BARTHOLOMEW, Sr, one of the twelve apostles, generally supposed to have been the same individual who in St John's Gospel is called Nathanael. This appears to have been his real name, while Bartholomew merely expresses his filial relation. He was a native of Cana in Galilee (John xxi. 2). He was introduced by Philip to Jesus, who, on seeing him approach, at once pronounced that eulogy on his character which has made his name almost synonymous with sincerity; he was a witness of the resurrection and the ascension, and returned with the other apostles to Jerusalem. Of his subsequent history we have little more than vague traditions. According to Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. v. 10), when Pantenus went on a mission to the Indians (towards the close of the second century), he found among them the Gospel of Matthew, written in Hebrew, which had been left there by the apostle Bartholomew. Jerome (De Vir. Illustr. c. 36) gives a similar account. But the name Indians is applied by ancient writers to so many different nations, that it is difficult to determine the scene of Bartholomew's labours. Mosheim (with whom Neander agrees) is of opinion that it
was a part of Arabia Felix, inhabited by Jews, to whom alone a Hebrew gospel could be of any service. According to the received tradition, this apostle was flayed alive and crucified with his head downwards, at Albanopolis in Armenia, or, according to Nicephorus, at Urbanopolis in Cilicia. A spurious gospel which bears his name is in the catalogue of apocryphal books condemned by Pope Gelasius.
The festival of St Bartholomew is celebrated on the 24th of August. On the night of this festival, in the year 1572, took place that foul and treacherous massacre of the Huguenots in France, which has stamped with infamy the memory of the detestable Catherine de' Medici and her son Charles IX. This massacre lasted three days. See FRANCE.