St. Matthias.
Ital. San Mattia. Fr. St. Mathias. (Feb. 24.)
St. Matthias, who was chosen by lot to fill the place of the traitor Judas, is the last of the apostles. (Acts i.) He preached the Gospel in Judea, and suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Jews, either by the lance or by the axe. In the Italian series of the apostles, he bears as his attribute the lance; in the German sets, more commonly the axe.[230] The ceremony of choosing St. Matthias by lot is the subject of a mediocre picture by Boschi. St. Denis says that the apostles were directed in their choice by a beam of divine splendour, for it were impious to suppose that such an election was made by chance. In this picture of Boschi, a ray of light falls from heaven on the head of St. Matthias.
There is a figure of this apostle by Cosimo Roselli, holding a sword by the point: what might be the intention of that capricious painter it is now impossible to guess.[231] Separate pictures of St. Matthias are very rare, and he is seldom included in sets of the apostles.