Baring-Gould’s sources: Anglican Martyrology of Wilson. The Bollandists. Authority: — A life by a contemporary monk, with the initial G. Thi name not given in ' full, probably Galfredus, the author of the lite of S. Godrick.J Bartholomew was a native of Yorkshire, and was bom at Whitby. He was called by his parents Tosti, but as his comrades made jokes about this name, which offended his self-respect, he changed it to William. His youth was spent in amusements and thoughtless gaiety, but he was called to a more serious life by a vision he had, in which he saw Paradise, with Jesus in the midst, and Mary and the Apostles surrounding Him. In his vision he saw the Blessed Virgin beckon to him to join the company of the holy ones in light. He then crossed over into Norway, where he was first ordained deacon, and then priest, by the bishop of Nidaros or Trondhjem. Shortly afterwards he was urged to marry a young Norwegian lady, as clerical celibacy never prevailed in the Scandinavian Church. The parents and the damsel herself did all in their power S. Bartholomew of Fame.
…to induce him to many, but he refused, and retumine to England, became a monk at Durham, and assumed the name of Bartholomew. Afterwards having seen S. Cuthbert [bishop of Lindisfarne (d. 687)] in a vision, he felt a strong desire to spend the rest of his days in the lonely isle of Fame, off the Northumbrian coast. The contemporary biographer gives a graphic account of the island, its rocks, and its birds, and describes the position and remains of S. Cuthbert's cell. In this island Bartholomew took up his abode, dressed in ram's skin coat and trousers, which once put on were never taken off again, or suffered to be washed, till, as his biographer informs us, with sweat and dirt, the skins were black. And when remonstrated with for this somewhat offensive disregard of common cleanliness, his curt reply was, “The dirtier the body the cleaner the soul" On Fame he found another hermit named Ebwin, who was highly incensed with Bartholomew for having invaded his privacy, and was filled with envy, which made him try every kind of annoyance to drive Bartholomew away. One evening a monk of Durham was with the hermit Bartholomew, when a great stone came crashing down on the roof. The monk jumped up alarmed, and turned pale. “It is only a trick of the old enemy,” said Bartholomew. The visitor was by no means re-assured by this announcement, for he supposed the devil was outside. But Bartholomew, no doubt, meant Ebwin.
Afier a while Thomas, prior of Durham, resigned, and went to Fame, and took up his abode with Bartholomew. They did not agree together at all, either in the matter of food or length of prayers, and at last Bartholomew left Fame and came to Durham, but the remonstrances of the brethren, the regrets of Thomas, and finally the orders of the bishop, sent him back to the island. After that the two kept peace with each other till Bartholomew was [June a*.
relieved of the irksome presence of the prior by the death of the latter. Before he died, the monks of Lindisfame and Coldingham came to visit him. He waS asked where he would like to be buried, and he replied that he wished to lie in that wild, wave-beaten islet. A few days before his end, there was a sound in the ante-room of his cell “as of mice dancing,” and on the roof “ as of sparrows creeping about with their beaks and claws.” Something black fell down behind the monk who was nursing the sick hermit, so that he nearly fainted with terror. He died after he had spent more than forty-two years in the island, which he rendered fragrant with his virtues. The Blinding of 8. Solomon (June 39thl SS. Sosipater and Jason,
