Various publications claim that from around midnight on August 23 and throughout August 24, the Feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, also known as Saint Bartholomew’s Day, the devil roams around the world especially loose, causing damage and mishaps. What is true in this?
Publications on social networks, also disseminated by media outlets in different countries in America, suggest that a tradition recommends taking special care every August 24, because during that day “the devil is loose.”
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Thus, it is recommended not to use matches to avoid a fire, or to be careful when handling knives or firearms to avoid a tragedy.
Some even warn against entering rivers, lakes or the sea, because the demon could drown them.
The devil “prowls like a roaring lion”
In this regard, Father José de Jesús Aguilar, deputy director of Radio and Television of the Primate Archdiocese of Mexico, stated in a video published on his YouTube channel that it is “a superstition”, since “this is totally false”.
“The demon is not only loose on that day, but the demon is loose every day of the year,” he specified.
To explain this, the Mexican priest encouraged reading the First Letter of Saint Peter, which in chapter 5, verse 8, says: “Be sober and be vigilant because your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him firm in faith.”
Father Aguilar indicated that this biblical passage “tells us that we must be attentive at all times, because the devil will always do everything possible, through temptations and other strategies, to make us distance ourselves from God, so that we do not Let us fulfill the Commandments and be lost forever.”
The priest recalled that on August 24 the Catholic Church “celebrates Saint Bartholomew the Apostle,” who was “a man who was chosen by Christ, who witnessed his works, his sayings, who was sent to preach and who preached bravely.” until martyrdom.”
“For not renouncing his faith, and for defending it against heretics, before non-Christians, this man was martyred in a brutal way: They skinned him alive, that is, they removed all his skin while he was alive, but giving testimony of their faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ,” he noted.
Saint Bartholomew and the devil
When explaining the relationship between Saint Bartholomew the Apostle and the devil, Father José de Jesús Aguilar recalled that in some paintings they represent the saint “with a little devil whom he has chained.”
The Mexican priest recalled that an ancient tradition remembers how Saint Bartholomew expelled the demon from an entire region in Armenia and even exorcised a king’s daughter, who was possessed by an unclean spirit.
Finally, the holy apostle would be martyred on August 24, the day on which the Catholic Church celebrates its feast day.
For some, Father Aguilar explained, this meant that “the devil was doing his thing to make Bartolomé die. And therefore, on August 24, the demon was loose.”
The race of Saint Bartholomew and the devil: A Peruvian legend
Father Aguilar also referred to a legend that has spread from northern Peru to places as distant as Mexico itself.
The legend, spread by the media in Mexico, presents Saint Bartholomew as the “owner” of a region in the Chicama valley, on the northern coast of Peru. The devil, out of envy, challenged him to a race near Mount Gasñape.
With the help of God, Saint Bartholomew was able to jump over the Chicama River and won the competition against the devil, who fell and drowned.
The Mexican priest pointed out that these places are “in Peru” and not “in Armenia or other places.”
“It is a pious tradition, a beautiful little legend, but nothing that has to do with what the Gospel tells us about this character who did not make bets or competitions, but rather his interest was in preaching the Gospel,” he highlighted.
The true struggle of Saint Bartholomew with the devil, Father Aguilar stressed, “did not consist in jumping or leaping, but above all in bringing the Gospel to every place, so that people would not be carried away by the devil and would be saved.” following Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
A “superstition and trickery”
Father Francisco Torres Ruiz, priest of the diocese of Plasencia (Spain) who until recently was in charge of the ministry of exorcism, agreed that the belief that the devil “is on the loose” on August 24 is nothing more than “superstition and trickery”.
“There is no basis to determine that certain nights of the year the devil has a stronger action,” he said, indicating that this type of belief is more related to “folklore, popular culture,” but “it still has a basis purely superstitious.”
The Spanish priest warned that “the danger of superstition is that it can lead us to a mental obsession that this happens because that has been done, or because the other was not done well, and then there are people who fall into that obsession and “it hurts more psychologically than anything else.”
“Neither the night of August 24, nor the night of June 24, neither, the devil is looser than any other,” he reiterated.
“Since he revealed himself against God, the devil has waged war against Him and, until the end of time, he brings war, tempting and confusing all of Adam’s children, regardless of what day of the year it is.”
The Spanish exorcist also indicated that this type of superstitions do “more harm than good to people with weak faith and with a faith that is not right in believing in the only true God.”
Originally published August 24, 2022. It has been updated for republication.
David Ramos
Graduated in Communication Sciences from the Universidad Privada del Norte in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working at ACI Prensa, I have been based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered Pope Francis’ trips to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.