Saint Bartholomew

Saint Bartholomew
Michelangelo's The Last Judgment shows St Bartholomew holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin. The face of the skin is recognizable as Michelangelo's.
Gift of God (Nathaniel)
Venerated in	Armenian Apostolic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion
Major shrine	Relics at Saint Bartholomew-on-the-Tiber Church, Rome, the Canterbury Cathedral, cathedral in Frankfurt, and the San Bartolomeo Cathedral in Lipari.
Feast	August 24 (Western), June 11 (Orthodox)
Attributes	One of the Twelve Apostles. Probably a close friend of Saint Philip; his name is always mentioned in the Gospels in connection with him, and it was Philip brought Bartholomew to Jesus.
Patronage	Armenia; bookbinders; butchers; cobblers; Florentine cheese merchants; Florentine salt merchants; Gambatesa, Italy; leather workers; nervous diseases; neurological diseases; plasterers; shoemakers; tanners; trappers; twitching; whiteners

Bartholomew was one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is mentioned as the sixth apostle in the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14), and as the seventh in the Book of Acts (1:13). He also appears as one of the witnesses of the Ascension (Acts 1:4, 12, 13). In the Roman Catholic tradition he is known as the unfortunate saint who was skinned alive.

Bartholomew (Greek: Βαρθολομαίος, transliterated "Bartholomaios") comes from the Aramaic bar-Tôlmay (תולמי‎‎‎‎‎-בר‎‎), meaning son of Tolomai (Ptolemy) or son of the furrows (perhaps a ploughman). Many have, based on this meaning, assumed it was not a given name, but a family name.

Nathanael

The surnames Bartholomew and Nathanael, are generally considered to be synonymous or representative of the same person in the Bible, although this is not explicitly stated. The Catholic Almanac states the matter simply as "the apostle Bartholomew, whose full name was Nathanael Bartholomew."

In the Synoptic gospels, Philip and Bartholomew are always mentioned together, while Nathanael is never mentioned; in the gospel of John, on the other hand, Philip and Nathanael are similarly mentioned together, but nothing is said of Bartholomew.

In the Gospel of John (John 1:45-51), Nathanael is introduced as a friend of Philip and notes that he came "from Cana in Galilee," hence, many commentators have concluded that Bartholomew was the bridegroom at the wedding feast of Cana.

He is described as initially being skeptical about the Messiah coming from Nazareth, saying: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?", but nonetheless, follows Philip's invitation. Jesus immediately characterizes him as "an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit". Some scholars hold that Jesus' quote "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you", is based on Jewish figure of speech referring to studying the Torah. Nathanael recognizes Jesus as "the Son of God" and "the King of Israel". Nathanael reappears at the end of John's gospel (John 21:2) as one of the disciples to whom Jesus appeared at the Sea of Tiberias after the Resurrection.

Tradition

According to Syrian tradition, Bartholomew's original name was Jesus, which caused him to adopt another name.

Eusebius of Caesarea's Ecclesiastical History states that after the Ascension, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. Other traditions record him as serving as a missionary in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, and Lycaonia.

Along with his fellow Apostle Jude, Bartholomew is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century. Thus both saints are considered the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. There is also a local tradition that he was martyred at the site of the Maiden Tower in Baku, Azerbaijan, by being flayed alive and then crucified head down.

The feast of St. Bartholomew is celebrated on August 24 in the western Church and on June 11 in the Eastern churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church honours Saint Bartholomew, along with Saint Jude as their patron saint. The Coptic Church remembers him on January 1.

The Roman Martyrology says he preached in India and Greater Armenia. Tradition has the place as Abanopolis (in Armenia) on the west coast of the Caspian Sea and that he also preached in Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt. The apochryphal Gospel of Bartholomew which may be identical to either the Questions of Bartholomew, or the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (by Bartholomew), or neither, was condemned in the decree of Pseudo-Gelasius.

The manner of his death, said to have occurred at Albanopolis, is uncertain. According to some, he was beheaded, according to others, flayed alive and crucified, head downward, by order of King Astyages, for having converted his brother, Polymius, King of Armenia. On account of this latter legend, he is often represented in art (e.g. in Michelangelo's Last Judgment) as having been flayed and holding in his hand his own skin.

The Relics of Saint Bartholomew

After his martyrdom in (present day) Azerbaijan or Armenia, sometime in the 600's, Bartholomew's body is said to have been either washed away (or transported) to Lipari (a small island off the coast of Sicily). In 809, these same remains were moved from Lipari to Benevento. In 983, Holy Roman Emperor Otto II brought what had become "Bartholomew's relics" to Rome, to the isle of Tiber, (in the Tiber River) where they were at last housed in the church built in his name (at the basilica of San Bartolomeo all'Isola). In the course of time, the church there inherited an old pagan medical center. This directly led to Bartholomew's name becoming associated with medicine and hospitals.

A cult of Saint Bartholomew developed around his purported relics and was especially popular in southern Italy and England as they were variously divided and distributed far and wide. England received an acquisition of a relic in the eleventh century. One chronicler states that the arm was given as a present to St. Edward the Confessor from the bishop of Benevento, and that Edward then housed it, in a place of honor, in Canterbury Cathedral where it is still venerated to this day. Some of his skull was transferred to Frankfurt as late as 1238 and preserved in the Cathedral of Bartholomew.

Popular stories or (myths) surrounding the relics of his bodily remains have been told and retold for centuries. On the small island of Lipari where his remains reportedly first washed ashore, there is the recounting of the tale of his body being discovered off shore by the local Bishop of the time. It is said that this Bishop ordered a group of men to retrieve the body, but failed due to its surprising, extreme weight. He then sent out the town's children who, miraculously, easily brought the body ashore.

Art and Literature

File:Stbartholomewmilan.JPG

Statue of St. Bartholomew, with own skin, by Marco d'Agrate, placed in the Duomo di Milano in 1562.

In works of art he is often represented with a large knife, or, as in Michelangelo's Last Judgment, with his own skin hanging over his arm. Tradition holds that in Armenia he was flayed alive and then crucified upside down.

Saint Bartholomew plays a part in Francis Bacon's Utopian tale The New Atlantis and the August festival (or feast) of Saint Bartholomew serves as the scene for Bartholomew Fair, a play by Ben Jonson.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 978-0140513127.
• Hanks, Patrick, Hodges, Flavia and Hardcastle, Kate. Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0198610601.
• Hitchcock, Rev. Robert B. The Gnostic Gospel of Bartholomew. Lulu.com (January 19, 2007). ISBN 978-1430302995.

External links

• The Gospel of Bartholomew from The Gnostic Society Library.
• Catholic Encyclopedia; St. Bartholomew
• Webster's Online Dictionary
• The Martyrdom of the Holy and Glorious Apostle Bartholomew, attributed to Pseudo-Abdias, one of the minor Church Fathers
• St. Bartholomew's Connections in India
• St Bartholomew: Patron Saint of the Odrowaz Clan written and researched by Margaret Odrowaz-Sypniewska
• Saint of the Day; August 24, St. Bartholomew
• The Twelve Apostles of the Catholic Church; St. Bartholomew
• Catholic Almanac Online

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