Paul

On WordPress.com, sometimes people address me as Hibernia because I tend to keep myself hidden. Why? Well, I’m an introvert, and I go through phases of being extremely introverted. So, if I gave a lot of information about myself, I’d probably end up deleting my blog if I were going through one of my “extreme introvert” phases 😀. So, I decided not to show too much of myself when I started it.

I do actually tell all about my Christian faith, and you’d probably discover much more if you read all my posts. But who cares about me? I prefer to point people to Jesus.

But my name is actually Paul. Here are four of my favourite Pauls:

• The Apostle Paul
• Paul McCartney
• Paul Weller
• Paul Hewson (U2’s Bono)

I don’t know if the Apostle Paul recorded any singles 😀. But he wrote most of the New Testament epistles and he features prominently in the book of Acts. About 100 million Bibles are sold or distributed globally each year. So he’s doing quite well. Better than me 🤨.

Anyway, I try to be kind to the rival Pauls, so here are some of my favorites of their work.

The name Paul comes from the ancient Roman family name Paulus (or Paullus), which means “small” or “humble” in Latin. The name became widely known because of Paul the Apostle, originally named Saul, a Jewish Roman citizen who converted to Christianity and became one of its most influential missionaries. His prominence caused the name to spread rapidly among early Christians.

Variants of Paul in other languages include:

• Paolo — Italian
• Pablo — Spanish
• Pavel — Russian, Czech, Bulgarian
• Pavlo — Ukrainian
• Pavao — Croatian
• Paulius — Lithuanian
• Pavle — Serbian
• Boulos / Bolous — Arabic
• Pawlos — Ge’ez (Ethiopian liturgical language)
• Polos — Armenian
• Pól — Irish

And various cities, churches and cathedrals are named after the apostle Paul – or maybe after me – I dunno. Maybe I should ask them 😀.

Here are some examples:

• São Paulo — Brazil’s largest city, named after Saint Paul
• St. Paul, Minnesota — Capital of Minnesota, USA
• St. Paul, Alberta — Town in Canada
• San Pablo, Philippines — City in Laguna province
• Saint Paul Island (Nova Scotia) — Off the coast of Canada
• St. Paul’s Bay — Major resort area in Malta
• St. Paul’s Cathedral (London) — Iconic cathedral designed by Christopher Wren

I generally like to end my posts with hymns. I hugely admire the Apostle Paul, but I don’t pray to or worship saints. And even if I did, I don’t know of any hymns addressed to him. But here are a few of songs about Paul: