Saint Bartholomew the Apostle

Saint Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Apostles, and probably a close friend of the Apostle Saint Philip. He was brought to Jesus by Philip, and Bartholomew’s name is usually mentioned in the Gospels in association with Philip.

He is called Bartholomew in the Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Most scholars believe that Bartholomew is called Nathaniel in the Gospel of John, and that Bartholomew was actually his last name. The name Bartholomaios means “son of Talmai” (Tolomai or Tholmai), an ancient Hebrew name. (The King of Gessur, whose daughter was a wife of David, bore the name; see 2 Samuel 3:3.) So, in this article, I will refer to him as Saint Nathaniel bar Tolomai (this would amount to him being known as Nathaniel son of Tolomai, just as Peter was called Simon bar Jonah, which would mean Simon son of Jonah.)

We see Saint Nathaniel bar Tolomai mentioned sixth in order as follows in the synoptic (this refers to the first 3 Gospels being similar in content, order, and statement) Gospels:

Matthew 10:3. James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican, and James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus

Mark 3:18. And Andrew and Philip, and Bartholomew and Matthew, and Thomas and James of Alpheus, and Thaddeus and Simon the Cananean:

Luke 6:14. Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,

And then again in the Gospel of Saint John:

John 1:45. Philip findeth Nathanael and saith to him: We have found him of whom Moses, in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth.
1:46. And Nathanael said to him: Can any thing of good come from Nazareth? Philip saith to him: Come and see.
1:47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and he saith of him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.
1:48. Nathanael saith to him: Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said to him: Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
1:49. Nathanael answered him and said: Rabbi: Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel.
1:50. Jesus answered and said to him: Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, thou believest: greater things than these shalt thou see.
1:51. And he saith to him: Amen, amen, I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Once more in John:
John 21:2. There were together: Simon Peter and Thomas, who is called Didymus, and Nathanael, who was of Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples.

The last time that Saint Nathaniel bar Tolomai is mentioned in the New Testament is in The Acts of the Apostles:

Acts 1:13. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James of Alpheus and Simon Zelotes and Jude the brother of James.

Outside the references mentioned, there are no other instances of the name of Saint Nathaniel bar Tolomai being mentioned in the New Testament. What we know of him after the New Testament is not certain. There is no mention of him in ecclesiastical literature before Eusebius, who mentions that Pantaenus who was the master of Origen, was evangelizing in India, and was told that Saint Nathaniel bar Tolomai had preached there before him, and had given them a copy of the Gospel of Saint Matthew written in Hebrew. This was treasured by the Church there. India, was the name given to a vast area, and was not limited to the geographical area we know as India today. Other traditions indicate that Saint Nathaniel bar Tolomai also preached and evangelized in Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Armenia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, and on the shores of the Black Sea.

There are conflicting traditions regarding his death. According to one, he was beheaded at Albanopolis in Armenia. According to another he was flayed (skinned alive) alive and crucified head down by order of Astyages, for having converted his brother, Polymius, King of Armenia. Because of the latter legend, he is often represented as a man holding his skin. His relics are at Saint Bartholomew-on-the-Tiber Church, in Rome, and in the cathedral in Canterbury, England.

Vatican Diary / A new doctor of the Church. And seventeen more on hold

The new one is Saint John of Avila, a great preacher and spiritual master of the sixteenth century. Another, Bernardino of Siena, is close to the goal. The candidates include six women. 

Vatican Diary / A new doctor of the Church. And seventeen more on hold

Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

Saint Agatha has been honored since ancient times, and her name is included in the canon of the Mass. We have little reliable information about her, except that she was a martyr. The following is according to her Latin Acts which is from around the sixth century.

Saint Agatha was a young, wealthy and beautiful woman who lived a life consecrated to God. When the Roman Emperor Decius (Caius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius 249-251) announced his edicts against Christians, the Roman magistrate Quinctianus tried to profit by Agatha's sanctity; he planned to blackmail her into sex in exchange for not charging her. 

Saint Agatha was handed over to a brothel, but she refused to accept customers. After rejecting Quinctianus' advances, she was beaten, imprisoned, tortured, her breasts were crushed and cut off. One version says that Saint Peter appeared to her and healed her. She was imprisoned further and rolled onto live coals. She was near death when an earthquake struck. In the earthquake the magistrate's friend was crushed, and the magistrate fled. Agatha thanked God for an end to her pain, and died. Her death occurred around 250 A.D.

Legend says that carrying her veil, taken from her tomb in Catania, in procession has averted eruptions of Mount Etna. Her intercession is also reported to have saved Malta from Turkish invasion in 1551. Her popular veneration is of a very early date; her name occurs in the prayer, "Nobis quoque peccatoribus," in the Canon of the Mass, and in some places bread is blessed after the Consecration of the Mass on her feast and called Agatha bread.

Vote For the 2011 Bloggers Choice Awards

The time is right to vote for the 2011 Bloggers Choice Awards. Once again, I was nominated by some kind soul and I do appreciate it!

However, I would like to ask all of the readers to the Faith of the Fathers Blogs, to vote for my favorite Catholic blog, "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" by Father John Zuhlsdorf, known as Father Z to those who regularly read his blog. 

I never miss a day reading his blog, and in fact, I use a service to tweet his posts to my twitter account so those who follow me on twitter can read his posts, and I use the same service to share his blog posts on Facebook, too. His blog is also listed on the right hand sidebar of Faith of the Fathers Blogs under the heading "My Favorite Catholic Blogs" (they are in alphabetical order so scroll down to find WDTPRS).

To vote for Father Z's blog you can click here to vote. You will have to sign up to cast your vote, but don't worry. They don't share your email and do not send you any kind of spam or unwanted emails. So go vote for Father Z now!

