“Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ Nathanael asked, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip replied, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, ‘Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.’ Nathanael asked, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were still under the fig tree, before Philip called you.’ Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.’ Jesus said, ‘Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.’ He then added, ‘Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.’”  (John 1:45-51)

Bartholomew appears in the Synoptic Gospels with his Greek name, which comes from the Aramaic patronymic bar-Tôlmay, meaning “son of Tôlmay” or “son of Ptolemy.” In the Gospel of John, however, he appears with a Hebrew name, Nathanael. The Hebrew etymology of his name means “God has given.” Tradition has identified Bartholomew and Nathanael as the same person.

His personal encounter with Jesus in the Gospel of John

What we know for certain about Bartholomew’s life comes from the Gospels, especially the Gospel of John, which recounts in detail how his personal encounter with Jesus led him to profess his faith in the longed-for Messiah. Nathanael, or Bartholomew, was a fisherman from Cana who knew Nazareth well, located only 8 km away, but he didn’t trust its inhabitants. Therefore, he was skeptical when his friend Philip told him about Jesus of Nazareth and asked, with great irony, if anything good could possibly come from the poor town of Nazareth. Philip didn’t try to convince him with words but instead invited him to have his own personal encounter with Jesus. Bartholomew agreed and went to find Jesus, but when he found him, it was Jesus who surprised him by saying that before Philip had called him, Jesus had already known that Bartholomew was “a sincere and honest Israelite.” Jesus also revealed to him that he had known him since “he was under the fig tree.” At this point, Bartholomew, a practical man attached to tradition who meditated daily on the Scriptures, made a true confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah awaited by Israel: “You are the Son of God and the King of Israel!”

Apostle in India, martyr in Armenia according to popular traditions

After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Book of Acts tells us that the disciples gathered in prayer with Mary and other women. Bartholomew was among them: “Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a short distance—just the Sabbath day’s walk. When they arrived in the city, they went upstairs to the house where they were staying. These were Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” (cf. Acts 1:12-14).
Subsequent events are not recorded by reliable historical sources, but popular traditions say that Bartholomew went to preach the Word of God in various eastern regions, from Mesopotamia to India, where God accompanied his preaching with miracles and prodigious healings. It is also said that he reached Armenia and that there, in addition to preaching conversion to the populations of twelve cities, he also managed to evangelize King Polymius and his wife, enraging the priests of the local pagan deities. Other legends claim that Astyages, the king’s brother, instigated by the priests, succeeded in condemning him to death. These accounts add that his martyrdom took place in Albanopoli around the year 68. Finally, after a thousand vicissitudes that occurred throughout the centuries, it is said that his relics arrived in Rome through the intervention of Emperor Otto III, relics that are now preserved in the basilica that was dedicated to him on Tiber Island.