St. Barnabas 1. The Apostle.
During the Easter Season our first
Biblical reading at Mass is from the Acts of the Apostles about the beginnings
of the early Church. Now in the Acts we are introduced to St. Barnabas, a
wonderful saint for us to get to know.
The online 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia says the Church ranks St. Barnabas as an Apostle with the Twelve, like St.
Paul [1]. Did you know that? We can see from the book of Acts why this is the case,
although it takes a sharp eye.
In telling the early Church’s story, St.
Luke (the author of the book of Acts) initially gives priority to St. Barnabas
over that of St. Paul, then still called “Saul” by Luke. In fact, Barnabas is
initially emphasized and placed first with only later reference to Saul (Ac11:22, 25, 30; 12:25; 13:1-2, 7). But then St. Luke’s priority changes. During
Barnabas’ and Paul’s missionary journey together (Paul’s first), a miracle
performed by Saul through the Holy Spirit in front of the Gentile Roman
procounsel on the island of Cypress causing a sorcerer to become blind,
resulted in the procounsel’s conversion at the wonder (Ac 13:9-12). It is from
this point that St. Luke drops the name “Saul” and refers to him as “Paul” (Ac13:9), and Paul becomes the lead character for the remainder of Acts (e.g.,
13:13), starting right then in the telling of that first missionary journey
where Paul now becomes the principal speaker (e.g., 13:16; 14:12), even though
Barnabas also continued evangelizing and speaking (e.g., 13:43, 46; 14:3, 7),
and both performed signs and wonders (Ac 14:3) and received persecutions
(13:50; 14:5). Barnabas is also named elsewhere in the New Testament. So it is
the memory of the Church that St. Barnabas is an Apostle along with St. Paul
and the Twelve.
But let’s go back to start Barnabas’ story from the beginning.
Even though the Apostles called him “Barnabas,”
they knew that Barnabas was actually named “Joseph” at birth, that he was of
the tribe of Levi, and born on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus (yes, the
same location where St. Paul worked the miracle converting the Roman
procounsel) (Ac 4:36). As Barnabas later was a landowner (Ac 4:36), as was his
sister Mary (Ac 12:12), the tradition is that he was born into a wealthy
family. [2]
Although there is no historical record nor
known tradition, the story is that Barnabas once said, “They named me Joseph
because like the ancient one,” – i.e., Joseph, the first son of Rachel and 11th
son of the Patriarch Jacob – “I relieved my mother of the grief of being
barren. But my mother always said, ‘my consolation’ when she fed me, so I
became Barnabas for everybody.” “Barnabas” means “son of consolation” or
“encouragement” (Ac 4:36). So as the firstborn after a long wait, and being
“the consolation of his parents,” the story is that he was consecrated to God
from his birth. [3] And per this story, it would be reasonable to think that
Barnabas might have been born around 5 AD. (This “story” is as relayed in a
1946 mystical vision of Maria Voltorta. [4])
Barnabas also had at least two younger
siblings. The tradition of the Eastern Church is that the Aristobulus whose
family St. Paul greets in his letter to the Romans (Ro 16:10) was the brother
of Barnabas. Barnabas also had a sister Mary, the mother of John Mark (Ac12:12). John Mark is called Barnabas’ “cousin” by St. Paul in English
translation (Col 4:10), but the Greek term specifically means a sister’s son.
So today we would say Mark was Barnabas’ nephew, meaning Mark’s mother was
Barnabas’ sister. We will hear more of both Aristobulus and Mark as our story
of Barnabas unfolds in future installments.
But for now, consider that the person of St. Barnabas is an ideal for all of us to ascribe to as he is described as being “full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Ac 11:24).
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.
Dibby Allan Green has a BA in Religious Studies (Westmont College, 1978) and MA in Theology (Augustine Institute, 2019), is a lay Catholic hermit, and a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.