SAINT

See also:

• BARTHOLOMEW, JOHN (1831-1893)
• SAINT BARTHOLOMEW

BARTHOLOMEW  , one of the twelve apostles, regarding whose early life we know nothing, unless in accordance with a widely-spread belief he is to be identified with Nathanael (q.v.) . If so, Bartholomew is probably a patronymic, the apostle's full name being Nathanael Bartolmai, i.e. the son of Tolmai . On the other hand, according to a Syrian tradition, Bartholomew's original name was Jesus, which he dropped owing to its being the name of the Master Himself . In the synoptic gospels Bartholomew is never mentioned except in the lists of the apostles, where his name always appears after Philip's . He is said to have gone, after the ascension of the Lord, on a missionary tour to India (then a very wide geographical designation) where, according to a story in Eusebius (H . E. v . 1o), he left behind him a copy of St Matthew's gospel . According to the traditional account he was flayed alive and then crucified with his head downwards, at Albanopolis in Armenia, or, according to Nicephorus, at Urbanopolis in Cilicia . In works of art he is generally represented with a large knife, the instrument of his martyrdom, .or, as in Michelangelo's " Last Judgment," with his own skin hanging over his arm . The festival of St Bartholomew is celebrated on the 24th of August . Ii Dr Nestle has drawn attention to the fact that in the Syriac translation of Eusebius' history the name Tolmai, i.e . Bartholomew, takes the place of Matthias, the apostle who was appointed in place of Judas (i .

12, cf. ii . 1, iii . 25 and 29) . If this

identification can be made out there would, in the list of apostles as finally constituted, be two men who bore the patronymic Bartholomew . See further Expository Times, ix. pp . 566 if . (1898) .