Edinburgh Castle - 14

Just beyond the Argyle Battery is an 18th-century building which now houses the Redcoat Cafe. It was built as a Cartshed in 1746, following the Battle of Culloden, which ended the fifth and final Jacobite Rising. By this date, the castle was crammed with soldiers, and the structure, originally open-fronted, held 50 carts that brought provisions up from the town to the garrison.



Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (Mark 3:13-19)

Let us now sing this fabulous acrostic on Saint Bartholomew.

Saints of God! Lo, Jesus' people
age to age your glory tell;
in his name for us ye labored,
now in bliss eternal dwell.

Twelve poor men, by Christ anointed,
braved the rich, the wise, the great,
all the world counts dear rejecting,
rapt in their apostolate.

Thus the earth their death-wounds purchased,
hallowed by the blood therefrom,
on her bosom bore the nations,
laved, illumined--Christendom.

On this feast, almighty Father,
may we praise thee with the Son,
evermore his love confessing,
who from both with both is one.