St. Bartholomew, Apostle
Patron of tanners, leatherworkers, plasterers, bookbinders, Armenia
Saint Bartholomew, identified by ancient tradition with the Nathanael of John's Gospel whom Jesus called 'an Israelite in whom there is no guile,' preached the Gospel, by various early accounts, in India, Mesopotamia, Parthia and Armenia. He was martyred at Albanopolis on the Caspian by being flayed alive and then beheaded, which is why he is shown in Michelangelo's Last Judgment holding his own skin in his hand. His relics rest in the basilica on the Tiber Island in Rome, where the modern shrine of new martyrs of the twentieth century gathers around his tomb.