The Parish Church of Saint Matthew
Big Lamp ~ Newcastle
Saint Matthew
The
New
Testament
evidence
of
the
life
of
Saint
Matthew
is
scant.
We
are
told
that
Jesus
called
him
to
be
an
Apostle
(one
of
group
of
twelve
close
associates
of
Jesus,
who
are
believed
to
have
a
particular
significance
for
the
institution
of
the
Church
-
the
word
means
one
who
is
sent)
outside
the tax office:
As
Jesus
passed
on
from
there,
he
saw
a
man
called
Matthew
sitting
at
the
tax
office;
and
he
said
to
him,
"Follow
me."
And
he rose and followed him.
Matthew 9: 9
A
little
later
on
in
one
of
the
lists
of
the
Apostles
(Matt
10:
3)
he
is
described
as
having
been
a
tax
official
himself.
He
is
mentioned
in
three
further
lists
of
the
Apostles
(Mark
3:
18,
Luke
6:
15,
Acts
1:13).
He
is
identified by some with Levi, son of Alpheus (Mark 2: 14, Luke 5: 27).
Matthew
may
have
been
from
Galilee,
a
region
remote
from
the
centre
of
Jewish
and
Roman
(the
occupying
power)
government.
As
a
tax-
collector,
he
was,
presumably
literate
and
numerate.
His
name
is
associated
with
the
first
of
the
four
Gospels
in
the
New
Testament,
which
was
considered
to
have
been
written
for
a
community
with
a
strong residual Jewish identity.
Tradition
has
it
that
Saint
Matthew
was
martyr
ed
(killed
for
being
a
Christian);
but
there
are
early
voices, which deny this. His body is said to rest in the crypt of Salerno Cathedral in Italy.
Saint
Matthew's
virtue
inheres,
in
part,
in
his
conversion
of
life
from
a
career,
which
was
generally
characterised
by
cynical
and
callous
greed.
His
new
life
saw
him
become
and
Evangelist
(author
of a New Testament Gospel), Apostle and Martyr.
