St. Matthias

St. Matthias is the apostle chosen to replace Judas Iscariot among the Twelve after Christ's Ascension, an event recorded in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Almost nothing is known of his life before that moment. He is identified in Acts 1:23 simply as one of the men who had accompanied Jesus and the disciples 'all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us.' Whether he was one of the seventy-two disciples sent out by Christ, as some later traditions claimed, cannot be verified from the New Testament itself.

The circumstances of Matthias's selection are among the most distinctive in early Christian history. After the Ascension, the remaining apostles — about 120 believers were gathered together — determined that a twelfth apostle was needed to serve as a witness to the resurrection. Two candidates were put forward: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Rather than voting, the community prayed and then cast lots, asking the Lord, 'You who know the hearts of all, show us which one you have chosen.' The lot fell to Matthias, and 'he was numbered with the eleven apostles,' giving the Church its full complement of Twelve.

Unlike Peter, Paul, or John, Matthias leaves almost no narrative footprint in the New Testament after his selection. He is not mentioned again by name in Scripture, which has made his later hagiography largely a matter of tradition rather than documentation. Various early accounts and apocryphal writings assigned him missionary journeys and martyrdoms in different regions — Ethiopia, Colchis in the Caucasus, and elsewhere — but these reports are inconsistent and not historically reliable. The most widely accepted tradition holds that he was martyred, though the manner varies: some sources speak of crucifixion, others of being beheaded or stoned.

St. Matthias's legacy is rooted less in legendary detail and more in what his selection represents: the early Church's deliberate effort to preserve the apostolic witness and the structure of the Twelve established by Christ. He is venerated as a patron of alcoholics, carpenters, and tailors, patronages that developed over the centuries in various local traditions. His feast day was formerly observed on February 24 in some calendars, but in the revised General Roman Calendar of 1969 it was moved to May 14, near the feasts of other apostles connected to the early expansion of the Church. He is the only apostle whose selection, rather than his call during Jesus' earthly ministry, is recorded in the New Testament.