching about Jesus in Rome, and that became his Gospel, full of vivid details and urgency. Tradition says Mark later founded the Church in Alexandria, Egypt, and died there as a martyr. In the ninth century his relics were brought to Venice, where the great Basilica of St. Mark was built. His symbol is a lion, because his Gospel begins with John the Baptist, a voice crying out in the wilderness.