Bartholomew the Apostle

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"Bartholomew" redirects here. For other uses, see Bartholomew (disambiguation).
Saint Bartholomew the Apostle
Sts-john-and-bartholomew-with-donor-dosso-dossi.jpg
Saint John and Saint Bartholomew (right) by Dosso Dossi, 1527
Apostle and martyr
Born 1st century AD
Cana, Judaea, Roman Empire
Died 1st century AD
Unknown.
Venerated in Assyrian Church of the East
Roman Catholic Church
Maronite Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Oriental Orthodoxy
Anglican Communion
Lutheran Church
Islam (named in Muslim exegesis as one of the disciples)
Major shrine Saint Bartholomew Monastery in historical Armenia, Relics at Saint Bartholomew-on-the-Tiber Church, Rome, the Canterbury Cathedral, the Cathedral in Frankfurt, and the San Bartolomeo Cathedral in Lipari
Feast August 24 (Western Christianity)
June 11 (Eastern Christianity)
Attributes Knife and his flayed skin
Patronage Armenia; bookbinders; butchers; Florentine cheese and salt merchants; Gambatesa, Italy; Catbalogan, Samar; Għargħur, Malta; leather workers; neurological diseases; plasterers; shoemakers; curriers; tanners; trappers; twitching; whiteners ; Los Cerricos (Spain)

Bartholomew (Greek: Βαρθολομαῖος Bartholomaíos, Latin: Bartholomaeus) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He has been identified with Nathanael (alternatively spelled Nathaniel),[1] who appears in the Gospel according to John as being introduced to Christ by Philip (who would also become an apostle),[Jn 1:43-51] although most modern commentators reject the identification of Nathanael with Bartholomew.[2]

According to the Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church, his martyrdom is commemorated on the 1st day of the Coptic Calendar (1st day of the month of "Thout"), which currently falls on September 11 (corresponding to August 29 in the Gregorian Calendar). His feast is June 11 in Eastern Christianity and August 24 in the Anglican Communion and both forms of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.

Bartholomew (Greek: Βαρθολομαῖος, transliterated "Bartholomaios") comes from the Aramaic bar-Tôlmay (בר-תולמי), meaning son of Talmai[3] or son of the furrows (perhaps a ploughman). Bartholomew was born at Cana of Galilee[4] and is listed among the Twelve Apostles of Jesus in the three Synoptic gospels: Matthew,[10:1–4] Mark,[3:13–19] and Luke,[6:12–16] and also appears as one of the witnesses of the Ascension[Acts 1:4,12,13]; on each occasion, however, he is named in the company of Philip. He is not mentioned by the name Bartholomew in the Gospel of John, nor are there any early acta,[5] the earliest being written by a pseudepigraphical writer who assumed the identity of Abdias of Babylon and to whom is attributed the Saint-Thierry Manuscript and Pseudo-Abdias Manuscripts.[6][7]

New Testament references

In the East, where Bartholomew's evangelical labours were expended, he was identified as Nathanael, in works by Abdisho bar Berika (often known as Ebedjesu in the West), the 14th century Nestorian metropolitan of Soba (city), and Elias, the bishop of Damascus.[8] Nathanael is mentioned only in the Gospel according to John. In the Synoptic gospels, Philip and Bartholomew are always mentioned together, while Nathanael is never mentioned; in John's gospel, on the other hand, Philip and Nathanael are similarly mentioned together. Giuseppe Simone Assemani specifically remarks, "the Chaldeans confound Bartholomew with Nathaniel".[9] Some Biblical scholars reject this identification, however.[10]

Tradition

Eusebius of Caesarea's Ecclesiastical History (5:10) 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.[11] Popular traditions and legends say that Bartholomew preached the Gospel in India, then went to Greater Armenia.[3]

Mission to India

Two ancient testimonies exist about the mission of Saint Bartholomew in India. These are of Eusebius of Caesarea (early 4th century) and of Saint Jerome (late 4th century). Both these refer to this tradition while speaking of the reported visit of Pantaenus to India in the 2nd century.[12] The studies of Fr A.C. Perumalil SJ and Moraes hold that the Bombay region on the Konkan coast, a region which may have been known as the ancient city Kalyan, was the field of Saint Bartholomew's missionary activities.[12]

In Armenia

Saint Bartholomew Monastery at the site of the Apostle's martyrdom in historical Armenia

Along with his fellow apostle Jude Thaddeus, 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.

He is said to have been martyred in Albanopolis in Armenia. According to one account, he was beheaded, but a more popular tradition holds that he was flayed alive and crucified, head downward. He is said to have converted Polymius, the king of Armenia, to Christianity. Astyages, Polymius' brother, consequently ordered Bartholomew's execution.[13]

The 13th century Saint Bartholomew Monastery was a prominent Armenian monastery constructed at the site of the martyrdom of Apostle Bartholomew in the Vaspurakan Province of Greater Armenia (now in southeastern Turkey).[14]

Bartholomew's relics

The 6th-century writer in Constantinople, Theodorus Lector, averred that in about 507 Emperor Anastasius gave the body of Bartholomew to the city of Dura-Europos, which he had recently re-founded.[15] The existence of relics at Lipari, a small island off the coast of Sicily, in the part of Italy controlled from Constantinople, was explained by Gregory of Tours[16] by his body having miraculously washed up there: a large piece of his skin and many bones that were kept in the Cathedral of St Bartholomew the Apostle, Lipari, were translated to Beneventum in 803, and to Rome in 983 by Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, conserved at the basilica of San Bartolomeo all'Isola. In time, the church there inherited an old pagan medical centre. This association with medicine in course of time caused Bartholomew's name to become associated with medicine and hospitals.[17] Some of Bartholomew's skull was transferred to the Frankfurt Cathedral, while an arm was venerated in Canterbury Cathedral.

