St. Bartholomew
His first recorded words are an insult. He became an apostle anyway.
Most scholars think Bartholomew is the man John's Gospel calls Nathanael. When his friend Philip runs up and says they have found the one the prophets wrote about, and he is from Nazareth, Nathanael's response is: can anything good come out of Nazareth?
Philip does not argue. He just says come and see. And when Jesus sees him coming He says, here is a man with nothing false in him, and mentions having seen him earlier under a fig tree, which nobody has ever fully explained.
That is enough. Nathanael goes from sarcastic to all in, in one conversation. He is the patron saint of everyone whose honest first reaction is skeptical.
St. Bartholomew facts for kids
- Usually identified with Nathanael in John's Gospel
- His first line in Scripture is a dig at Nazareth
- Jesus called him a man without deceit, which is a compliment about the sarcasm, not despite it
- Michelangelo painted him in the Sistine Chapel holding his own skin, with what many think is a self-portrait on it
Feast day: August 24 · Patron of tanners and bookbinders
St. Bartholomew, when I doubt something, help me go and see for myself.