Married Apostles

Clement, whose words we have just read, goes on after the passage above to list, for the sake of those who rejected marriage, the apostles who were known to have had wives. He says: “Or will they reject even the apostles? For Peter and Philip had children, and Philip also gave his daughters in marriage. And Paul does not hesitate in one of his letters to greet his own wife, whom he did not take about with him so as to be unencumbered in his service.” [a]

Since we have mentioned these things, it does no harm to add another story worth telling from the same author, which he wrote in the seventh book of his Miscellanies as follows: “They say, then, that when blessed Peter saw his own wife led away to death, he was glad for her calling and her return home, and he called out to her in words of warm encouragement and comfort, addressing her by name: ‘Remember the Lord, my dear!’ Such was the marriage of the blessed, and such their perfect affection toward those dearest to them.” Since this story belongs to the subject in hand, let it stand here in its proper place. [d]