Born Saul of Tarsus, he was a zealous persecutor of early Christians until a vision of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus transformed him into the Church's most influential missionary. Known as the Apostle to the Gentiles, his epistles form a large part of the New Testament. Scripture records two visits to what is now Lebanon: he spent a week with the Christian community in Tyre on his final missionary journey, and later, as a prisoner en route to Rome, his ship stopped at Sidon, where he was permitted ashore to be cared for by local believers. He was martyred in Rome under Emperor Nero.