St Bartholomew was one of the most venerated apostles, particularly because of his terrible flaying and martyrdom. On account of his name's meaning, he was especially fitting as a patron for the Liparians, skilled sailors whose livelihoods depended on the sea. After the Sack of Rome in 410, the spoils were taken to Maypherkat. In 507 Emperor Anastasius I transferred them to Darae in Mesopotamia. A Spanish merchant acquired brought them with him to Naples, whence they were voluntarily returned to Lipari. The body of St Bartholomew reappeared at Lipari in 546 and remained there until the siege and sack of the island by the Arabs. St Bartholomew had long been venerated on all the islands of the archipelago and when his body was recovered it was taken to Benevento for safekeeping. According to tradition, after the sack of the island, St Bartholomew appeared to a surviving monk in a dream and called on him to recover his bones, revealing their hiding place between the two altars: they were the brightest among a confused mass of bones. They were then secretly transferred by the Lombard prince Sicardo who sent the body of the saint to Sorrento and then to Benevento. The cult was never destroyed, however, but it became ever more established in all the Aeolian Islands and along with Saint Lucy, Saint Bartholomew is the protector and patron of the archdiocese of Messina. In Aeolian art, the saint is depicted half naked with his skin, the symbol of his martyrdom, on his right shoulder, a palm in his right hand, a knife in his left and a crown on his head. His motto is "Per troppa Fedeltà porto Corona" (For exceptional faith, I bear a crown).