August 24th St. Bartholomew

[Denise]

In the New Testament, Bartholomew is mentioned only in the lists of the apostles. Some scholars identify him with Nathanael, a man of Cana in Galilee who was summoned to Jesus by Philip. Jesus paid him a great compliment: “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him” (John 1:47b). When Nathanael asked how Jesus knew him, Jesus said, “I saw you under the fig tree” (John 1:48b). Whatever amazing revelation this involved, it brought Nathanael to exclaim, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (John 1:49b). But Jesus countered with, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this” (John 1:50b).

Nathanael did see greater things. He was one of those to whom Jesus appeared on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias after his resurrection (see John 21:1-14). They had been fishing all night without success. In the morning, they saw someone standing on the shore though no one knew it was Jesus. He told them to cast their net again, and they made so great a catch that they could not haul the net in. Then John cried out to Peter, “It is the Lord.”

When they brought the boat to shore, they found a fire burning, with some fish laid on it and some bread. Jesus asked them to bring some of the fish they had caught, and invited them to come and eat their meal. John relates that although they knew it was Jesus, none of the apostles presumed to inquire who he was. This, John notes, was the third time Jesus appeared to the apostles.

Of all the apostles, Bartholomew suffered a particularly painful martyrdom. He was flayed, skinned alive, then beheaded.

“Nathanael said to him, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.’ Nathanael answered him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.'” – John 1:48-49

Catholic pious tradition holds he was martyred in Albanapolis by King Astyages for having converted King Polymius of Armenia to the Faith.

In Catholic art and literature, Bartholomew is the most prominent flayed martyr. In the 16th century, depictions of the flayed apostle himself became the most common symbol for the saint.

Bartholomew was often depicted with a knife, signifying the one used to flay the saint, holding his own skin. Not only was he used as a subject in a religious context, but also to represent anatomical descriptions of the human body in a medical and academic setting.

Perhaps the most macabre, morbid, and realistic depiction is Saint Bartholomew Flayed by Italian sculptor Marco d’Agrate in 1562. The sculpture shows the martyr holding his own skin, each muscle, bone, and tendon articulated in stone. Today, it resides in the Duomo di Milano in Lombardy.