The Acts of St Philip

Traditionally today is the feast of St Philip and St James, although since the 1950s they have moved around the calendar in early May.

The Crucifixion of St Philip 

Filippino Lippi from 1487-1502 

Cappella Strozzi, Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Image: scuolaecclesiamater.org

Many more images of St Philip and St James can be found, with an Italian post at the same website, here

Here, from New Advent, are the texts of  The Acts of Philip  recording his missionary work as an Apostle and his eventual martyrdom- which includes acautionary story about the need to forgive and not curse our enemies.

SS Philip and James

Today would be in the novus ordo the feast of SS Philip and James, were it not a Sunday, and traditionally May 1st was their feast day until the creation by Pope Pius XII in the 1955 Missal of  the feast of St Joseph the Worker on that day. They are still observed in the Anglican and Lurtheran traditions on May 1st.

  The Holy Apostles Saint James and Saint Philip with episodes of their lives and martyrdoms

Spinello Aretino,circa 1399. 

Fresco, Chiesa di San Domenico, Arezzo.

Image:christchurchwindsor.ca 

There are biographies and accounts of the apocryphal writings about them in the online articles at Philip the Apostle and James the Less. The  latter article argues that James is not to be confused or conflated with James, "the Lord’s brother" or "the Just".

I have older posts about St Philip at Tomb of St Philip the Apostle and about the relic of his skull at St Philip the Apostle.

St Philip the Apostle

Since 1955 today, rather than May 1st, the traditional day from the sixth century, has been the feast of SS Philip and James the Apostles in the Catholic Church.

Their original cult and many of their relics and depictions, are Eastern rather than Western, although some relics of both have been in Rome since initial construction of the basilica dei Santi Apostoli in the pontificates of Pope Pelagius I (556-561) and Pope John III (561-574).

A portion of what is believed to be St Philip's skull is said to have been brought to Cyprus from Constantinople in 1204 very shortly after that city's capture in the Fourth Crusade. Here is a view of it on display in an eighteenth-century reliquary case in the monastery of the Holy Cross at Omodos in the Limassol prefecture:

The reliquary of St Philip

Image: John Dillon on Medieval religion discussion group

I posted about the discovery of St Philip's original tomb and shrine at Hierapolis in Tomb of St Philip the Apostle last August.

Tomb of St Philip the Apostle

There have been reports recently of the discovery of the tomb of St Philip the Apostle at the site of the ancient city of Hierapolis in south-west Turkey.

There is a link to an article by Francesco d'Andria, the chief archaeologist on this project, in the journal Biblical Archaeology Review which can be read here. From this the scale of the Martyrium can be appreciated, and one can form some idea of what the whole complex was like.

The remains of the Martyrium of St Philip at Hierapolis

Image: travelpod.com




The recently identified tomb of St Philip

Image: geneveith.com