Paul's Mission
There are some interesting record about how Paul, namely St. Paul, decided a place to preach at and a path to take in his holy journey.
Act 16:4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.So, St. Paul was guided by the Holy Spirit which is conventionally interpreted as Christ Jesus.
Act 16:5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.
Act 16:6 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
Act 16:7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
Act 16:8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
The Holy Spirit helped St. Paul engaged in a holy mission. Devils must have been waiting for St. Paul to walk into a trap they installed at a certain place and on a certain path. But, Christ Jesus observed it to lead St. Paul and his companions out of potential danger. So then, did this holy protection continue to the end even after St. Paul was taken to Rome? Couldn't St. Paul succeed in escaping Nero's cruelty? Today, everybody says that he could not. But, I cannot help but wonder about it.
St. Paul's Tomb Unearthed in Rome
Maria Cristina Valsecchi in Vatican City
for National Geographic News
December 11, 2006
St. Paul's stone coffin has been found beneath Rome's second largest basilica, but its contents remain a mystery, Vatican archaeologists announced today.
The sarcophagus dates back to about A.D. 390 and was uncovered in Rome's Basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, named for its location beyond the ancient wall surrounding Rome's center...
According to later reports, in A.D. 65 Paul of Tarsus was imprisoned in Rome, beheaded, and then buried in the family tomb of a devout Roman noblewoman, Matrona Lucilla (Rome map, facts, photos, and more).
"Around A.D. 320 Emperor Constantine built a first small basilica to receive the pilgrims visiting Saint Paul's tomb," Filippi said.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061211-saint-paul_2.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/89093642.html)
The great holy mission of Christ Jesus was completed with His death and resurrection.
Compared with the impact His death and resurrection gives, other episodes rather look like warm-up acts. The death and resurrection of Christ Jesus is a so powerful incident. Then, St. Paul must have followed suit. Death and resurrection of St. Paul must have been a so powerful incident if not so comparable to Christ Jusus' St. Paul's death and possible resurrection must have left some great, if not so manifest outwardly, trace and impact in history. Or at least, the Vatican must have a complete memory of St. Paul's death and possible resurrection. That his tomb was found in 2006 is unthinkable. Or, a mystery and a key to addressing the mystery must consist in the historical fact that St. Paul's stone coffin was found and unearthed in 2006.
The Great Fire of Rome erupted on the night of 18 July to 19 July CE 64. The fire started at the southeastern end of the Circus Maximus in shops selling flammable goods...To deflect blame, Nero targeted Christians. He ordered Christians to be thrown to dogs, while others were crucified and burned...
In 65, Gaius Calpurnius Piso, a Roman statesman, organized a conspiracy against Nero...Nero's previous advisor, Seneca was ordered to commit suicide after admitting he discussed the plot with the conspirators...
The first text to suggest that Nero killed an apostle is the apocryphal Ascension of Isaiah, a Christian writing from the 2nd century. It says, the slayer of his mother, who himself this king, will persecute the plant which the Twelve Apostles of the Beloved have planted. Of the Twelve one will be delivered into his hands.
Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 275–339) was the first to write that Paul was beheaded in Rome during the reign of Nero.[187] He states that Nero's persecution led to Peter and Paul's deaths, but that Nero did not give any specific orders. Several other accounts have Paul surviving his two years in Rome and traveling to Hispania.
Peter is first said to have been crucified upside-down in Rome during Nero's reign (but not by Nero) in the apocryphal Acts of Peter (c. 200).[189]The account ends with Paul still alive and Nero abiding by God's command not to persecute any more Christians.
By the 4th century, a number of writers were stating that Nero killed Peter and Paul...So, around AD 65, Nero and Seneca were playing some major roles in Rome where St. Paul was faced with a possible fatal persecution. Something great must have happened, since the Holy Spirit must have guarded St. Paul's life. But could it be? That tomb?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero
My theory is that the Vatican made a big mistake. So, in a wider scope of history, Islam emerged and Columbus found America where new types of Christianity was to flourish, at least, in North America. So, the Vatican had made a big mistake before 1500 or 600 roughly speaking. And, I think it was around the 4th century or as early as around 300 as above references suggest.
Then, St. Paul must have survived his two years in Rome and traveled to Hispania. And symbolically, Columbus started to sail to America, eventually, 1400 years later. No matter what relationship between St. Paul and Columbus, the spirit of St. Paul is thought to have been brought to Americas with Columbus' adventure. In fact, Central and South Americas became dominions of Catholicism and North America a domain of the Protestant/Judaism complex.
But, there can be other scenario which is more spiritual and realistic in a sense.
The evidence is strongly in favor of Paul having visited Spain. However that alone would not have been sufficient to evangelize Spain to the extent we see at such an early date. There had to have been others that did the bulk of the the work. Who these were makes for interesting conjectures. Spain was very closely linked to Rome and maybe some of the converted Pretorium guards that were with Paul in Rome were sent to Spain where they testified to others.
http://johnsonspain.tripod.com/id69.htmlSo, then when some sort of great spirit left St. Paul into a converted Pretorium guard who was to travel to Spain, the story of St. Paul ended.
In 711, Muslims conquered the Iberian Peninsula. But Rome survived the long-term crisis after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Rome could be regarded as having been guarded by the spirits of St. Peter and St. Paul so strongly. But, Spain was not. So, St. Paul died in Rome. But how? An enigma still remains.
(In the extreme case of scenarios, when a Pretorium guard took over the Christian spirit St. Paul had or started to be guarded by the Holy Spirit that had been protecting St. Paul and traveled to Spain, St. Paul might have come back to himself. Namely, a man who had been persecuting Early Christians in Jerusalem and Damascus before he met the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Accordingly, he disappeared from the sight of Christians in Rome. Since then, only God knows where he had gone.)
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Luk 12:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.