St. Bartholomew

The identify of the Apostle St. Bartholomew is included among the many lists of the Twelve Apostles, however apart from this, there’s no point out of him within the New Testament. Many students really feel he is similar man as Nathaniel, whom St. John’s Gospel has Jesus describing as “an Israelite in whom there is no such thing as a guile” (Jn 1:45).

Bartholomew initially doubted the potential for the Messiah coming from Nazareth, however upon assembly Jesus he instantly declared Him to be “the Son of God and the King of Israel” (Jn 1:49). Early Church legends describe Bartholomew as having preached the gospel in India and Armenia, the place he supposedly suffered martyrdom by being flayed alive; the historic worth of those legends is open to query.

St. Bartholomew is in a way the “unknown Apostle,” and for that reason, he can function a patron saint for nearly all of us. Most of us won’t ever develop into well-known or essential within the eyes of the world, however this issues little; all of us are completely identified, and infinitely essential, within the eyes of God. The easy, on a regular basis lives we lead can, if we provide them to God, develop into methods of serving to result in His Kingdom. St. Bartholomew isn’t as nicely generally known as Peter, John, Thomas, or among the different Apostles; what issues is that he responded wholeheartedly to God’s name.

“The Apostles have been the nucleus of the Church, the brand new Israel, the primary seen manifestation of Christ’s Mystical Body.”

— Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, The World’s First Love

In what a method can I comply with the apostles at the moment and be a “seen manifestation of Christ’s Mystical Body?”

Other Saints We Remember Today

• Our Lady, Health of the Sick

picture: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0, through Wikimedia Commons