Saint Mark

The Gospel According to Mark was written by St Mark the Evangelist, who was known to be one of the 70 disciples of Jesus Christ. He played a significant role in the early Christian movement alongside his mother, Mary, who hosted Christian meetings in her home. St Mark is also mentioned in Acts for his journey with St Paul and St Barnabas, where they spread the Word through Cyprus and Rome. 

We first read of Mark when Paul and Barnabas took him to Antioch in the year 46 and then on the first apostolic journey to Cyprus. Around AD 60, Mark was in Rome with Paul, preparing to return to the Churches of Asia Minor, where he had become well known in the interim through his apostolic labors. He also evangelized the Aquileia region at the Adriatic's northern extremity. The inhabitants of Aquileia fled some 400 years later at Attila's approach and founded the famous lagoon city of Venice. Mark is the patron saint of Venice, his body having been stolen from Alexandria, Egypt, by Venetian soldiers in 815. In Venice, it has rested under the high altar of the magnificent basilica named after him. 

It is believed that after departing from Aquileia, Mark traveled to Egypt and established the Diocese of Alexandria. In 61, Paul wrote to Timothy at Ephesus, asking him to bring Mark with him to Rome, and it was while Mark was in the Eternal City that he wrote his vivid Gospel account, which is a faithful record of the oral teaching of St Peter, for whom he acted as secretary and interpreter. An ancient tradition claims that this second Gospel was originally written in Greek at the request of the Roman Christians. When Mark returned to Alexandria, the pagans of the city resented his efforts to turn the Alexandrians away from worshipping their traditional gods. In AD 68, they placed a rope around his neck and dragged him through the streets until he died. St. Mark is the patron of notaries and is invoked against lightning and hail. 

St Mark, intercede for us to receive the grace to benefit from your teachings and walk steadfastly in the footsteps of Christ, ardently spreading the Good News.

Prepared and updated by:

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,

Penampang, Sabah Malaysia.