St Mark was born three years after the Birth of Our Lord and of Jewish parents, Mary and Aristopolos. His actual name was John Mark.

From the Acts, we can see that his house was used as a Church, thus meaning that he and his mother must have converted.

Although he was a disciple, he had lost his faith in Christ. During his “exile” from the Church, Peter found him, and reconciled him with the rest of the Apostles and Disciples and Mark helped them with their preaching.

Mark then followed Peter to Rome and began helping Peter + Paul build up the Holy Roman Church.

Mark wrote down Peter’s homilies and sermons. These then became the Gospel of St Mark. He wrote his Gospel because the faithful in Rome asked for copies of Peter’s homilies which were in Greek.

He was then sent to Alexandria in 49 AD, to convert the Egyptians and the people of Roman Africa. Thus, Mark was the first to preach the Holy Religion to Africa. He created the liturgy for the Church in Alexandria, which still survives to this day.

He labored hard for the Work of Christ in a land that was steeped in idol worship and the profanation of all things sacred. Four years after the death of Peter, Mark was martyred by the pagans, who detested his preaching, bound him to a horse by the neck, and dragged him through the streets of the city until he was dead.

St. Mark’s symbol is a winged lion. This is believed to be derived from his description of St. John the Baptist, as “a voice of one crying out in the desert”. The wings come from Ezekiel’s vision of four winged creatures as the evangelists.

His is the patron saint of interpreters, lawyers, lions, notaries, opticians, painters, pharmacists, prisoners, and secretaries.

His feast day is April 25.

For God’s Glory.