Common Meadow Saffron. Colchicum autumnale.
Dedicated to St. Eustachius.
[329] Gentleman’s Magazine.
September 21.
St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. St. Maura, A. D. 850. St. Lo, or Laudus, Bp. of Coutances, A. D. 568.
St. Matthew.
This is a festival in the church of England calendar, and in the almanacs.
Mr. Audley notices of Matthew, that he was also called Levi; that he was the son of Alpheus, a publican, or tax-gatherer, under the Romans; and that he is said to have preached the gospel in Ethiopia, and to have died a martyr there. Mr. A. inclines to think that he died a natural death. He says, it is generally, if not universally, agreed by the ancients, that Matthew wrote his gospel in Hebrew, but that several moderns think it was written in Greek, and that Matthew has more quotations from the Old Testament than any of the evangelists.