Saint Barnabas
Apostle
- Feast Day
- June 11
- Life
- d. 61
- Born
- Cyprus
Saint Barnabas, born Joseph, was a Levite and a native of Cyprus (Acts 4:36). His name Barnabas, given by the Apostles, is interpreted in Acts as Son of Encouragement. After selling his property and laying the proceeds at the Apostles' feet, he became one of the leaders of the early Jerusalem community.
Barnabas introduced the newly converted Saul of Tarsus to the Apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 9:27). Sent by the Jerusalem Church to investigate the new mixed Jewish-Gentile community at Antioch, he himself fetched Saul from Tarsus to assist in teaching there (Acts 11:22-26). It was at Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
About 46 AD Barnabas and Saul (now Paul) were set apart by the Holy Spirit at Antioch for the first missionary journey through Cyprus and southern Asia Minor (Acts 13-14). They both attended the Council of Jerusalem about 49 AD (Acts 15). Although Acts calls them apostles (Acts 14:4, 14), Barnabas is not one of the Twelve. After a disagreement with Paul over the inclusion of John Mark on the second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-39), Barnabas returned to Cyprus with Mark.
According to ancient tradition preserved by Tertullian, Eusebius, and the apocryphal Acts of Barnabas, he was martyred by stoning at Salamis in Cyprus about 61 AD. His tomb, miraculously discovered with a copy of Matthew's Gospel on his breast in 478, is a foundation document for the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus.
Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement, models the apostolic gift of recognizing the Spirit at work in others (he received Paul, then John Mark, when others rejected them) and the missionary zeal that brought the Gospel from Jewish Palestine into the Greco-Roman world. His feast on June 11 was kept on this date already in the Hieronymian Martyrology of the fifth century.
Patronages
Cyprus · Antioch · peacemakers
Catholic Churches Named After Saint Barnabas
20 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint Barnabas's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:
- Saint Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham — Nottingham, ENG
- Saint Barnabas Roman Catholic Church — Chicago, IL
- St. Barnabas' (Shettleston) — Glasgow, SCT
- Church of St. Barnabas & St. Paul — Alyangula, NT
- St. Barnabas — Birmingham, AL
- Saint Barnabas Catholic Church — Birmingham, AL
- St. Barnabas — Mazomanie, WI
- St Barnabas Catholic Church — Long Beach, CA
- Saint Barnabas Church — Greenwich, CT
- St. Barnabas — Indianapolis, IN
- St. Barnabas — Arden, NC
- Sint-Barnabaskerk — Lo-Reninge
- Saint Barnabas Chapel
- Sint-Barnabaskerk
- St. Barnabas Church Matasia — Matasia
- St. Barnabas — Northfield, OH
- St. Barnabas Congregation - St. Rita site — West Allis, WI
- St. Barnabas Parish — Alameda, CA
- St. Barnabas Parish — Bayville, NJ
- St. Barnabas — Portsmouth, RI
Sources