Bartholomew

Bartholomew   "Philip found Nathanael and told him, 'We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.'
   "But Nathanael said to him, 'Can anything good come from Nazareth?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.'
   "Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, 'Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.'
   "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 1:45-49)


Bartholomew. He was one of the disciples to whom Jesus appeared at the Sea of Tiberius after His resurrection. He was also a witness of the Ascension. He is “[t]he sixth apostle listed by Mark…Bartholomew is paired with Philip in Matthew, so that he stands sixth in both lists, as well as in that of Luke, 6:14. In Acts 1:13, however, Thomas is paired with Philip, and Bartholomew with Matthew. These are the only mentions of Bartholomew in the New Testament; he us mentioned only in the lists of the apostles….Yet it was precisely the quiet work of such obscure figures that mainly won the gospel battle in the world of the first century as it does also in the twentieth. Nor does his name appears anywhere in the Apostolic Fathers or the early Christian apologists of the second century –Aristides, Justine, Tatian, Melito, Athenagoras” (Edgar J. Goodspeed. The Twelve, The Story of Christ’s Apostles. New York: Collier Books, 1962. p. 50).

    St Bartholomew (also called Nathaniel in the Gospel of John) is the disciple Jesus praised for his sincerity when He said, “Behold a true Israelite in whom there is no guile.”  He was a native of Cana in Galilee and tradition tells us he evangelized in Ethiopia, India, Persia and Armenia.  He died a martyr’s death by being skinned alive and then beheaded.  His feast day is celebrated on August 24.  In this window he is seen holding the Book of Scripture. 
    The bottom window shows the open Gospel with a flayer’s knife on top indicative of the way he died.  Behind the book can be seen a stretched skin.  He is revered as a patron of tanners because of the unusual manner of his death.
    In the top window, the donkey, the lowly animal Jesus chose to ride upon into Jerusalem, the shrinking violet and the spiral are all symbols of humility.  (Compiled by Phyllis Evans)

Bartholomew, General Audience, Pope Benedict XVI, 10/04/06