Today, September 21, the Church honors St. Matthew, the apostle and evangelist who once worked as a tax collector before answering Christ’s call. Though history preserves only limited details of his life, the Gospel attributed to Matthew stands as a cornerstone of Christian faith, long regarded as the earliest of the four Gospels and a powerful testimony to Jesus as the promised Messiah.
Eastern Catholic and Orthodox traditions mark his feast on November 16, commemorating him alongside St. Fulvianus, a prince said to have converted from paganism after witnessing Matthew’s martyrdom.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all recount his striking encounter with Christ. Sitting at his tax booth in Capernaum, near the Sea of Galilee, Matthew was called by Jesus with the simple yet life-changing words: “Follow me.” Without hesitation, he rose and followed. For a man despised by his community since tax collectors were seen as collaborators with Rome and often accused of extortion this calling revealed the radical reach of Christ’s mission. The Lord’s response to critics, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners,” summed up the heart of his ministry.
Matthew witnessed the Risen Lord, his ascension, and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In his Gospel, he faithfully recorded the Great Commission: Christ’s command to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
Tradition holds that Matthew spent his later years spreading the Gospel and ultimately gave his life as a martyr, with accounts placing his death in a region near present-day Egypt.
His legacy has inspired centuries of Christian art and music from the intricate illustrations of the ninth-century Book of Kells, to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and the famous cycle of paintings by Caravaggio in Rome’s Contarelli Chapel.
Reflecting on the saint’s dramatic conversion, Pope Benedict XVI once observed that Matthew embodies a paradox: those who seem farthest from holiness may become shining witnesses of God’s mercy. His life is a reminder that grace can transform even the most unlikely of hearts into vessels of divine mission.