Saint Matthew
Feast day: September 21
Saint Matthew, the tax collector who left all to follow Jesus, writer of the first Gospel (21/09)
Who is he?
Saint Matthew is one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Before he followed Jesus, he worked as a tax collector. According to tradition, he wrote the first Gospel in the Bible, so he is called “Saint Matthew the Evangelist.” Pictures and statues often show him with a winged man, the symbol of the Gospel he wrote.
Life story
In those days, tax collectors in Capernaum collected money for the rulers, and many of them took more than they should to make themselves rich. That is why people thought of them as sinners and stayed away from them.
One day, Jesus passed by the tax booth and saw Matthew sitting there. Jesus did not scold him; he only said: “Follow me.” Matthew got up at once, left his money table behind and followed him (cf. Mt 9:9). The Gospels of Mark and Luke tell the same story about a tax collector named Levi; according to tradition, Levi is Matthew.
Happy to be called by Jesus, he held a meal for Jesus at his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down to eat with them. The Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with them. Jesus answered: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Mt 9:12). Then he added: “For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mt 9:13).
From then on, Matthew followed Jesus, listened to his teaching and bore witness to him. According to tradition, he wrote his Gospel to help everyone understand that Jesus is the Messiah the prophets had announced. Also according to tradition, he went to preach the Gospel in faraway lands and was martyred. Today, his relics are venerated in the cathedral of Salerno, Italy.
Why is he a saint?
Saint Matthew was once seen as a sinner, but when Jesus called him, he quickly left everything to follow him. He let God’s mercy change his life, and then spent his whole life announcing the Gospel to others.
A lesson for you
- Don’t look down on or avoid a classmate whom others make fun of; Jesus loves those people too.
- When you do something wrong, don’t think God has left you: go to Confession and start again.
- When you hear God inviting you to do something good, quickly “get up” and do it right away.
Identifying marks
- An angel (a winged man) beside him: the symbol of Saint Matthew the Evangelist, because his Gospel begins with the family tree of Jesus, the Son of God made man.
- An open Gospel book and a pen: according to tradition, he wrote the first Gospel.
- A money bag at his side: it recalls that he was a tax collector before he followed Jesus.
- An axe or a sword (*): from different traditions about his martyrdom.
(*) Only in some pictures and statues.
The text on this page is the saint card in the Catholic Information app, word for word.
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