BARTHOLOMEW, or Bartholomaios, that is to say, the Son of Ptolemy was of Galilee, as well as the other Acts i. 13, xi. 7.Apostles. But where particularly he was born we cannot tell. The Gospel says very little of his person, nor have we any certain history of his life or death. It is generally believed, that he preached the Gospel in the Indies1, and we are assured, that he carried thither the Gospel of S. Matthew written in Hebrew, and that S. Patenus found it there an hundred years after2. We are told likewise, that he preached in Arabia Felix, and Persia, which does not at all contradict their accounts, who assert that he preached in the Indies; for he might have passed through this Country, in order to penetrate farther into India; perhaps these nations may have been un derstood as included in the name of the Indies.
We know not with any certainty either the time, place or manner of his death. The modern Greeks and Latins agree in saying, that he died in the City of Albana or Albanopolis, which probably is Albana in Albania, upon the Caspian Sea, and confines of Armenia. This Country has sometimes been described under the name of the Indies. It is believed that S. Bartholomew was flea’d alive by Astyages, Brother to Polemon King of Armenia, out of hatred to the Christian Religion, which the Apostle had prevailed with Polemon to embrace. But these facts are very uncertain.
Many are of opinion3, that Nathanaël and Bartholomew are the same person. This conjecture is founded 1° upon this, that no notice is any where taken of Bartholomew’s Vocation, unless his and that of Nathanaël be the same. 2° The Evangelists who speak of Bartholomew, say nothing of Nathanaël, and S. John who speaks of Nathanaël, says nothing of Bartholomew. 3° The name of Bartholomew is not a proper name; it signifies the Son of Ptolemy, besides which he might bear the name of Nathanaël. 4° S. John seems to rank Nathanaël with the Apostles, when he says, that Peter and Thomas the two Sons of Zebedee, Nathanaël, and two other Disciples, being gone a fishing, Jesus shewed himself to them. See our Comment on S. Matthew. Ch. x. p. 218.
There is a spurious Gospel whereof S. Bartholomew is said to have been the Author, which Pope Gelasius placed among the apocryphal Writings. S. Bernard and Abbot Rupert4 were of opinion, that he was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana.
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