And if you don't read his blog, then you are missing out my friends!

If by some chance you'd also like to vote for me (you CAN vote for more than one blog, it would be nice to see THREE Catholic blogs take the top three spots) you can vote for me by clicking here. I'd be happy to get more than the 4 or 5 votes I got last year!

Regardless of who else you vote for, please do cast a vote for Father Z's blog first. He has a strong start at the moment, and I for one would like to see him finish strong because to be honest, the man truly deserves it for all of his hard work!!

Saint John Bosco

John Bosco was born into an impoverished family in the year 1815 in a small house around the Piedmont area of Italy. Both his parents tried their hardest to provide for their family, but, when John was only 2 years old his father died, leaving his mother, Margaret to be the sole provider. To help support his Mother and family, John was hired out as a shepherd to the local farmers of the region. This was hard for the young John as he was an extrovert by nature and he possessed an avid curiosity to learn as much as he could.

The young John would sometimes go to circuses, and then to the amusement of his friends he would play act the performances he saw, and also some of the tricks that were used, but this was not enough to satisfy the longing John had in his wish to enter the Priesthood. He confided this longing to his Mother who allowed him to attend school for part of the year in order to gain an education to enter the Seminary. Though times were hard, like many mothers, Margaret wanted the best for her children, so she made no objections upon hearing of John's desire to enter the Priesthood at such a young age.

Finally the day came when John could fulfill his deepest desire and enter the Seminary to become a Priest. In order for him to attend college and the Seminary John worked at many jobs as a shoemaker, baker and carpenter, whilst studying diligently at the same time. Johns Gift in being able to retain facts would be of great benefit to him, as his curious mind grasped the deepest mysteries of our Faith.

But being exuberant in nature, Johns love of people shone forth and his compassion for young and troubled boys soon became evident to those around him. Johns sense of humour also made him accessible to these troubled young lads. Finally the day came when he entered the Priesthood his Mother, Margaret who was overcome with joy at the Faith John displayed begged him to always be a good role model and Priest, John indeed was to keep his word!

But it was as he worked in these different jobs that John Bosco came to see and recognise the plight of the poor young boys of his country and soon realised that if help was not given to them then they would probably enter into the criminal underworld. But though Don Bosco knew the plight of the boys he also knew that it would take more than handouts to help them gain self respect and also to maintain their Faith in God and the Church.

Hence from this Don Bosco was to begin his fledgling vocation, to save the boys from a fate worse than death, he wanted to help save their souls before they were lost to the criminal elements surrounding them. Coming from a poor background himself enabled Don Bosco to connect with the youth in his area and to gain their trust and respect.

In order to teach the boys the Faith of the Catholic Church, Don Bosco chose to weave familiar parables and also short analogues in order for the boys to understand that God never changes but that He could change them for the better. Don Bosco in order to provide a home for these boys bought a derelict farm almost uninhabitable, but with the help of these very same boys he taught them how to do carpentry and other necessities, it was not long before the farm was up and running.

But Don Bosco also knew that young boys also needed time to play and fool around in a jocular manner and he encouraged their play time, in that it allowed them all to exert their energies into a wholesome way of having plain simple good fun. So the daily life of the boys soon fell into a daily routine of building, growing vegetables and generally working the farm to help make it self productive.

Though the boys worked hard and played hard Don Bosco did not neglect their spiritual needs and instructed them in the Faith, and what God expects from each of them, for this Priest embraced the work ethic alongside their spiritual development. So from his example the boys tried to live in order to please God through their work and their lives.

From these early beginnings began Don Bosco's Order the Society of Saint Francis de Sales, which would become known as 'The Salesians', but it was not all plain sailing for this affable Priest. In trying to secure a better future for his beloved boys, also brought criticism from those around him and many complaints were lodged against Don Bosco and his venture to help the poor youth in his area. But Don Bosco was resolute in nature and nothing would deter him from this vocation, in providing a sustainable livelihood for the boys that entered his home, so that their future could also be guaranteed!

Things were to become so difficult for Don Bosco that he was joined by his Mother, Margaret to help provide the boys with a security and a love which only a mother figure could provide. So, Margaret Bosco was soon to become the 'mother' of hundreds of boys. In order to help her son in his mission, Margaret sold everything she possessed in the world for she knew within her own heart that these boys would be lost if help was not provided, therefore she gave all she had, including herself.

Don Bosco was the sole provider and also the only hope for these boys, for this Holy Priest knew that in order for the boys to respect others they must first start with themselves. He knew the vices which could lead any of these young boys astray and so through love, acceptance, compassion and discipline he taught these troubled youths, self control and self discipline not by the rod but by love.

This Holy Priest tried to instill in these boys a sense of self worth, by giving them hope for their futures that there was a way out of the poverty cycle. Don Bosco also instructed the boys in the virtues and to strive with all their might to embrace these virtues and to ward off sin in all its forms. He instructed the boys in all elements of the Faith and encouraged strongly the frequent use of the Sacraments, most especially that of Penance.

From his own youth the young John Bosco was the recipient of many visions, which helped guide him to helping his precious boys to the Light of Jesus and a firm foundation in the Tenets of the Church, he never wavered from the mission that God and our Lady asked of him. Later Don Bosco would be joined in his mission by Mary Mazzarello who would also follow his rule in providing a good and wholesome place to help the troubled young girls of her area. Both Don Bosco and Mary Mazzarello would become Saints.

Don John Bosco died at the age of seventy-two in 1888.

Saint John Bosco was Canonized in 1934 by Pope Pius XI.