Today we celebrate the Festival of St. Mark, Evangelist. Author of the second Gospel, Mark was originally from Jerusalem, where his mother’s home served as the center of the Church in that city. Mark would accompany Paul and Barnabas from Jerusalem to Antioch and then from Antioch on Paul’s first missionary journey. Barnabas would then go on a second missionary journey with Mark to Cyprus. Tradition holds that Mark was instrumental in founding the Church in Alexandria, where he served as the first bishop and died a martyr’s death.