Saint Bartholomew’s Day ⮞ August 24 ⮜ Meet this Saint

On August 24 is celebrated the Saint Bartholomew’s Day, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ. Although not well known for being one of the least talked about in biblical and religious narratives. But, what do you think about knowing a little about who this Saint was and the facts that happened in his life? Come with us to learn a little more about who Saint Bartholomew was.

Origins of Saint Bartholomew’s Day

Saint Bartholomew’s Day is August 24th. It was on this date that a governor of the region of Albanopolis, in what is now the city of Derbent, the local governor made the apostle go through the martyrdom of having all the skin flayed.

Its main mark is fervent preaching, without fearing the reprisals that may result for transmitting the word of God and converting new believers to Christianity.

He is considered the patron saint of bakers, tailors and shoemakers. And in the northeast region of Brazil, it is believed that on Saint Bartholomew’s day the devil walks the Earth plotting against the faithful, as a way of tormenting them.

Who was Saint Bartholomew?

The only biblical passage in which Saint Bartholomew is directly spoken of is in the Gospel of Saint John. The other narratives are limited to mentioning his name as one of the components of the twelve apostles who followed Jesus.

But, making a comparison between the Canonical Gospels, it is very clear that the apostle Bartholomew is the same apostle Nathanael. He followed Jesus Christ in his three years of public preaching.

He was present in all teachings, actions and miracles, as well as the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was also on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on all the apostles, who from then on began to preach the Gospel around the world.

The story of Saint Bartholomew

According to some traditions and historical documents, Saint Bartholomew preached the word of God in India and in what is now Eastern Europe. There, he carried out preaching and conversions by spreading the word of God.

After carrying out his mission around the world, Saint Bartholomew went through martyrdom when he was the victim of a flaying of all his skin. In the city of Albanopolis, today Derbent, in a Russian region near the Caucasus Sea, he was reportedly killed by order of the local governor, who did not accept Christianity in his land.

In the Sistine Chapel, he appears holding the skin of his body with his left hand and a dagger in his right hand. The day of Saint Bartholomew ends up having great relevance in these places.

Saint Bartholomew’s Night Massacre

On August 24, 1572, when Saint Bartholomew’s day was celebrated, a widespread slaughter began, which took place in France, giving rise to what is known as the Saint Bartholomew’s night massacre.

It was the starting date for several deaths in Paris and other French cities. The numbers are imprecise, as between 2,000 and up to 70,000 people are said to have been murdered. This fact was a reaction against Protestantism, since the French kingdom was Catholic and rejected the then new religion.

The Saint Bartholomew’s Night Massacre came two years after a peace treaty proposed by the French kingdom offering a truce to Protestants. When a Catholic tried to assassinate a Protestant admiral, they were outraged.

During the early morning hours of 24 August of that year, the French royal family planned a series of attacks on Huguenot leaders, representing Protestants.

From there until the month of October, the wave of murders reached twelve French cities, among them Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon and others. The amount of corpses thrown into the rivers could contaminate everything, which caused the consumption of fish at that time to decrease dramatically.

This is regarded as the worst religious attack in the history of France which, unfortunately, began on the day that the life of one of the least talked about saints in the Catholic liturgy was supposed to be celebrated. There, the impression among Protestants was that the Catholic religion was nothing more than a bloodthirsty religion, generating unjustifiable carnage.

Even so, there were those who justified such attacks by fear of a coup d’état by the Huguenots who represented the Protestants at that time. So much so that Pope Gregory XIII even received the severed head of Coligny, one of those killed in that massacre.

This same Pope even asked for a medal to be minted with an angel wielding a cross and a sword to celebrate the victory of the Catholic Church over the Protestants. Unfortunately, a great massacre began precisely on the day of the celebration of Saint Bartholomew’s day.

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