St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (popularly known as St. Bart's) is on Park Avenue at 51st Street.
St. Bartholomew (circa 1st Century) known as the son of Tolmai, was an apostle. (Bartholomew was called Nathanael in the Fourth Gospel.) Jesus saw Bartholomew coming to him, and said of him, 'Behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile.' When Jesus told Bartholomew he had already seen him, Bartholomew declared his faith immediately: 'Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.'We do not know where he preached. In the third century, Saint Pantænus found a copy of the Gospel of Saint Matthew in India that tradition said had been brought there by him. St. Bartholomew was condemned by the governor of Albanopolis to be crucified or flayed alive. The flaying knife is the symbol for St. Bartholomew in art. Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment,' on the wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, depicts St. Bartholomew holding a knife in one hand and his skin in the other. History records the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 (part of the 40 year French Wars of Religion), when Catherine de Medici authorized the assignation of French Huguenot (Protestant) leaders. This set off the Catholic mob in Paris that murdered thousands of Huguenots, and was followed by murderous regional riots. St. Bartholomew is the patron saint of tanners.
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