Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Hail, Saintly Apostle and Martyr



Today we celebrate the feast of St. Bartholomew.   His name means "son of Tholmai;" this may, or may not, be his proper name.  St. Bartholomew is mentioned in the lists of apostles given in the three synoptic Gospels, and in Acts, but is not listed in St. John's Gospel.  St. John mentions Nathaniel instead, and many scholars believe Nathaniel and Bartholomew are the same man.  Nathaniel is a friend of Philip, who brought him to Jesus.  Whether the scholarly speculation is correct we cannot say for sure.

According to Eusebius, St. Bartholomew evangelized India.  Other traditions have him evangelizing Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and other places in the East.  Accounts of his martyrdom also vary.  Some have him beheaded, others flayed alive and crucified head downward.   In his great Sistine Chapel fresco "Last Judgment," Michelangelo depicts a flayed St. Bartholomew holding his own skin.

St. Bartholomew's relics are housed mainly in St. Bartholomew's on the Island Church, in the Tiber River in Rome.  Part of St. Bartholomew's skull is in the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew in Frankfurt, and an arm is in Canterbury Cathedral.

St. Bartholomew, apostle and martyr, pray for us. 

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