Priscilla & Aquila

Priscilla and Aquila are the most prominent married couple in the New Testament — tentmakers by trade, missionaries by calling, and hosts of house churches in at least three different cities. They first appear in Acts 18, having been expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius' edict against the Jews. Paul met them in Corinth, and because they shared the same craft, he stayed and worked with them. This partnership of labour and faith would become one of the most fruitful in the early Church.

What is remarkable about Priscilla and Aquila is that they are always mentioned together — and in four of six references, Priscilla's name comes first, an unusual ordering in the ancient world that suggests she may have been the more prominent teacher or the one from a higher social class. Their most significant act of ministry was taking aside the eloquent Apollos — a powerful preacher who knew only the baptism of John — and privately explaining to him "the Way of God more accurately" (Acts 18:26). They corrected a gifted leader with such grace that Apollos went on to become one of the most effective evangelists in the early Church.

Paul called them his "fellow workers in Christ Jesus" and revealed that they had "risked their necks" for his life — a reference to some unknown act of personal sacrifice. Their home served as a church in Ephesus, in Rome, and possibly in Corinth. In Catholic tradition, Priscilla and Aquila are the patron saints of married couples in ministry. They demonstrate that marriage itself can be a form of mission, that hospitality is a powerful ministry, and that the quiet work of mentoring and correction can change the course of the Church.