Readings: Revelation 21:9-14; Psalm 145; John 1:45-51 Today is the feast of St. Bartholomew, born at Cana of Galilee, who was brought to Jesus by Philip. He is said to have preached the Gospel in India where he was rewarded with the crown of martyrdom. Little is known about this Apostle. It may resonate with what John the Baptist said: he would want Christ to increase and himself to decrease. The Bartholomew of Matthew, Mark, and Luke may describe the man known in the Gospel of John more correctly as Nathaniel. Bartholomew is paired with Philip in some Gospel lists, which corresponds with Philip being an old friend of Nathaniel in John’s Gospel. Some scholars identify the Apostle Bartholomew with Nathanael, a solution supported by the fact that Bartholomew could be a surname (Bar-Tolomai, which means the son of Tolomai) and Nathanael a given name: Nathanael Bartholomew. After his appearance in the Gospels, Bartholomew first resurfaces almost three hundred years later in the works of Eusebius, a bishop and church historian who wrote around 300 A.D. He relates a story about a Christian teacher traveling in India who is told that an Apostle, presumably Bartholomew, had preached there long before him and had brought a Hebrew Gospel with him. Equally vague traditions have Bartholomew evangelizing in Persia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. One tradition holds that he was flayed alive, a story reflected in Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, which depicts Bartholomew holding his own skin. Because of this tradition, Bartholomew is the patron saint of tanners. History holds that Bartholomew’s relics are in the church named after him on an island in Rome’s Tiber River. What is remarkable about Nathanael Bartholomew the Apostle, is his simplicity when he said: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And Jesus said about him: “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit”. In turn, Nathanael replied to Jesus saying: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel”.