The Church’s celebration of the Feast Day of St. Bartholomew fell on a Sunday this year for the first time since A.D. 2014. It will not do so again until A.D. 2031, 2036 and 2042. The Collect for the Feast of St. Bartholomew in the Anglican tradition was composed by Archbishop Cranmer in 1549 and revised for the 1662 B.C.P.
O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who didst give to thine Apostle Bartholomew
grace truly to believe and preach thy Word; Grant, we beseech thee, unto thy Church
to love that Word which he believed, and both to preach and receive the same;
through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
St. Bartholomew is named in all three synoptic Gospels but not in the Gospel of John. Since St. John includes two references to Nathaniel (John 1:45-51 and 21:2) and does not mention anyone called Bartholomew scholars assume that the two men are one and the same. In St. John’s account he is described as a native of the village of Cana in Galilee (John 21:2). Early Church scholar Eusebius wrote in the 4th C. that Bartholomew evangelized in present-day India, although some modern scholars insist that he preached in modern Saudi Arabia and not India. The relics of St. Bartholomew were moved to Rome and installed at the Cathedral of San Bartolomeo (Latin spelling) on the banks of the Tiber by Holy Roman Emperor Otto III. The location was said to have been used previously by pagans as a medical center. From than connection arose the modern usage of the saints name in association with hospitals, including renown St. Batholomew’s Hospital in London, England.
There are more illustrations and commentary in Episode Thirteen of the AIC Video series, The Lives of the Saints, First Series, with a podcast/MP3 audio version linked from the Podcast Archive page.
As always, thank you for your interest and support. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!
Anglican Internet Church 
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