APOSTLE, one who is sent off or away from; one sent on some important mis sion; a messenger; a missionary. The name given, in the Christian Church, to the 12 men whom Jesus selected from His disciples as the best instructed in His doctrines, and the fittest instru ments for the propagation of his reli gion. Their names were as follows: Si mon Peter (Greek of Caiphas, the rock), and Andrew, his brother; James the greater, and John, his brother, who were sons of Zebedee; Philip of Bethsaida, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew; James, the son of Alpheus; commonly called James the less; Lebbeus, his brother, who was surnamed Thaddeus, and was called Judas, or Jude, Simon the Canaan ite, and Judas Iscariot. Of this num ber, Simon Peter, John, James the greater, and Andrew were fisher men; and Matthew, a publican or tax gatherer. When the apostles were re duced to 11 by the suicide of Judas, who had betrayed Christ, they chose Matthias by lot, on the proposition of St. Peter. Soon after, their number became 13, by the miraculous vocation of Saul, who, under the name of Paul, became one of the most zealous propagators of the Christian faith. The Bible gives the
name of apostle to Barnabas also, who accompanied Paul on his missions (Acts, xiv: 13), and Paul bestows it also on Andronicus and Junia, his relations and companions in prison. In a still wider sense, preachers who first taught Chris tianity in heathen countries, are some times termed apostles; e. g., St. Denis, the apostle of the Gauls; St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany; the monk Au gustine, the apostle of England; the Jesuit Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies; Adalbert of Prague, the apostle of Prussia proper. Paul was the only apostle who had received a scientific edu cation; the others were mechanics. Peter, Andrew, and John are called in the Scriptures (Acts iv: 13), hotnines sine literis idiots. Peter employed his dis ciple St. Mark in writing the Gospel which bears his name.