The murderers of St Bartholomew must have had a real skinful to do this...
I have often thought that my Patron's martyrdom was perhaps the most ghastly in the history of the Church, that of being roasted alive on an outdoor griddle, even though it he bore it with such a sense of humour. St Bartholomew, however, takes some beating. The brave and holy Apostle and Martyr, known as Nathanial, when he meets Christ and within whom Our Lord says, "is no guile", willingly accepted his horrendous death at the hands of the early persecutors of the Church. The Gospel of St John recounts that St Bartholomew recognised Our Lord as, "the Son of God, the Holy One of Israel" after Our Lord had told him that He had seen him praying beneath a fig tree. By all human accounts, he got a 'raw deal' in terms of martyrdoms, just because it would be so horrific to see someone literally slicing your skin off. Being murdered for one's faith would never be pleasant but oh my! How on earth did he bear it?! Yet, he is now crowned by his Lord in the Glory of Heaven and intercedes for us. Just thinking about his martyrdom makes me feel incredibly squemish.
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