Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/September 21

Matthew the Evangelist (מתי, "Gift of the LORD", Standard Hebrew and Tiberian Hebrew: Mattay; Septuagint Greek: Ματθαίος, Matthaios), most often called Saint Matthew, is an important Christian figure, and one of Jesus' Twelve Apostles.

Very little about Matthew's life is certain, and many accounts of it are contradictory. The Gospel of Matthew introduces him as a publican, or tax-collector, probably near Capernaum.

Some contend that Matthew's father, Alphaeus, may be the same Alphaeus who was father to the apostle, James (also called James the Lesser), and that the two were brothers. However, the Gospels never describe Matthew as John's brother, even in passages where John and James or Peter and Andrew are described as brothers.

According to Luke's Gospel, on the same day Jesus called him, he made a "great feast" (Luke 5:29) to which he invited Jesus and his disciples. The last notice of him in the New Testament is in Acts 1:13. He is one of the few disciples mentioned by name in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, suggesting he was of more importance in the early Church than surviving evidence indicates. Legend speculates that he preached the gospel for a long time after the Ascension and carried it all the way to Ethiopia, where he was killed.

The time and manner of Matthew's death are also unclear. According to Edward Ullendorff, the seventh book of a work he calls the "Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles" contains an account of the baptism of King Aeglippus of Ethiopia by Matthew, after having travelled to its capital, Naddayer. However, Matthew is said to have been killed by Aeglippus' brother, Hyrtacus, when he took the throne. Hyrtacus is said to have killed Matthew because the evangelist refused to sanction his marriage to Epiphigenia, Aeglippus' daughter. Other traditions say that Matthew was martyred in Hierapolis of Parthia. According to Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, Matthew was martyred in Hierapolis."

Attributes: tax collector
Patronage:Accountants, bank employees, moneychangers, tax collectors, customs officers, Salerno, Italy and against alcoholism
Prayer: Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: "Follow me". Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men."