Bartholomew the Apostle

Who they were

Bartholomew, one of the Twelve, is held to be the Nathanael of St John's Gospel. When his friend Philip told him they had found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, he asked, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' 'Come and see,' Philip answered. Jesus greeted him as 'an Israelite in whom there is no guile', and Nathanael replied, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel!'

He is listed among the apostles gathered in prayer after the Ascension. What came after is not certain historically: tradition has him preaching in the East, from Mesopotamia to India, and dying a martyr in Armenia.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: Bartholomew has been honoured as an apostle and martyr since the earliest Church.

Why that counted as sanctity

A sceptic who came and saw, Bartholomew gave Christ his whole allegiance at their first meeting and, by the Church's tradition, carried that faith to distant peoples and died for it.