St.Bartholomew Apostle.

Patron: farmers, tailors, shepherds, vintners, tanners, bookbinders, butchers, miners, bakers, shoemakers, dealers in oil, cheese, and salt; Maastricht, Frankfurt and Pilsen; invoked against skin and nervous diseases

Attributes: head, baptism, skin, knife

CURRICULUM VITAE

He was born in Cana of Galilee and identified by Jesus as a true and guileless Israelite. He became an apostle and, after the sending of the Holy Spirit, preached the gospel in several places. The last was Armenia, where he was flayed and executed.

A TRUE ISRAEL IN WHICH IS NO DECEPTION

He came from Cana and was a friend of Philip, who brought him to Christ. The apostle John gives him the name Nathanael. Bar-Tolmai is a surname that translates as “son of Tolmai,” while Natanael means “God gave.”

Bartholomew and Philip lived in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah, therefore, after meeting Jesus, Philip looked for Bartholomew and said to him: “We have found the one about whom Moses in the Law and the prophets wrote, Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth.” Nathanael objected to him: “From Nazareth? What good can come from there?” Filip answers him: “Come and see for yourself!” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him: “Behold, a true Israelite in whom there is no guile.” Nathanael said to him: “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” (John 1:45-48)

At those words, Bartholomew recognized Jesus as the Son of God and the King of Israel, to which he also immediately confessed. Jesus confirmed his faith with the promise of more excellent proofs than the fact that he saw him under the fig tree.

Bartholomew became one of the twelve apostles, a witness and follower of Christ. After sending the Holy Spirit, he preached the gospel in several places. Historian Eusebius mentions his activities in India. Experts argue that this could mean Ethiopia and Arabia, often mentioned in connection with his gospel preaching. Indeed, India was referred to as “Happy Arabia.” According to tradition, he left an Aramaic copy of the Gospel of Matthew there.

St. Johannes Chrysostomus proves that ap. Bartholomew preached about Christ with great success on his apostolic journeys, and the heathen were astonished at the rapid change in the manners of those who believed. Purity, temperance, and other virtues are emphasized.

Somewhere it is stated that Bartholomew passed from Arabia to Phrygia, where he met ap. Philip and further visited Lycaonia. The oldest biographies agree on the place of his martyrdom, which became Armenia.

The legend tells of the miracle of Bartholomew’s prayer, which recovered the daughter of the Armenian king Polymers from possession. Bartholomew’s words convinced the king, his court, and his subjects to accept Christianity. However, the king’s obstinate brother Astyages had this apostle imprisoned and tortured, allegedly in Derbent, later Shirvan, on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

The skin was flayed from his body while he was alive, so the knife is his main attribute. Somewhere, there is talk of flying, and then he is said to have been crucified. His beheading is also mentioned somewhere, but cutting off the head of the crucified was not a custom.

His remains were transferred to Dura in Mesopotamia and then to Phrygia in Asia Minor in the 5th century. At the end of the next century, they were transported to the island of Lipari near Sicily and, in 809, to Benevento in southern Italy. In the end, they were the German emperor Otto III. They were transferred to Rome, where he had a church dedicated to St., built for them in 983 on the Tiber island. Bartholomew.

There was also some doubt whether the relics handed over to the emperor in Benevento were all genuine. Allegedly, the honest Bartholomew’s skull appeared in the 13th century. in Frankfurt am Main. Under Emperor Charles IV, the cathedral in Prague also acquired part of his remains.

RESOLUTION, PRAYER

Bartholomew’s confession followed a conversation in which he recognized that Jesus had loved him long before that. I can experience the same knowledge during inner prayer, ending with a confession like Bartholomew. However, I will also try so that Jesus can be satisfied with my life, which should be a testimony to others.

God, strengthen our faith so that we may be sincerely devoted to Your Son like St. Bartholomew, and through the intercession of this apostle, grant that Your Church may become a sign and instrument of salvation for all nations. Through Your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, for He lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and eve.