Meet 12 human beings like us—who became the Church’s founding Saints

These “ignorant” Twelve, along with St. Paul, overturned the pagan world by preaching Christ Crucified—and within 50 years, not only was Christian doctrine preached and embraced all over the world, but the very emperor of Rome had declared himself a follower of the lowly Nazarene. A glimpse at author Fr. F.J. Muller’s portraits—and somewhere in them you may find someone you know.

• Peter: a man of ardent disposition and action rather than of painstaking thought, the sort that all great active enterprises need to build themselves. Even when blundering, Peter’s warm heart and ardent love for Christ are his excuse.
  
  
• James was one of the strong, silent men who do so much of the world’s great work and get little credit in the shape of popular acclaim for so doing.
  
  
• John: thorough, complete, noble—and a Son of Thunder
  
  
• Andrew, though not himself the leader of the Apostles, was the first of the Apostles to hear the call and answer it.
  
  
• Even after Pentecost, Philip was no flaming torch of enthusiasm. He remained true to his innate character—prosaic, plodding, methodical, practical—but with a soul aflame with personal love for Christ: a noble purpose that might influence and elevate his character, but not change it radically.
  
  
• Matthew, the man who had begun as a collector of Roman taxes in Galilee, ended as a preacher of the universal kingdom of Christ among men.
  
  
• To Nathaniel it is given to reach the heights of faith and brashly proclaim it.
  
  
• Thomas saw and instantly believed…and brought the Faith to a subcontinent which now contains a quarter of the world’s population
  
  
• Simon the Zealot represents the militant patriot in the Apostolic College.
  
  
• James the Lesser’s austerity was remarkable: tradition says that he prayed so much that his knees looked just like a camel’s.
  
  
• The deep fraternal love and of chivalrous devotion in Jude Thaddeus’s adherence to our Saviour
  
  
• Judas: hypocrite, liar, thief
  
  
• The force of St. Paul’s will directed the power of a mind seldom equaled among men in power and brilliancy, so that when he appeared on the scene of action—and it usually became a scene of action no matter what it had been before — men took notice and listened and usually obeyed.