THE history of TIME'S cover portrait on this Easter issue is as touched with mystery as the life of the cover subject. This luminous, tempera-on-wood painting of St. Paul, one of the finest examples of early Italian Renaissance art, hangs in Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The experts do not agree on who the artist was; most attribute it to the 14th century school of Simone Martini in Siena. Yet the master himself was probably not the painter; most likely, it is the work of his brother-in-law and pupil, Lippo Memmi. Experts speculate that the painting was originally part of a magnificent altarpiece, with at least one other saintly companion, and they think they have found a good possibility: a remarkably similar painting of St. Peter, which now hangs in the Louvre in Paris (see cut).

Toportray the modern-day missionaries who appear in the color spread, TIME scouted some 250 missionaries at work from the frozen Arctic to the steaming Amazon jungle. Twelve photographers took part in the project, all of them professional save one : Father William Leising, an Oblate priest who pilots supplies to 26 mission posts in the Canadian northland, and who took the picture of the grotto 200 miles above the Arctic Circle.

In India, New Delhi Photographer T. S. Satyan and TIME Correspondent James Shepherd had to switch transportation 15 times in four days to reach the Quakers at Barpali. At one point, in the tiny town of Jharsaguda, stranded 100 miles short of their goal, they were rescued by a local TIME

Again this year, TIME offers its unique service to the readers who will be traveling abroad this summer. Subscribers to the U.S. and Canada editions who wish to receive their copies reader, a bazaar merchant who offered a ride in his private car.

After journeying deep into the Belgian Congo to photograph Dr. Carl K. Becker's hospital, Photographer Terence Spencer and TIME'S Rhodesian stringer Eric Robins were shocked when the publicity-shy Dr. Becker refused to allow any pictures. He finally relented on grounds that the world knows too little about the work of Christian missionaries. TIME'S team attempted to press on him a purely personal donation: their last remaining funds, 2,000 Congo francs, or about $40. Says Stringer Robins: "Dr. Becker put his hand on my shoulder and said kindly but firmly: 'No, please do not. We have liked having you here.' " while abroad should write for an Itinerary Form, which we must have back at least six weeks before departure. Write to: TIME Travel Service, 540 North Michigan Ave., Chicago 11, Ill.

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