Miracles

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The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew

Of the many miracles performed by Bartholomew before and after his death, two very popular ones are known by the townsfolk of the small island of Lipari.

The people of Lipari celebrated his feast day annually. The tradition of the people was to take the solid silver and gold statue from inside the Cathedral of St Bartholomew and carry it through the town. On one occasion, when taking the statue down the hill towards the town, it suddenly became very heavy and had to be set down. When the men carrying the statue regained their strength, they lifted it a second time. After another few seconds, it got even heavier. They set it down and attempted once more to pick it up. They managed to lift it but had to put it down one last time. Within seconds, walls further downhill collapsed. If the statue had been able to be lifted, all the towns people would have been killed.

During World War II, the Fascist regime looked for ways to finance their activities. The order was given to take the silver statue of St Bartholomew and melt it down. The statue was weighed, and it was found to be only a few grams. It was returned to its place in the Cathedral of Lipari. In reality, the statue is made from many kilograms of silver and it is considered a miracle that it was not melted down.

St Bartholomew is credited with many other miracles having to do with the weight of objects.

In Islamic literature

The Qur'an also mentions Jesus's disciples but does not give their names, referring to them as "helpers to the work of God".[18] Muslim exegesis and Qur'an commentary, however, names them and includes Bartholomew amongst the disciples.[19]

Art and literature

Christian tradition has three stories about Bartholomew's death: "One speaks of his being kidnapped, beaten unconscious, and cast into the sea to drown. Another account states that he was crucified upside down, and another says that he was skinned alive and beheaded in Albac or Albanopolis",[20] near Başkale, Turkey.

The account of Bartholomew being skinned alive is the most represented in works of art, and consequently Bartholomew is often shown with a large knife, holding his own skin (as in Michelangelo's Last Judgment), or both. In Avezzano, in Abruzzo the image of the Saint who is holding his own skin has become the symbol of the city. Archaeological research has shown that the cult of Saint Bartholomew began in Avezzano, because the previous presence of a temple dedicated to Heracles, which is always represented in the act of holding the skin of the Nemean Lion. There is, therefore, a solid relationship between the two iconographies and the re-semantization of the symbols Heracles/Physical Strength/Hero and Bartholomew/Power of Faith/Hero-Martyr.[21] Bartholomew is also the patron saint of tanners.

Bartholomew plays a part in Francis Bacon's Utopian tale New Atlantis, about a mythical isolated land, Bensalem, populated by a people dedicated to reason and natural philosophy. Some twenty years after the ascension of Christ the people of Bensalem found an ark floating off their shore. The ark contained a letter as well as the books of the Old and New Testaments. The letter was from Bartholomew the Apostle and declared that an angel told him to set the ark and its contents afloat. Thus the scientists of Bensalem received the revelation of the Word of God.[22]

In recent days especially, depictions of the saint have found daunting new forms, such as Damien Hirst's bronze statue (2006)[23] or the large-scale painting by Aris Kalaizis, created in confrontation with the relic and the depictions of St. Bartholomew at Frankfurt Cathedral.

Culture

The festival in August has been a traditional occasion for markets and fairs, such as the Bartholomew Fair held in Smithfield, London since the Middle Ages,[24] which served as the scene for Ben Jonson's homonymous comedy.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Smith, D. Moody. Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: John. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999. ISBN 0687058120
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Butler, Alban and Burns, Paul. "St. Bartholomew", Butler's Lives of the Saints: August, A&C Black, 1998, ISBN 9780860122579
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ William Smith and Samuel Cheetham, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (1875) noted the "absence of any great amount of early trustworthy tradition."
  6. ↑ These Acta were published by Johann Albert Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus Novi Testimenti i. 341ff.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Both noted, Ebedjesu as "Ebedjesu Sobiensis", in Smith and Cheetham, who give their source, Giuseppe Simone Assemani Bibliotheca Orientalis iii.i. pp. 30ff.
  9. ↑ Bartholomaeum cum Nathaniel confundunt Chaldaei Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, iii, pt 2, p. 5 (noted by Smith and Cheetham).
  10. ↑ John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew Volume 3, Doubleday, 2001. pp. 199–200. ISBN 0-385-46993-4; for the identification see Benedict XVI, Udienza generale 4 October 2006.
  11. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica, Micropædia. vol. 1, p. 924. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1998. ISBN 0-85229-633-9.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Noted in Smith and Cheetham.
  16. ↑ Gregory, De Gloria Martyrum, i.33.
  17. ↑ Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-14-051312-4.
  18. ↑ Qur'an 3:49–53
  19. ↑ Historical Dictionary of Prophets In Islam And Judaism, Brandon M. Wheeler, Disciples of Christ: "Muslim exegesis identifies the disciples as Peter, Andrew, Matthew, Thomas, Philip, John, James, Bartholomew, and Simon"
  20. ↑ D. A. Teunis. Satan's Secret: Exposing the Master of Deception and the Father of Lies. AuthorHouse, 2003. ISBN 978-1-4107-3580-5. Page 306
  21. ↑ Thomas Frederick Crane, Marco Lazzarotti, Ed. Tales From Italy: When Christianity Met Italy, M&J, 2014. ISBN 9791195174942. Page 5
  22. ↑ Text at Project Gutenberg
  23. ↑ Saint Bartholomew, Exquisit Pain.
  24. ↑ Cavendish, Richard. "London’s Last Bartholomew Fair", History Today, Vol.55, Issue 9, 2005

Sources

  • Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897.
  • Encyclopedia Anglicana, 1911
  • Dictionary of First Names, Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges. Oxford University Press, 1996
  • Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-14-051312-4.
  • The Apostles in India by Fr. A.C. Perumalil, SJ, 1952

External links

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