The Feast Day of Saint Bartholomew/Nathaniel

Today is the feast day of Saint Bartholomew, who many of us may think we don't know.  But Bartholomew was also Nathaniel--one name is the Greek version and one is Hebrew.  We think of Jesus as living in a distant outpost of the Roman empire, and in a way, that's true.  But that area of the Middle East was also a crossroads, where various cultures had influence:  Greeks, Jews, Romans, all sorts of people coming and going by sea and by land, all sorts of trade happening, all sorts of cultural elements mixing and matching.

Nathaniel was the disciple who asked, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  He's won over when Jesus can tell him that he was just under a fig tree.  In the Gospel of John, he's the 4th disciple called, so he's among the first.

Nathaniel is martyred for his faith; his killing was particularly gruesome, including both flaying and beheading.  But before he's killed, legend has it that he brought Christianity to both India and Armenia.  He is the patron saint of nervous and neurological diseases, bookbinders, shoemakers, and makers of leather.  I always find these collections of patron saint job descriptions intriguing.  Is it because he was flayed that he's watching over leather makers?

If we lived in England in earlier centuries, we might see Saint Bartholomew's day as the beginning of a seasonal shift:

"Saint Bartholomew / brings the cold dew."

And here's another:  

"If Bartlemy's Day be fair and clear, / We may hope for a prosperous Autumn that year."

So let's see what the day brings.  It's hard to continue hoping for a prosperous autumn, given the disease spikes the world is facing, and the collapse of a variety of foreign policies, and all the ways the world is so desperately in need of healing.  Our weather forecast here in North Carolina calls for sunny weather, so here's hoping.