07 — Relics and Translation
The long journey of the apostle’s relics and the feasts that keep his memory. Tradition traces the relics from the place of martyrdom to the Aeolian island of Lipari, thence to Benevento in 838, and a major portion to the church of San Bartolomeo all’Isola on the Tiber island in Rome, with an arm given to Canterbury. These files follow those translations and set out the Orthodox feasts: June 11, the translation of relics on August 25, and the Synaxis of the Twelve on June 30.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostle)
The cult of Bartholomew in the West is bound up with the wanderings of his relics. By the sixth century his body was venerated on the island of Lipari off Sicily, where Gregory of Tours already locates it; when the Arabs took Lipari in the ninth century, the relics were translated to Benevento (traditionally in 838); and under the Emperor Otto III a major portion was carried to Rome and enshrined in the church of San Bartolomeo all’Isola on the Tiber island, which still bears his name. An arm of the apostle was given by Queen Emma to Canterbury Cathedral in the eleventh century. This section follows the relic-journeys, with their dates and sources, and then sets out the feast-days by which the Orthodox Church commemorates the apostle.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Relics and Their Journeys | Lipari (Gregory of Tours); the translation to Benevento (838); the portion brought to San Bartolomeo all’Isola on the Tiber, Rome; the arm to Canterbury; and the competing Benevento/Rome claims, presented with sources named. |
| The Feasts | The Orthodox commemoration of the apostle on June 11; the feast of the translation of his relics on August 25; his place in the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles on June 30; and the hymnography of the day. |
See Also
- The Martyrdom — the death from which the relic-cult flows
- Reception and Legacy — the apostle’s veneration East and West
- Patristic Reception — the early witnesses to his cult
- Orthodoxy: The Great Feasts — the liturgical calendar in which the feast stands
References
- Gregory of Tours. Glory of the Martyrs 33 (on the relics at Lipari). Trans. Raymond Van Dam. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1988.
- The Synaxarion / Menaion for June 11 and August 25; and June 30 (Synaxis of the Twelve).
- Farmer, David Hugh. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. (Entry “Bartholomew,” on the relic-translations.)