Memorial of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle

- Bartholomew [Greek: Βαρθολομαίος, transliterated "Bartholomaios", Aramaic: bar-Tôlmay (תולמי‎‎‎‎‎-בר‎‎), meaning son of Tolmay (Ptolemy) or son of the furrows (perhaps a ploughman)] was one of the 12 Apostles of Christ Jesus.
- Bartholomew is one of the apostles on whom no word is reported nor any individual action recorded in the New Testament, though he appears here and there in the New Testament.
- according to Syriac tradition, Bartholomew's original name was Jesus, which caused him to adopt another name. Other traditions have him erving as a missionary in India, Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, and Lycaonia after the Ascension of Our Lord.
- A local tradition in Armenia has him martyred at the site of the Maiden Tower in Baku, Azerbaijan by being flayed alive and then crucified head down (this fate has led to him being adopted as the patron saint of tanners).
- After his martyrdom in Armenia, his body is said to have been washed to Lipari (a small island off the coast of Sicily), where a large piece of his skin and many bones are kept in the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew the Apostle.
- St. Bartholomew is credited with many miracles having to do with the weight of objects.
(The above is taken from Wikipedia)