And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off
and throw it away, it is better that you lose one of
your members than your whole body into hell.

—Jesus Christ (Gospel of St. Matthew 3:30)

1.1

In Belgium on his day, servant girls knew
to stay away from the fields, because
he gave the cabbages large heads
and objected to their prying eyes.

HIS HEAD is in a bronze box in Toulouse,
and A KNUCKLE is at Routille on the Meuse.

Other UNDISCLOSED RELICS were enclosed
in a leaden weathercock atop Sauvemajeur
to protect against lightning. During the
Enlightenment they were removed, and

a young monk was struck dead
skinning lambs in the yard.

 

1.2

   John calls Bartholomew Nathanael, either his proper name,
or an inside joke. However, Jesus said he was capable of
"no guile." Bartholomew is Syrian for "son of Tolmei," and
Tolmei was, in fact, his father

and Syrian. His mother
was dead for two days, but

Christ brought her to life.
Bartholomew was put to death

for converting the youngest daughter of an Armenian prince,
Polemius. Of the twelve,

Bart was the only one born noble, and
the only one flayed alive.1

   A flaying knife and a patch of skin are housed at St. Stephen's
in Mainz; a SHOULDER BLADE is at Maistricht, and a SECOND
HEAD in Naples. At St. Charles of Antwerp there is PART OF
A CHIN.