St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

Today a fast mass at 6:30 with Bishop Herbert Donovan, and a barbecue afterwards.

Here's a little bit about St. Bart from Catholic online...

St. Bartholomew, 1st. century, one of the 12.

All that is known of him with certainty is that he is mentioned in the synoptic gospels and Acts as one of the twelve apostles. His name, a patronymic, means "son of Tolomai" and scholars believe he is the same as Nathanael mentioned in John, who says he is from Cana and that Jesus called him an "Israelite...incapable of deceit." The Roman Martyrology says he preached in India and Greater Armenia, where he was flayed and beheaded by King Astyages. Tradition has the place as Abanopolis on the west coast of the Caspian Sea and that he also preached in Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt. The Gospel of Bartholomew is apochryphal and was condemned in the decree of Pseudo-Gelasius. Feast Day August 24.

From ,a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Bartholomew">Wikipedia:

According to Syriac tradition, Bartholomew's original name was Jesus, which caused him to adopt another name.

Eusebius of Caesarea's Ecclesiastical History states that after the Ascension, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. Other traditions record him as serving as a missionary in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, and Lycaonia. [1]

Along with his fellow Apostle Jude, Bartholomew is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century. Thus both saints are considered the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. There is also a local tradition that he was martyred at the site of the Maiden Tower in Baku, Azerbaijan, by being flayed alive and then crucified head down.

After his martyrdom in this country, his body is said to have been washed to Lipari (a small island off the coast of Sicily), where a large piece of his skin and many bones are kept in the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew the Apostle. Holy Roman Emperor Otto II brought his relics to Rome (at the basilica of San Bartolomeo all'Isola) in 983. In time, the church here inherited an old pagan medical center. This association with medicine in course caused his name to often be associated with medicine and hospitals.[3] Some of his skull was transferred to Frankfurt, while an arm is venerated in Canterbury Cathedral today.

Here's a quote from another Bart: "Christmas is a time when people of all religions come together to worship Jesus Christ." (the Simpsons)