Paul of Tarsus, also called Saint Paul, the Apostle, is considered the second major figure in the history of Christianity. The letters he wrote to the new christian communities he founded during his trips to Gentile (non-Jewish) people compound a great part of the New Testament, and have had enormous influence on Christianity.
Saul of Tarsus was born of Jewish parents before 10 of the common era in Tarsus [Cilicia – now Turkey]— and died after 63 in Rome [Italy]). He was a prominent jew and as a member of the Pharisees he spent much of the first half of his life persecuting the nascent Christian movement until he was converted to faith in Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus when he had a vision that changed his life: Paul saw the Lord, or according to Acts of the Apostles, a blinding bright light which convinced him that God had indeed chosen Jesus to be the promised messiah.