feast day: May 14
about:
- The Greek Matthias (or, in some manuscripts, Maththias), is a name derived from Mattathias, Hebrew Mattithiah, signifying "gift of Yahweh".
- born: 1st century AD, Judea, Roman Empire
- died: c. 80 AD, Jerusalem, Judea or in Colchis (modern-day Georgia)
- attribute: axe
- was the apostle chosen by the believers to replace Judas Iscariot following Judas' betrayal of Jesus and suicide. His calling as an apostle is unique in that his appointment was not made personally by Jesus, who had already ascended into heaven, and, it was made before the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the early Church.
- Matthias was one of the seventy disciples of Jesus, and had been with Him from His baptism by John to the Ascension (Acts 1:21-22). It is related (Acts 1:15-26) that in the days following the Ascension, Peter proposed to the assembled brethren, who numbered one hundred and twenty, that they choose one to fill the place of the traitor Judas in the Apostolate. Two disciples, Joseph, called Barsabas, and Matthias were selected, and lots were drawn, with the result in favour of Matthias, who thus became associated with the eleven Apostles. Zeller has declared this narrative unhistoric, on the plea that the Apostles were in Galilee after the death of Jesus. As a matter of fact they did return to Galilee, but the Acts of the Apostles clearly state that about the feast of Pentecost they went back to Jerusalem.
- All further information concerning the life and death of Matthias is vague and contradictory. According to Nicephorus (Church History II.40), he first preached the Gospel in Judea, then in Ethiopia (that is to say, Colchis) and was crucified. The Synopsis of Dorotheus contains this tradition: Matthias in interiore Æthiopia, ubi Hyssus maris portus et Phasis fluvius est, hominibus barbaris et carnivoris praedicavit Evangelium. Mortuus est autem in Sebastopoli, ibique prope templum Solis sepultus (Matthias preached the Gospel to barbarians and cannibals in the interior of Ethiopia, at the harbour of the sea of Hyssus, at the mouth of the river Phasis. He died at Sebastopolis, and was buried there, near the Temple of the Sun). Still another tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem by the Jews, and then beheaded (cf. Tillemont, "Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire eccl. des six premiers siècles", I, 406-7). It is said that St. Helena brought the relics of St. Matthias to Rome, and that a portion of them was at Trier. Bollandus* (Acta SS., May, III) doubts if the relics that are in Rome are not rather those of the St. Matthias who was Bishop of Jerusalem about the year 120, and whose history would seem to have been confounded with that of the Apostle. The Latin Church celebrates the feast of St. Matthias on 24 February and the Greek Church on 9 August. [Note: After this article was written, the Latin Church moved the feast of St. Matthias to 14 May.]
links/ sources:
- "Saint Matthias" (Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Matthias
- "St. Matthias" (Catholic Encyclopedia):
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10066a.htm
- "St. Matthias" (Catholic Online):
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5
- "Saint Matthias, Apostle" (EWTN):
https://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/MATTHIAS.HTM
- "St. Matthias" (American Catholic):
http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1383