Feast of St. Bartholomew

Bartholomew was from Cana in Galilee. Mentioned in the gospels as one of the twelve apostles, he is identified with Nathanael. His friend, the apostle Philip, brought him to Jesus. According to tradition, St. Bartholomew preached the Gospel in India and died there a martyr.

Collect:
Lord, sustain within us the faith which made Saint Bartholomew ever loyal to Christ. Let your Church be the sign of salvation for all the nations of the world. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reading: Revelation 21: 9b-14
Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

If you like sweet foods, this is the day for you. It was once the date of London's Bartholomew Fair, which was held until the 1850s. Rich foods, such as apples coated in honey, were sold at the fair, and there are still special foods for St Bartholomew's Day. Children at Sandwich, Kent, run a race around St Bartholomew's chapel to win a currant bun.

Lutheran lessons for the Day:

FIRST LESSON
• Exodus 19:1-6

On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. 3Then Moses went up to God; the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites; 4You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5Now therefore,if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”

PSALM 12

SECOND LESSON
• 1 Corinthians 12:27-31a

You are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kind of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles” 30Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31But strive for the greater gifts.

GOSPEL
• John 1:43-51

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you sitting under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51And Jesus said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Not to dimminish the goodness of this holiday, we should also remember the (probably tens of thousands) French Protestants who where murdered on this day in 1572 (from Wikipedia):

The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day was the culmination of a series of events:

* The Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which put an end to the Third War of Religion on August 8, 1570.
* The marriage between Henry of Navarre and Marguerite of Valois on August 18, 1572
* The failed assassination of Admiral de Coligny on August 23, 1572.

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An unacceptable peace and an unacceptable marriage

The Peace of Saint-Germain put an end to three years of terrible civil war between Catholics and Protestants. This peace was precarious, however, since the more intransigent Catholics refused to accept it. With the Guise family, who led this faction, out of favour at the French court, the Huguenot leader, Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, was readmitted into the king's council in September 1571. Staunch Catholics were shocked by the return of the Protestants to the court, but the Queen Mother, Catherine de' Medici, and her son, King Charles IX, were determined not to let war break out again. They were also conscious of the kingdom's financial difficulties, which led them to uphold the peace and remain on friendly terms with Coligny. The Huguenots were in a strong defensive position as they controlled the fortified towns of La Rochelle, La Charité-sur-Loire, Cognac, and Montauban. To cement the peace between the two religious parties, Catherine de' Medici planned to marry her daughter Marguerite de Valois, to the Protestant prince, Henry of Navarre (the future King Henry IV). The royal marriage was arranged for the 18 August 1572. It was not accepted by diehard Catholics, or by the pope. He and King Philip II of Spain strongly condemned the Queen Mother's policy.
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A tense city

The marriage led to the presence of a large number of well-born Protestants in Paris, who had come to escort their prince. But Paris was a violently anti-Huguenot city. The Parisians, who were extreme Catholics, found their presence unacceptable. Encouraged by Catholic preachers, particularly the Capuchins, they were horrified at the marriage of a princess of France with a Protestant. The Parliament of Paris itself decided to snub the marriage ceremony. Besides this, harvests had been bad. The rise in prices and the luxury displayed on the occasion of the royal wedding intensified the hatred felt by the common people.

The court itself was extremely divided. Catherine de' Medici had not obtained the pope's permission to celebrate this irregular marriage. Consequently, the French prelates hesitated over which attitude to adopt. It took all the Queen Mother's skill to convince the Cardinal de Bourbon to marry the couple. Besides this, the rivalries between the leading families re-emerged. The Guises were not prepared to make way for the Montmorencys. Francois, Duke of Montmorency, and governor of Paris, was unable to control the disturbances in the city. Faced with the dangerous situation in Paris, he preferred to leave town a few days before the wedding.
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The attempted assassination of Admiral de Coligny

After the wedding, Coligny and the leading Huguenots remained in Paris in order to discuss some outstanding grievances about the Peace of St. Germain with the king. On August 22, an attempt was made on Coligny's life. The would-be assassin, Maurevert, escaped in the ensuing confusion and it is still difficult today to decide who was ultimately responsible for the attack. History records three possible candidates:

* The Guises: the Cardinal of Lorraine, the Duke of Guise and the Duke of Aumale are the most likely suspects. The leaders of the Catholic party, they wanted to avenge the death of Francois of Guise, believed by them to have been murdered by Coligny ten years previously. The shot aimed at the admiral came from a house belonging to the Guises.

* The Duke of Alba, who governed the Netherlands on behalf of Philip II: Coligny planned to lead a campaign in the Netherlands to liberate the region from Spanish control. During the summer, he had secretly dispatched a number of troops to help the Protestants in Mons, who were besieged by the Duke of Alba. So the admiral was a real threat to the latter.

* Catherine de' Medici: according to tradition, the Queen Mother worried that the king was increasingly becoming dominated by Coligny. Amongst other things, Catherine feared that Coligny's influence would drag France into a war with Spain over the Netherlands. Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe in her culpability today, given the efforts the Queen Mother had made to ensure the peace and tranquility of the state. If she was not the author of the assassination attempt however, would she at least have been aware of what the Guises or the Spanish were planning?

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The massacres

The attempted assassination of Coligny was the event which triggered the crisis which would lead to the massacre. Admiral de Coligny was the most respected Huguenot leader. Aware of the danger from the Protestants, the king and his court visited Coligny on his sickbed and promised him the culprits would be punished. While the Queen Mother was eating dinner, Protestants burst in to demand justice. Fears of Huguenot reprisals grew. Coligny's brother-in-law led a 4,000-strong army camped just outside Paris [2] and, though there is no evidence it was planning to attack, Catholics in the city feared it might take revenge on the Guises or the city populace itself. That very evening, Catherine held a meeting at the Tuileries Palace with her Italian advisers and Baron de Retz.

On the evening of August 23, Catherine went to see the king to discuss the crisis. Though no details of the meeting survive, it is obvious that Charles IX and his mother took the decision to eliminate the Protestant leaders, with the exception of the princes of the blood, Henri of Navarre and the Prince of Condé. According to an unsubstantiated tradition, he angrily exclaimed: "Well then, so be it! Kill them! But kill them all! Don't leave a single one alive to reproach me!"

Shortly after this decision, the municipal authorities of Paris were summoned. They were ordered to shut the city gates and to arm the citizenry in order to prevent any attempt at an uprising. The king's Swiss Guard was given the task of killing a list of leading Protestants. It is difficult today to determine the exact chronology of events and to know the moment the killing began. It seems a signal was given by ringing bells for matins (between midnight and dawn) at the church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, near the Louvre, which was the parish church of the kings of France. Before this, the Swiss guards had expelled the Protestant nobles from the Louvre palace and then slaughtered them in the streets. Admiral Coligny was dragged from his bed by the Duke of Guise himself, killed, and his body thrown out of the window. The tension that had been building since the Peace of St. Germain now exploded in a wave of popular violence. The common people began to hunt Protestants throughout the city. The ferocity of the slaughter was incredible. Chains were used to block streets so that Protestants could not escape from their houses. Women and children were butchered in cold blood. The massacre lasted several days, despite the king's attempts to stop it. Among the slain were the composer Claude Goudimel and the philosopher Petrus Ramus.

From August to October, similar apparently spontaneous massacres of Huguenots took place in other towns, such as Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon, Bourges, Rouen, and Orléans. The number of victims is unknown, with figures varying between 2,000 and 100,000.

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