So maybe he was a martyr. (This tradition assumes that John the Apostle and John of Patmos are the same person, and scholars aren’t sure if that’s the case.). He was the son of Jona (Johannes) and was born in Bethsaida (John, i, 42, 44), a town on Lake Genesareth, the position of which cannot be established with certainty, although it is usually sought at the northern end of the lake. But there are other records of his death, too. «Ad Rem» A Fortnightly Email Message from the Prior. In John Foxe’s famous Book of Martyrs (which rounded up the most popular traditions known in the sixteenth century), the entry for Matthew states: “The scene of his labors was Parthia, and Ethiopia, in which latter country he suffered martyrdom, being slain with a halberd in the city of Nadabah, A.D. 60.”. Peter was, of course, our first pope, Christ’s Vicar, the head of the visible Church. Called even by the Jews, “the Just”, Josephus, the Jewish historian and a contemporary, wrote that the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 was a punishment, not for the Deicide killing of Christ, but for the killing of James the Just. When they opened the tomb for Thomas they all saw that Mary was gone. According to the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus, who lived in the first century, Roman soldiers didn’t always crucify people “right-side up,” and they tried different positions for entertainment (Jewish War). And in 200 AD, Tertullian wrote that Paul’s death was like John the Baptist’s (who was beheaded).

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike License. Apart from the aforementioned, later literary tradition is unanimous in indicating the Vatican Hill as the place of burial. Having none of that, he rather preached Christ crucified as Savior, and they cast him off from his pulpit. He was miraculously transported back to Jerusalem three days after Our Lady died.

The chief priests then used the money to buy a field, which Matthew connects to prophecies from Zechariah and Jeremiah: “The chief priests picked up the coins and said, ‘It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.’ So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. However, the tradition which claims James son of Alphaeus preached in Egypt says he was crucified in the city of Ostrakine. However Bartholomew died, it was probably pretty gruesome. For the blessed Dorotheus saith that he was crucified, and saith also: Bartholomew preached to men of India, and delivered to them the gospel after Matthew in their proper tongue. Peter was crucified, but with a twist: they hung his cross upside down. Another tradition claims he was beaten unconscious and drowned in the ocean. Reply. Jesus’ closest followers were the apostles, known as “the Twelve.” As leaders in the early church, each of the apostles played an integral role in spreading the church throughout the ancient world, and many of them died as a direct result of their ministry efforts, often at the hands of the people they were called to reach.