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The saints

St. Bartholomew

He asked if anything good could come from Nazareth. Then he met Jesus.

Feast: 24 August · 1st century · The early Church · Cana in Galilee, and Armenia

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Medieval painting of St. Bartholomew standing, holding his own flayed skin over his arm.

Unknown author. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

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Under a fig tree, Galilee

Bartholomew is usually identified with Nathanael, Philip’s friend.1

When Philip said they had found the Messiah, from Nazareth, Nathanael asked if anything good could come out of there.2

Philip didn’t argue; he said: come and see.

Patron of plasterers1

01St. Bartholomew

No deceit in him

Jesus greeted him as a true Israelite with no guile, and told him He had seen him under the fig tree.3

Nathanael answered that Jesus was the Son of God and King of Israel.4

02St. Bartholomew

The far mission

Tradition says Bartholomew preached in India and Armenia and was martyred there, flayed alive.1

Live it this week

Drop one prejudice

Nathanael almost missed Jesus because of where He was from. This week, catch yourself once judging someone by their hometown, accent, job or politics, and go have an actual conversation with them.

Notes

How we know · 4 sources for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Bartholomew”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org
  2. John 1:46, World English Bible. read the chapter
  3. John 1:47, World English Bible. read the chapter
  4. John 1:49, World English Bible. read the chapter

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.