St. Paul’s conversion may not have looked like that

Today, the Church marks the Conversion of St. Paul, a memorable event in the Acts of the Apostles that was immortalized by the artist Caravaggio hundreds of years ago in the painting shown above.

The moment in scripture is described here:

Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord,
went to the high priest and asked him
for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that,
if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way,
he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.
On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus,
a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying 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.”
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless,
for they heard the voice but could see no one.
Saul got up from the ground,
but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing;
so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.
For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.

What isn’t mentioned, of course, is something most people take for granted in this episode: the horse. It’s widely thought that Paul must have fallen “from his high horse” during the journey. But there’s nothing in scripture to support that idea. No horse is ever mentioned.

Once in a great while, you will find someone offering an alternative depiction—without Paul’s four-legged companion. Visitors to Florida, for example, can encounter this sculpture below, from Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine in Orlando:

[img attachment=”135927″ align=”aligncenter” size=”full” alt=”47a5da04b3127cce98548743cb8b00000030108iaowlry1cm” /]

Clearly, what matters isn’t how Paul fell—or from where. What matters is simply that it happened, “Saul got up from the ground”—and after that, nothing was quite the same.

Photo: Deacon Greg Kandra