Paul is sometimes criticized for his beliefs on marriage and on the role of women. At times it appears as if Paul belittles marriage and suggest that it should be avoided all together.
There is much debate about Paul's marital status. We know that he was not married at the time he wrote this letter to the Corinthians. ("Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am.") But there is an argument to be made that he had been married at one time, although the bible does not directly say anything about his previous marital status.
Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin and it was required that members be married. The belief was that married men were more merciful. (Paul himself says that he voted against Christians in Act 26:10). Paul was also a Jewish Rabbi and orthodox Jewish belief at the time would have required marriage. It would have been very unlikely that a devout and orthodox Jew as Paul was would have remained unmarried.
So what happened to Paul's wife? Again the bible doesn't say. It's possible that she had died, and that Paul chose to remain a widow. Another possibility is that she left him. Sometimes families didn't take well to the new ideas of Christianity. Paul did say that he gave up all things for the sake of Christ.
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