Matthew the Apostle

Drawing of Matthew by Lorenzo Ferri Salton following the indications of Maria Valtorta. Source: documentary collection of the Maria Valtorta Heritage Foundation.

Galilean from Capernaum, 12th and last apostle of Jesus. Son of Alphaeus, he has a sister who remains anonymous.

This publican (tax collector) is far from popular, one may doubt it, among the "taxpayers" under pressure, many of whom are found among the Apostles.    

He is a reveler and an exploiter, by his function, whom Jesus recruits:

"What is he doing here? It's the first time. Perhaps he did not find the companions, especially the female companions, with whom he spends the Sabbath, spending in orgies what he extorts from us in doubled and tripled taxes to have money for the tax and for his vicious conduct."

The apostolic group will remain stunned by Jesus' sudden choice when He calls him. Jesus will later justify the choice of this sinner tax collector (see below "apostolic path").      

Matthew recounts his path of conversion. He gradually allows himself to be touched by the teaching of Jesus who often preaches in Capernaum.

He starts by sending to Jesus, anonymously through little James, purses for the aid of the poor. He hears Jesus preach repentance and mercy, then the proper use of riches.

All this precedes Jesus' abrupt "come and follow me". He obeys immediately, leaving his counter, without gathering the scattered coins or even closing the chest.

"I have been weeping for almost three months... I did not know what to do... I wanted to come ...But, how to come to You, Saint, with my stained Soul?"

It is on his knees that he asks for forgiveness from the Apostles:

"I unjustly taxed you. But here I kneel before you all and say: do not cast me out! He has forgiven me. Do not be harsher than He."

Levi-Matthew thus becomes the last apostle. To celebrate his regeneration, he gives that same evening a feast attended by the "disreputable" of Capernaum, his friends: Josias the pimp, Simon of Isaac the adulterer, Azariah the gambling den owner… This causes a scandal among the local Pharisees: Eli, Simon and Joachim. 

He also temporarily holds the role of treasurer in place of Judas, when this role is temporarily revoked by Jesus.    

He is one of the four evangelists.

Character and Appearance

The first real exchange between Jesus and Matthew takes place in front of the tax counter. Jesus exceptionally comes to pay the tax for Peter’s fishing:

"There is no tax for the Master’s disciple," Matthew answers, and in a lower voice: "Pray for my Soul." 
- "I carry it within Me, for I harbor sinners. But you... why do you not care?"

His definitive call by Jesus will not be long in coming.

He is a short, stocky man, already aged, about the same as Peter, around his forties, who rises at the sound of Jesus' voice and presents to him "a tired face of a tax collector."

Quite deliberately refined and elegant: he is a "man with curly hair, more perfumed than a Woman," says Peter mockingly about him, when Matthew was still the hated tax collector. After his conversion, he will not completely abandon this refinement, as noted by Maria Valtorta in one of the scenes:

"The Apostles are very modestly dressed, 'except Judas Iscariot, Matthew, Simon and Bartholomew' ranked in descending order of elegance.  

He shows a firm character for having wanted to convert and succeeded.        

Mary will summarize his portrait as follows:

"the humble one who, remembering his past, sought to remain unnoticed."

Apostolic Path

Witness of the Last Supper, the Resurrection, the Ascension and Pentecost.   

Matthew describes his conversion thus:

"I was a sinner, a great sinner. I lived in complete error. I was hardened and did not feel troubled by it. If sometimes the Pharisees or the synagogue leader flogged me with their insults or reproaches, recalling to me a God who was an inexorable Judge, I had a moment of terror... and then I indulged in the foolish thought: 'Anyway, I am now damned. Let us then, oh my senses, enjoy while it is possible.' And I sank more than ever into sin."
"Two springs ago, a Stranger came to Capernaum (...) it was the beginning of His Mission. (...)

He sought me, or so I felt. He did not pass once by my counter without looking at me with His gentle and somewhat sad eye. And each time it was like a jolt to my numbed Conscience, which did not return to the same level of torpor.     

(...) And then... and then... Oh! that day it was not a sad look, but an imperious gaze. He tore my Heart, laid bare my Soul, cauterized it, took it in hand, that poor sick Soul, and tortured it with His demanding love... and I had a new Soul. I went to Him with repentance and desire. He did not wait for me to say to Him: 'Lord, [[Pity, Mercy, Compassion|have mercy]!' He said to me: 'Follow me!'"

"My victory," Jesus said of him. And one evening He said to him:

"You are the man with all his painful human experience. You are therefore the one who, after having fed on mud and now eating the heavenly honey, can speak of the two states and give a true analysis and understand, understand and help your contemporaries and future generations understand. And they will believe you because, precisely, you are the man, the poor man who, by his will, becomes the just man whom God dreamed of. Let Me, the God-Man, lean on you, humanity whom I love to the point of leaving Heaven for you and to die for you. (...)."  

