Why is St. Paul shown with a sword?

[atzinger]

I will be giving a talk on an upcoming youth retreat and the theme will be “the spiritual battle.” It being the Year of St. Paul, I wanted to bring this into my talk as well. I assume that the sword St. Paul is typically shown with is some reference to the spiritual battle but I am not sure about this. Can you clarify?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

It’s an interesting idea that St. Paul, who speaks about putting on “the armor of God” (Eph. 6:11) might be portrayed with a sword to depict the spiritual battle to which Christians are called. However, the sword ordinarily represents St. Paul’s martyrdom, which tradition holds was done by beheading. Likewise, St. Peter is often shown with an upside-down cross, through which his martyrdom traditionally is believed to have been accomplished.