Saint Bartholomew the Apostle
- RevShirleyMurphy
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
St. Bartholomew was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. St. Bartholomew is the patron saint of leatherworkers, bookbinders, plasterers, butchers, tanners, and shoemakers.
Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John (1:45–51; cf. 21:2)
In the New Testament, Bartholomew is mentioned only in the lists of the apostles. Some scholars identify him with Nathanael, a man of Cana in Galilee who was summoned to Jesus by Philip. Jesus paid him a great compliment: “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him” (John 1:47b). When Nathanael asked how Jesus knew him, Jesus said, “I saw you under the fig tree” (John 1:48b). Whatever amazing revelation this involved, it brought Nathanael to exclaim, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (John 1:49b). But Jesus countered with, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this” (John 1:50b).
Nathanael did see greater things. He was one of those to whom Jesus appeared on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias after his resurrection (see John 21:1-14). They had been fishing all night without success. In the morning, they saw someone standing on the shore though no one knew it was Jesus. He told them to cast their net again, and they made so great a catch that they could not haul the net in. Then John cried out to Peter, “It is the Lord.”
When they brought the boat to shore, they found a fire burning, with some fish laid on it and some bread. Jesus asked them to bring some of the fish they had caught and invited them to come and eat their meal. John relates that although they knew it was Jesus, none of the apostles presumed to inquire who he was. This, John notes, was the third time Jesus appeared to the apostles.
Saint Bartholomew the Apostle is primarily remembered for his martyrdom, one of the most brutal and terrifying among those suffered by the saintly martyrs and recorded in hagiography. He was captured by pagan priests while traveling to spread the Word of Christ in distant lands and was flayed alive by them. This particularly gruesome form of martyrdom inspired great artists of the past, as we shall see. But before his death, Bartholomew was a devoted and passionate follower of Jesus. He is celebrated on August 24 and is also the patron saint of Benevento, a city that houses his relics. Those suffering from skin diseases and dermatologists can also pray to Saint Bartholomew the Apostle.
Saint Bartholomew the Apostle was probably a fisherman, like most of the other apostles, and was very close friends with the Apostle Philip. It was Philip who suggested he meet Jesus and, after initial scepticism, Bartholomew embraced faith in Him with great enthusiasm and conviction. In the Synoptic Gospels, he is presented as one of Jesus’ closest disciples (Mark 3:18; Matthew 10:3; Luke 6:14), and in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:13), he appears with the other disciples witnessing Christ’s appearance after the resurrection while fishing on the Sea of Tiberias.
In the writings of Saint John (John 1:43-51; 21:2), we encounter him as Nathanael, native of Cana, meaning “gift of God.” The name Bartholomew, instead, would be a patronymic from Bar-Talmai, “son of Talmai the valiant.”
The first meeting with Jesus is recounted by Saint John. Jesus addresses him with these words: “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.” Bartholomew, astonished, asks how Jesus knows him, and Jesus reveals: “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” We do not know what Jesus was referring to, what happened under the fig tree, but from that moment Bartholomew recognized Him as the Son of God and King of Israel. A few days later, Bartholomew participated with Jesus and the other disciples at the wedding feast in Cana, witnessing the first miracle of Jesus.
There are also some apocryphal Gospels that tell how, as a child, Bartholomew fell ill and was saved by the intercession of the Virgin Mary, who placed him in bed with Jesus, causing his miraculous recovery.
After Pentecost, Saint Bartholomew the Apostle set out to preach the Good News. He likely travelled to Lycaonia, a region in Cappadocia, and then ventured into the Middle East and India. He was martyred in Armenia, in Albanopolis. Here the saint had exorcised some possessed individuals, healed the sick, and restored sight to the blind, asking in return for the destruction of idols and conversion to Christ. He managed to convert King Polymius and his wife, provoking the wrath of Astyages, the king’s brother, and the pagan priests. They captured him and flayed him alive. Only his eyes and tongue remained unscathed, and with them, the Apostle continued to proclaim faith in Jesus until he was beheaded by order of Astyages.
His name is often remembered today in connection with a terrible historical event that occurred in the 16th century: the St. Bartholomew‘s Day massacre. Between August 23 and 24, 1572, on the occasion of the wedding between Margaret of Valois, sister of Charles IX, King of France (a Catholic), and Henry of Bourbon, a prince of the Huguenot (Protestant) faction, French Catholics massacred thousands of Huguenot Christians.
The martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew inspired great artists over the centuries, precisely because of the brutality of its execution. A prime example is his depiction in the Last Judgment by Michelangelo Buonarroti, where he is portrayed holding a knife and his own flayed skin in his hand. Notably, the painter gave the flayed saint his own face. Another famous depiction of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle is the sculpture by Marco d’Agrate, a pupil of Leonardo, currently exhibited inside the Milan Cathedral. Here the martyr is depicted holding a Bible, his body devoid of skin, with his head hanging on his back. The anatomical precision of the figure makes this work particularly remarkable.
We have no precise information about Bartholomew-Nathanael's subsequent apostolic activity. According to information handed down by Eusebius, the fourth-century historian, a certain Pantaenus is supposed to have discovered traces of Bartholomew's presence even in India (cf. Hist. eccl. V, 10, 3).
In later tradition, as from the Middle Ages, the account of his death by flaying became very popular. Only think of the famous scene of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel in which Michelangelo painted St Bartholomew, who is holding his own skin in his left hand, on which the artist left his self-portrait.
St Bartholomew's relics are venerated here in Rome in the Church dedicated to him on the Tiber Island, where they are said to have been brought by the German Emperor Otto III in the year 983.
To conclude, we can say that despite the scarcity of information about him, St Bartholomew stands before us to tell us that attachment to Jesus can also be lived and witnessed to without performing sensational deeds. Jesus himself, to whom each one of us is called to dedicate his or her own life and death, is and remains extraordinary.
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