Saint Barnabas

Barnabas’s real name was Joseph, and he was a Jew from a Levite family that had emigrated to Cyprus. The name we know him by was given to him after his baptism, and it means “son of consolation” or “of encouragement”: it stuck to him because of the kind of man he was. In the Acts of the Apostles he appears right after Pentecost: he sells a field he owned and brings the money to the community. Then he does the thing that earns him his place in history. Saul of Tarsus, who until shortly before had been persecuting Christians, had converted in Damascus, and in Jerusalem nobody trusted him — understandably. It was Barnabas who vouched for him and brought him to the apostles. Without that gesture, Paul’s story would have ended there. They set out together on the first missionary journey. Halfway through, young Mark, Barnabas’s cousin, turned back; when it was time to set out again, Paul didn’t want him anymore and Barnabas did. They quarreled and went their separate ways. Barnabas took Mark and went back to Cyprus. He is venerated as an apostle even though he wasn’t one of the Twelve, and the reason is the authority he had in the first community. According to tradition he died at Salamis in Cyprus, stoned, around 61. The Church of Cyprus considers him its founder, and it was thanks to his tomb that in the fifth century it won its independence from Antioch, which it still keeps. If your name is Barnabas, today is your name day.