PRISCILLA AND AQUILA

Sts. Matthew & Mark, Barrington, R. I.

Friday, July 10, 2026

(tr. from July 8)

 

According to the Acts of the Apostles, Aquila and his wife Priscilla were Jewish Christians living in Rome. During the reign of the emperor Claudius (41-54), the Jews were banished from Rome, so Aquila and his wife left and settled in Corinth. A short while later, the Apostle Paul arrived from Athens preaching the Gospel. Having made the acquaintance of Aquila, Paul began to live at his house and labored together with him, making tents. 

Aquila and Priscilla became Paul’s devoted disciples. They accompanied him to Ephesus, and remained there while he went to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. At Ephesus, Aquila and Priscilla heard the preaching of a newcomer from Alexandria named Apollos. While he had been instructed in the fundamentals of the Faith, he knew only the baptism of John; so they took him aside and explained the faith to him more fully.

 

After Claudius's death, the Jews were permitted to return to Italy, and Aquila and Priscilla returned to Rome. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans, “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I but also all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks; greet also the church in their house.

In these early days, before there were separate church buildings consecrated for worship, the local Christian community would meet in the homes of its members; and these words suggest that Priscilla and Aquila hosted one of these house churches. In Rome today, you can see the Church of Saint Prisca on the Aventine Hill, built in the fourth or fifth century over the dwelling traditionally identified as their home.

 

According to tradition, Paul made Aquila a bishop in Asia. Priscilla accompanied him and assisted him in his apostolic work, and they eventually died together as martyrs.

 

In recent years, Priscilla and Aquila have been held up as a model for Christian spouses. In his General Audience of Wednesday, February 7, 2007, Pope Benedict remarked, “We honor Aquila and Priscilla as models of conjugal life responsibly committed to the service of the entire Christian community. And we find in them the model of the Church, God's family for all times.”