A “FORGOTTEN” APOSTLE

A “FORGOTTEN” APOSTLE

    This week we celebrate the Feast of St Bartholomew the Apostle.  We know the names and activities of many others of the Twelve—Peter, James & John, Andrew & Philip, Thomas…  but it seems that Bartholomew is rather on the outside.  I want to fill in some of the gaps in various ways (Scriptural, artistic, current).
    It seems that the Evangelists were willing to conflate (or come to understand) that Bartholomew is the same person as Nathaniel from John 1.  It’s a default position based on the names in the rosters of the Twelve presented in the Gospels and Acts.  If this is the case, we have here a man from Cana in Galilee (see John 21:2; perhaps the reason Jesus and the Twelve were invited to the famous wedding?).  But after his encounter with Jesus (John 1), Nathaniel/Bartholomew makes the most incredible confession of the person of Jesus: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (1:49).  Not a bad start to the Gospel or to his discipleship!
    After that, we know nothing about Bartholomew from the Scriptures, but the tradition tells us that he died a martyr’s death by being skinned alive.  This is not out of the realm of possibility—just read up on the torturous death the English designed for traitors—hanging, drawing, and quartering.  But it has led to some famous depictions in art, most especially that of Michelangelo in the “Last Judgment” fresco in the Sistine Chapel.  There, after Michelangelo was criticized by another artist (a certain Pietro Arentino) for his work, calling it obscene, he re-pained his own face into that of Bartholomew to indicate how much he was also persecuted.  This same image (his characteristic iconography) is found in the statue in the nave of St John Lateran in Rome (the official cathedral of the pope).  A shocking statue of this can be seen in the Duomo of Milan (created by Marco d’Agrate in 1562).  A pretty disgusting fact is that because of this form of martyrdom, Bartholomew is the patron saint of tanners, glove-makers, butchers, and leatherworkers, among others!
    Today there is a “kinder, gentler” Bartholomew, at least in Rome.  On one end of Tiber Island is a hospital (an ancient one) dedicated to him, and at the other end a church with his reputed relics.  This church is the “titular” church of Cardinal Blasé Cupich of Chicago (this preserves the fiction that “local clergy” elect the new Bishop of Rome since every cardinal is technically in charge of a given Roman church (Cardinal Newman, for example, was in charge [the titular head] of San Georgio in Velabro—look it up!).  It houses a wonderful exhibit of modern-day martyrs.
    It is also the spiritual headquarters of the Communità di Sant’ Egidio—a wonderful post-Vatican II community of lay folk dedicated to communal prayer and service to the poor.  I worked with them once a week for a year while in seminary in Rome, feeding refugees and street people (they fed over 1,000 folks 5 nights a week).  I served, cleaned up, and then joined the community for their night prayers.

    This is our inspiration this coming Wednesday, 24 August. 
                                                            
                                                                                                    -Fr David