St Mark the Evangelist, copyright 2013 by Corbert Gauthier
St Mark the Evangelist, a cousin of Barnabas, accompanied St. Paul on his first missionary journey and later went with him to Rome. He was a disciple of St. Peter whose teaching was the basis for Mark’s gospel. Mark is said to be the founder of the church of Alexandria [cf the Office of Readings, for the Feast of Mark, Evangelist (April 25), Liturgy of the Hours]. Some have speculated that he was the young man wrapped in a linen cloth in the Garden of Gethsemene, who left the cloth behind and ran away naked in Mark 14:51-52.
He is represented as a lion because of the words at the beginning of Mark’s gospel “A voice of one crying out in the desert” (Mark 1:3a). The lion can be found in the symbolism of Revelation, Ezekiel and elsewhere in Scripture. The lion also has symbolized Christ, the Resurrection, courage, fortitude, and kingliness. He is the patron saint of attorneys, barristers, captives, lions, notaries, prisoners, and Venice, among others.
Art for this post on St Mark the Evangelist: St Mark the Evangelist (shown with his traditional symbol; at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Steinauer, Nebraska, USA), copyright 2013 by Corbert Gauthier, all rights reserved, used with permission.
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Liz Estler
Liz holds a Master of Arts in Ministry Degree (St. John's Seminary, Brighton, Massachusetts), Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Theology (Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation), Liturgy Certificate (Boston Archdiocese), and a BS degree in Biology and Spanish (Nebraska Wesleyan University - Lincoln). She has served as hospital chaplain associate, sacristan, translator and in other parish ministries. She was a regular columnist for a military newspaper in Europe, has been published in a professional journal, and was Editor, SpiritualDirection.com from 2013 to 2018. She once waded in the Trevi Fountain!
