Patrick Comerford
Next Tuesday, 24 August 2021, is the feast of Saint Bartholomew.
The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are:
The Readings: Isaiah 43: 8-13; Psalm 145: 1-7; Acts 5: 12-16; Luke 22: 24-30.
There is a hyperlink to each of the readings cited.
The calling of Saint Nathanael, also identified with Saint Bartholomew … a window in Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Ballsbridge, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)Saint Bartholomew is one of the 12 Disciples in the Gospels. Eastern Christianity honours him on 11 June 11 and the Western traditions remember him on 24 August.
The name Bartholomew is derived from the Greek Bartholomaios (Βαρθολομαῖος), which, in turn, comes from the Aramaic and Hebrew בר-תולמי (bar-Tolmay), ‘Son of Talmai’, ‘Son of Farmer’ or ‘Son of the Furrows.’
Saint Bartholomew is listed among the 12 Disciples in the three synoptic gospels: Matthew 10: 1–4; Mark 3: 13-19 and Luke 6: 12-16. He is also one of the witnesses of the Ascension (see Acts 1:4, 12, 13). On each occasion, he is named in the company of Philip.
However, he is not mentioned by the name ‘Bartholomew’ in Saint John’s Gospel. Tradition identifies with Saint Bartholomew with Nathanael or Nathaniel, who is named only in Saint John’s Gospel, where he is introduced to Jesus by Saint Philip (see John 1: 43-51). Many modern commentators reject this identification.
Although he seems initially a somewhat cynical man, he recognises Jesus for who he is and proclaims him as the Son of God.
In his Ecclesiastical History (5:10), Eusebius of Caesarea says that after the Ascension, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of Saint Matthew’s Gospel. Other traditions say he was a missionary in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia and Lycaonia, or that he preached the Gospel in India and then went to Greater Armenia.
Both Saint Bartholomew and his fellow apostle Jude or Thaddeus are considered the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Popular legend says Saint Bartholomew was martyred for having converted Polymius, King of Armenia, to Christianity. The king’s brother, Prince Astyages, was enraged by the monarch’s conversion. Fearing a Roman backlash, he ordered Bartholomew’s torture and execution.
Saint Bartholomew’s Monastery was a prominent Armenian monastery, built in the 13th century on the supposed site of his martyrdom in Vaspurakan, Greater Armenia, now in south-east Turkey.
In art, Saint Bartholomew is commonly depicted with a beard and curly hair at the time of his martyrdom. According to legends, he was skinned alive and beheaded so is often depicted holding his flayed skin or the curved flensing knife with which he was skinned.
Because of the form of his traditional martyrdom, Saint Bartholomew became the patron saint of leather makers.
The Basilica of San Bartolomeo all'Isola in Rome was founded on the temple of Asclepius, an important Roman medical centre. This association with medicine linked Saint Bartholomew with medicine and hospitals. Some of his relics were said to be held in Frankfurt Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral.
Saint Bartholomew is the patron saint of tanners, plasterers, tailors, leatherworkers, bookbinders, farmers, housepainters, butchers and glove makers. In Tuscany, he also came to be associated with salt, oil and cheese merchants. His feast day in August was a traditional occasion for markets and fairs, such as the Bartholomew Fair, held in Smithfield, London, from the Middle Ages.
The Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion. Tradition says it was instigated by Queen Catherine de' Medici, the mother of King Charles IX. The massacre took place a few days after the wedding on 18 August of the king’s sister Margaret to the Protestant Henry of Navarre, the future Henry IV of France.
The massacre began on the night of 23-24 August 1572, two days after the attempted assassination of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, the military and political leader of the Huguenots. The massacre lasted for several weeks, and the estimates for the number of dead across France vary widely, from 5,000 to 30,000. The Huguenot movement lost many of its prominent aristocratic leaders, and many Huguenots were forcibly converted.
Saint Bartholomew is not a particularly happy apostle to have to preach about, and it is difficult to find appropriate illustrations for a sermon about a saint who was martyred by being skinned to death, or who is day is associated with a sectarian massacre. The symbol used for him in Saint Bartholomew’s Church in Wednesbury in the Diocese of Lichfield is three flaying knives, and there is a gruesome, skeletal statue of him in the Duomo in Milan, holding his own skin.
But is good to be reminded that we are part of the Communion of Saints – not just one part of it, but part of the whole Communion of Saints, heirs to the full apostolic legacy of the Church.
The readings for this day tell us in different ways how the Church and the Communion of Saints are one.
In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 5: 12-16), it may appear first of all to be yet another miracle story. But it is also a story about the Communion of Saints: ‘Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women’ (Acts 5: 14). In life and in death, the Communion of Saints are bound together in faith, love and hope, and this bond is never broken.
If you were to pick your own modern saints, the saints who had influenced you in your faith journey, modern exemplars of Christian faith and discipleship, who would you name?
Luke 22: 24-30 (NRSVA):
24 A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 But he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
28 ‘You are those who have stood by me in my trials; 29 and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’
Liturgical resources:
Liturgical colour: Red
Penitential Kyries:
Lord, you are gracious and compassionate.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
You are loving to all,
and your mercy is over all your creation.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Your faithful servants bless your name,
and speak of the glory of your kingdom.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty and everlasting God,
who gave to your apostle Bartholomew
grace truly to believe and to preach your word:
Grant that your Church may love that word which he believed
and may faithfully preach and receive the same;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Introduction to the Peace:
We are fellow citizens with the saints
and the household of God,
through Christ our Lord,
who came and preached peace to those who were far off
and those who were near (Ephesians 2: 19, 17).
The Preface:
In the saints
you have given us an example of godly living,
that rejoicing in their fellowship,
we may run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
and with them receive the unfading crown of glory …
Post Communion Prayer:
God of our salvation,
you have fed us at the table of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lead us in his way of service,
that your kingdom may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
Grant this for his name’s sake.
Blessing:
God give you grace
to share the inheritance of Saint Bartholomew and all his saints in glory …
Suggested Hymns:
Isaiah 43: 8-13:
122, Drop down, ye heavens, from above
321, Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty
557, Rock of ages, cleft for me
323, The God of Abraham praise
Psalm 145: 1-7:
24, All creatures of our God and King
349, Fill thou my life, O Lord my God
697, Great and wonderful your deeds
80, Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father
358, King of glory, King of peace
360, Let all the world in every corner sing
655, Loving Shepherd of your sheep
601, Teach me, my God and King
Acts 5: 12-16:
511, Father of mercy, God of consolation
697, Great and wonderful your deeds
513, O Christ, the Healer, we have come
Luke 22: 24-30:
259, Christ triumphant, ever reigning
219, From heav’n you came, helpless babe
417, He gave his life in selfless love
418, Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face
228, Meekness and majesty
531, Where love and loving-kindness dwell
Also suitable:
459, For all the saints, who from their labours rest
461, For all thy saints, O Lord
471, Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days!
527, Son of God, etrnal Saviour
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
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