Saint Matthias the Apostle

Saint Matthias was a disciple of Jesus who, after the Lord’s Ascension, was chosen to join the Twelve in place of Judas Iscariot. All that is known about him with certainty comes from the Acts of the Apostles. The Church celebrates his feast on May 14.

His name derives from a Hebrew name meaning “gift of God.” His origins and the year of his birth are unknown. According to the Acts of the Apostles, he accompanied Jesus throughout his public ministry, from the baptism of John until the Ascension. The Church historian Eusebius of Caesarea counted him among the disciples whom Jesus sent ahead of him, as the Gospel according to Saint Luke relates.

In the days after the Ascension the disciples, about one hundred and twenty persons, gathered in Jerusalem. Peter recalled that Judas, who had handed Jesus over, had lost his place among the apostles. He urged that it be taken by one of the men who had been with them the whole time, so that together with them he might become a witness to the resurrection. Two were put forward: Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. The assembly prayed, asking the Lord, who knows the hearts of all, to show which of the two he had chosen. Then they cast lots; the lot fell upon Matthias, who was counted with the eleven apostles.

With him the full number of the Twelve, a sign of the new Israel, was restored, and upon them the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost. Matthias is named in the Roman Canon, that is, the First Eucharistic Prayer. In his catechesis of October 18, 2006, Benedict XVI observed that we know nothing more about him except that he had been a witness of Jesus’ earthly life and remained faithful to him to the end. The Pope saw his call to the traitor’s place almost as a compensation for the betrayal of Judas. From this he drew the lesson that each of us is to answer the evil done by unfaithful Christians with a clear witness to Christ.

Later accounts of his mission and death are vague and contradict one another. According to one, he preached the Gospel first in Judea and then in “Ethiopia,” that is, as is generally held, in Colchis on the Black Sea, and was crucified. Another says that he was stoned in Jerusalem and then beheaded. Some suppose that he died a natural death. When and where he ended his life is unknown.

Matthias has been venerated as a saint since antiquity, without a formal canonization. His relics are venerated in Trier, in the church of the Abbey of Saint Matthias. According to legend, Empress Helena had them brought there through Agritius, bishop of Trier.

In Rome his feast had long been kept on February 24. In the reform of the calendar in 1969 it was moved to May 14, so that it would fall not in Lent but in the Easter season, close to the Solemnity of the Ascension, after which Matthias was chosen. The German-speaking countries kept the former date of February 24.