Properly signifies a messenger or person sent by another upon some business.
1. It is particularly applied to them whom our Savior deputed to preach.
2. Apostle, in the Greek liturgy, is used for a book containing the epistles of St. Paul, printed in the order wherein they are to be read in churches through the course of the year.
3. The appellation was also given to the ordinary travelling ministers of the church, Romans 16:7 . Philippians 2:25 . though in our translation the last is rendered messenger.
4. It is likewise given to those persons who first planted the Christian faith in any place. Thus Dionysius of Corinth is called the Apostle of France, Xavier the Apostle of the Indies, &c.