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Now, there is no getting around it…St. Bartholomew died a grisly death: skinned – literally flayed for his faith.  Now that’s a martyr! He was also one of the apostles (John 1: 43-51) and clearly, his faith was such that he called people to the truth and away from pagan worship.  This very thing made the rulers of the time very angry and obviously frightened at the power of this man, though we all know it was the power of the Truth, to cut through the chaff and smoke of falsehood and evil.  So, of course, they had to kill him.  We do the same thing today, and it’s a story in many of our movies today that rake in the big bucks.  But this time, way back when, the gore was real and horrifying.  But the faith was strong and true and overrides even the horror.  What treasure that truth must be for a mere man to be willing to be skinned alive to uphold it.

Collect (Prayer) of the Day: Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle