St Bartholomew

Dita Von Teese

I was reading on Dita Von Teese on wikipedia when I was linked to reading about the 12 Apostles...particularly St Bartholomew. (please don't ask me how I  lead to that...from Marilynn Manson to Dita to St Bartholomew???)

Anyway one of the article on wiki about Apostle Bartholomew caught my attention:

Of the many miracles performed by Bartholomew before and after his death, two very popular ones are known by the townsfolk of the small island of Lipari. When Bartholomew's body was found off the shore, the Bishop of Lipari ordered many men to take the body to the Cathedral. When this failed due to its extreme weight, the Bishop then sent out the children. The children easily brought the body ashore.

The people of Lipari celebrated his feast day annually. The tradition of the people was to take the solid silver and gold statue from inside the Cathedral of St Bartholomew and carry it through the town. On one occasion, when taking the statue down the hill towards the town, it suddenly got very heavy and had to be set down. When the men carrying the statue regained their strength they lifted it a second time. After another few seconds, it got even heavier. They set it down and attempted once more to pick it up. They managed to lift it but had to put it down one last time. Within seconds, walls further downhill collapsed. If the statue had been able to be lifted, all the townspeople would have been killed.

During World War II, the Fascist regime (German/Italian) looked for ways to finance their activities. The order was given to take the silver statue of St Bartholomew and melt it down. The statue was weighed, and it was found to be only a few grams. It was returned to its place in the Cathedral of Lipari. In reality, the statue is made from many kilograms of silver and it is considered a miracle that it was not melted down.

St Bartholomew is credited with many other miracles having to do with the weight of objects.

Article ends here...

Ooooohh...St Bartholomew, can you help take some of my weight PHYSICALLY off from me???