BARTOLOMEO da SIMÈRI, saint. — Organizer of Basilian monastic life in southern Italy after the Norman conquest. From a life of B., dating from the second half of the 12th century, it may be inferred that he was born at Simèri (Catanzaro), around the middle of the 11th century, into a noble family, and that he was given the name Basilio. While still very young, he became a disciple of the hermit Cirillo. He later withdrew to the mountains near Rossano, where, with the financial assistance of the protonobilissimo Cristòdulo and Adelaide, widow of Count Ruggero, he built the monastery of S. Maria Odigitria, known as that of the Patire, or Patirion. B. was ordained a priest by the bishop of Belcastro, Policronio; but the bishop of Rossano soon rose up against him. B. then obtained from Pasquale II (1105) confirmation of the exemption of his monastery. B. went to Constantinople, where the empress Irene, together with the emperor Alessio Comneno, received him with honors and showered him with gifts consisting of money, books, and sacred vessels; he was also commissioned by Basilio Kalimèris to reform a monastery on Mount Athos.
B., having returned to Rossano, ended his days there on 19 August 1130. His cult soon spread through the Basilian monasteries of southern Italy, as several Typika attest.