Sidonia called Bartholmai

Illustration of the healing of the Confession-gle-born from John 9,1-34

This is the Confession-gle-born from John 9,1-34. He is a thirty-year-old young man from the working-class district of Ophel, in Jerusalem. He appears to have no eyelids: the forehead meets the cheeks with no cavity, and it seems that underneath there are no eyeballs. Jesus spreads mud on his eyelids and asks him to go wash at the Shiloh fountain: he is healed.

This healing, during the Sabbath, is a trap set up with the complicity of Judas. To foil it, Jesus does not immediately perform the miracle. The Confession-gle, having seen nothing, cannot say anything, in all good faith.

This trap foiled, and Jesus gone, the anger of the Temple falls back on Sidonius (Sidonia) and his parents: they will be expelled from the synagogue and declared anathemas. In this turmoil, Sidonius keeps his faith:

"If God has loved me so much and loved you to the point of giving us the miracle," he said to his mother devastated by the condemnation, "will He not defend us against a handful of men?"

Later Sidonius encounters Jesus whom he has never seen before. He wants to know the Son of God and serve him.

“You do not need to go to Him. The one you see right now and who is speaking to you is the Son of God,” Jesus replies.

At these words, Maria Valtorta has the impression that a very brief The Transfiguration of the Lord occurs. Jesus becomes very radiant and shines.

He turns to the persecutors lying in wait. They are blinder than Sidonius was. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and his sheep know him. Sidonius decides to follow Jesus.

During the Passion, his elderly mother, Anne, dies of pain seeing (Jesus) “wounded and struck, He who had given back the eyes to her son.”

His name

Sidonius: possibly related to the city of Sidon. Bartholmai means "son of Tolmai," also a nickname of Bartholomew (Nathaniel) the Apostle (Barthélemy).

Where is he mentioned in the work?

EMV 510 EMV 511 EMV 518 EMV 519
EMV 630

Learn more about this character

Excerpts from the Dictionary of Characters of the Gospel Salton Maria Valtorta (Mgr René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Éditions Salvator, 2012):

Salton a tradition reported by Mgr Gaume, and attested by several other sources, Sidonius or Celoidonius embarked with the Family of Bethany during their exile in Provence (Narbonese Gaul).

He became bishop of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (Ardèche) under the name of Restitut. This name means "he to whom sight has been restored."

Saint Restitut is celebrated on November 7.

At the death of Maximin, he became bishop of Aix-en-Provence. He is buried in the crypt of Saint Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. It was in his sarcophagus that the Relics of Mary Magdalene had been hidden to protect them from the Saracens.