Saint Barnabas

Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus named Joseph. The Acts of the Apostles says he sold a field and laid the money at the apostles' feet, and that they called him Barnabas, meaning son of encouragement. When the Christians of Jerusalem feared the newly converted Saul, it was Barnabas who vouched for him. Sent to Antioch, he saw the grace of God at work, brought Saul from Tarsus to help him, and there the disciples were first called Christians.

Barnabas and Paul made the first missionary journey together, through Cyprus and Asia Minor, and defended the Gentile converts at the Council of Jerusalem. Later they parted over Barnabas' cousin John Mark, and Barnabas took Mark to Cyprus. Although not one of the Twelve, he is honored as an apostle. Tradition says he was stoned to death at Salamis in Cyprus.

Barnabas is the patron of Cyprus, where a monastery stands beside his traditional tomb near Salamis. In old England his feast fell on the longest day of the year under the Julian calendar, and churches were decorated with roses and woodruff.

He is invoked as a peacemaker and against hailstorms.