February 24.

S. MATTHIAS, AP. M.
(AFTER A.D. 60.)

[Roman Martyrology, but in leap year on Feb. 25th. So all Latin Martyrologies, with the exception of the ancient Roman one bearing the name of S. Jerome, which does not include any mention of S. Matthias, and the Church of Milan venerates S. Matthias on Feb. 7; the Greeks commemorate him on August 9th. The election of this Apostle is said to have taken place on May 12th. Authorities:—The Acts of the Apostles, and various traditional notices concerning him. The Apocryphal Syriac Acts of S. Matthias are extant.]

SAINT MATTHIAS not having been an Apostle of the first election, immediately called and chosen by our Blessed Lord, particular remarks concerning him are not to be expected in the narrative of the Holy Gospels. He was, probably, one of the Seventy disciples who had attended on Christ the whole time of his public ministry. A vacancy having been made in the college of the Apostles by the suicide of the traitor Judas, the first thing which they did after their return from Mount Olivet—where Our Lord took leave of them on His Ascension—to S. John's house on Mount Sion, was to fill up their number with a fit person; for this purpose, S. Peter informed them that Judas, according to the prophetic prediction, having fallen from his ministry, it was necessary that another should be substituted in his room, one that had been a constant companion and disciple of the Holy Jesus, and, consequently, capable of bearing witness to His life, death, and resurrection. Two were proposed as candidates—Joseph, called Barsabas and Justus (whom some make the same with Joses, one of the brethren of Our Lord), and Matthias—both duly qualified for the place. The way of election was by lots, a way frequently used both among Jews and Gentiles for the determination of doubtful and difficult cases, and especially in the choosing judges and magistrates: and this course the Apostles rather took because the Holy Ghost was not yet given, by whose immediate dictates and inspiration they were chiefly guided afterwards. The lots were put into the urn, and the name of Matthias was drawn out, and thereby the Apostolate devolved upon him. Not long after, the promised powers of the Holy Ghost were conferred upon the Apostles, to fit them for that great and difficult employment upon which they were sent; and, among the rest, S. Matthias betook himself to his charge and province. The first period of his ministry he spent in Judæa; whence, having reaped a considerable harvest, he betook himself to other provinces. The Greeks, with some probability, report him to have travelled eastwards into Cappadocia (which they erroneously call Æthiopia). Here, meeting with a people of a fierce and intractable temper, he was treated by them with great rudeness and inhumanity; and from them, after all his labour and sufferings, and a numerous conversion of men to Christianity, he obtained at last the crown of martyrdom, about the year of Christ, 64. Little certain information can be ascertained concerning the manner of his death; but the Greek Menæa, which are corroborated by several ancient breviaries, relate that he was crucified, and that as Judas was hanged upon a tree, so Matthias suffered upon a cross. His body is said to have been kept a long time at Jerusalem, thence thought to have been translated to Rome by S. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, where some supposed portions of it are shown with great veneration at this day; though others contend that his relics were brought to and are still preserved at Trèves. Among many apocryphal writings attributed to the Apostles, there was a Gospel published under his name, mentioned by the ancient ecclesiastical historians, and condemned with the rest by Gelasius, Bishop of Rome, as it had been rejected by others before him.

BEHEADING OF S. MATTHIAS. From Cahier.

Feb. 24.