Today is the feast of both St. Philip and St. James the Lesser. Read St. James’ story here. Their feast days are commemorated on the same day in honor of the church in Rome named after them, now called the Church of the Twelve Apostles.

St. Philip is listed as among the Twelve Apostles in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke—called “synoptic” because of their textual similarities, from the Greek meaning “seeing together”) and is one of the few disciples called by Jesus in the Gospel of John. Philip appears in several important passages in the Gospel of John.

The end of the first chapter of John’s Gospel relates Christ calling Philip, who is from Bethsaida, the same town north of the Sea of Galilee where Andrew and Peter are from. Philip, in turn, goes to Nathanael and tells him that Jesus from Nazareth is the Messiah. What good can come from Nazareth? asks Nathanael.

“Come and see,” responds Philip.

In the Feeding of the Five Thousand, Christ asks Philip how to obtain enough bread for all these people. The Evangelist says that Christ asked Philip this question to “test him” (Jn 6:6). Poor Philip seems not to pass the test, as he responds, “it would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bit!” (Jn 6:7)

Philip and Jesus have exchanges throughout the Gospel of John. Perhaps Philip’s prominence in this Gospel inspired other extra-canonical gospel writers. Several early-church texts such as the Letter from Peter to Philip and the Acts of Philip tell more about Philip’s life after Christ’s Ascension. These texts both paint him as a passionate missionary who spread Christ’s Gospel to Syria and Turkey.

Philip is shown with a cross in the paintings above by El Greco and to the right by Rubens because he is believed to have been crucified. But, during his crucifixion, he still preached from the cross, until his very last breath.

In 2011, a team of archeologists in Turkey reportedly found a tomb in an ancient church in the city of Hierapolis that many people have speculated to be the tomb of the Apostle Philip. Read more about that excavation here.

St. Philip, apostle and martyr, who invited friends and strangers to “come and see” Christ’s salvation—pray for us!