Come and join us tomorrow 23 August for Morning Prayer and Holy Rosary on the eve of the feast of St Bartholomew. It is believed that the name Bartholomew was actually a surname from the name Tolomei - and the given name of the saint was Nathanael and he appears under this name in the gospel of John. We know nothing else about him. The legend tells us that he may have travelled to India according to a testimony from Eusebius (early 4th century AD) and St Jerome (late 4th century AD).

In Paris in 1572, during the French Wars of Religion, under Catherine of Medici and her son Charles IX, the eve of the feast of St Bartholomew was used as an excuse to massacre a large group of Huguenot nobles and aristocracy who had gathered to celebrate the marriage of Henry de Navarre (Protestant) with Marguerite de Valois (Catholic). In many other cities of France murders of Huguenot Protestants took place. We will therefore remember on Wednesday 23 August at our Morning Prayer and Holy Rosary all victims of religious persecution of whatever persuasion.