Bartholomew (1st century), apostle. He was thus named by the Synoptic Gospels (the name means ‘son of Tolmai’), but the Fourth Gospel speaks of Nathanael, not Bartholomew. The two are generally identified by present-day biblical scholars. Nothing is known for certain about the place of his apostolate or even of his death. Pantenus of Alexandria is said by Eusebius to have found in ‘India’ during the second half of the 2nd century a Gospel of St. Matthew, written in Hebrew and left behind by Bartholomew. The Roman Martyrology attributes to him an apostolate in India and Armenia, where he was said to have been flayed alive before being beheaded, the place being traditionally Derbend, on the Caspian sea.
His relics were claimed to have been translated first to the island of Lipara, then to Beneventum, and lastly to Rome, where the church of St. Bartholomew on the Tiber still claims them. A supposed arm of St. Bartholomew was given to Canterbury in the 11th century by Cnut's wife, Queen Emma. This was regarded as a sensational acquisition, and no doubt contributed to the diffusion of the cult in England, as did his appearance in the Life of Guthlac by Felix. No fewer than 165 ancient churches were dedicated to him in England, including Crowland abbey. The method of his martyrdom appealed to the imagination of artists; his most usual emblem is the flaying-knife. By association with his own fate, he is regarded as the patron saint of tanners and all who work at skins. Feast: 24 August (Epternach and Cambrai 25 August; Persia 13 June).
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- AA.SS. Aug. V (1741), 7–108; B.L.S., viii. 232–3; G. F. Warner, The Guthlac Roll (Roxburghe Club 1928); see also E. Mâle, Rome et ses vieilles églises (1942), and Réau, iii. 180–4