His past serves him in his new role as an apostle:

"The only one among us who has no disgust for any sinner or sinful woman," will say Jude Thaddaeus of him.

Jesus tells him, in view of his future role as evangelist:

"You, my good chronicler, will repeat to them the parable of the ten wise and ten foolish virgins, and that of the master who gives talents to his three servants to make them fruitful, and of the two who gain double and the lazy one who buries his. Do you remember?"

- "Yes, my Lord, exactly."

- "Then repeat them to these. Not all know them, and even those who know them will be pleased to hear them again."

His Name

Mattathias, Matthias, Matthew from the Hebrew "mattityah" meaning gift of the Eternal.

Where is he mentioned in the work?

GRM 35 Beginning of the apostolate in Galilee: GRM 60
Apostolic journey in Judea: GRM 70
Choice of the last Apostles: GRM 94 GRM 95 GRM 96 GRM 97
The last shepherds: GRM 98 GRM 99 GRM 100 GRM 101 GRM 106 GRM 102 GRM 103 GRM 104 GRM 105 GRM 108 GRM 109
In Judea-common life: GRM 110 GRM 111 GRM 112 GRM 115 GRM 116 GRM 117 GRM 118
Teachings on the Ten Commandments: GRM 119 GRM 120 GRM 121 GRM 122 GRM 123 GRM 124 GRM 125 GRM 126 GRM 127 GRM 128 GRM 129 GRM 130 GRM 131 GRM 132
End of year celebrations: GRM 133 GRM 134 GRM 135 GRM 136 GRM 137 GRM 138 GRM 139 GRM 140 GRM 141 GRM 142
The Samaritan woman: GRM 143 GRM 144 GRM 145 GRM 146 GRM 147 GRM 149
The female apostolate: GRM 152 GRM 153 GRM 154 GRM 157 GRM 158
In Galilee, the choice of the Apostles: GRM 160 GRM 162 GRM 164 GRM 165 GRM 166
The Sermon on the Mount: GRM 169 GRM 170 GRM 171 GRM 172 GRM 173 GRM 174 GRM 175 GRM 176
Apostolate in Galilee: GRM 177 GRM 178 GRM 179 GRM 180 GRM 181 GRM 182 GRM 183 GRM 184 GRM 186
The second Easter journey: GRM 187 GRM 188 GRM 189 GRM 190 GRM 191 GRM 192 GRM 193 GRM 194 GRM 195 GRM 196 GRM 197 GRM 198 GRM 199 GRM 200 GRM 201 GRM 202 GRM 203
Apostolate in Judea: GRM 205 GRM 206 GRM 206 GRM 207 GRM 208 GRM 210 GRM 211 GRM 212 GRM 212 GRM 214 GRM 215
Apostolate in Philistia: GRM 216 GRM 217 GRM 218 GRM 219 GRM 220 GRM 221 GRM 222 GRM 223 GRM 224 GRM 225
The conversion of Mary Magdalene: GRM 228 GRM 230 GRM 232 GRM 233 GRM 235 GRM 237 GRM 238 GRM 239 GRM 240 GRM 241 GRM 242 GRM 243 GRM 244 GRM 247 GRM 248 GRM 249 GRM 250 GRM 251 GRM 252 GRM 253 GRM 254 GRM 255
Sending Apostles and Disciples on Mission: GRM 256 GRM 257 GRM 260 GRM 261 GRM 262 GRM 265 GRM 266 GRM 267 GRM 268 GRM 269 GRM 271 GRM 272 GRM 273 GRM 274 GRM 275 GRM 276 GRM 277 GRM 278 GRM 279 GRM 280
Perea, Gilead and Trachonitis: GRM 281 GRM 284 4.149 - GRM 286 GRM 287 GRM 288 GRM 289 GRM 290 GRM 292 GRM 293 GRM 294 GRM 295 GRM 296 GRM 297 GRM 298 GRM 299 GRM 300 GRM 301 GRM 302
End of year celebrations in Nazareth: GRM 312
The journey of the Disciples to Antioch: GRM 313 GRM 314 GRM 315 GRM 316 GRM 318 GRM 319 GRM 320 GRM 321 GRM 322 GRM 323 GRM 324 GRM 325 GRM 326
Phoenicia and Upper Galilee: GRM 327 GRM 328 GRM 329 GRM 330 GRM 331 GRM 332 GRM 333 GRM 334 GRM 335 GRM 336 GRM 337 GRM 338 GRM 339 GRM 340 GRM 341 GRM 342 GRM 343 GRM 344 GRM 345 GRM 346 GRM 347
The Transfiguration and the Bread of Heaven: GRM 348 GRM 349 GRM 350 GRM 351 GRM 352 GRM 353 GRM 354 GRM 355 GRM 356 GRM 357 GRM 358 GRM 359 GRM 360 GRM 361 GRM 362 GRM 363
The penultimate Passover: GRM 364 GRM 365 GRM 366 GRM 367 GRM 368 GRM 369 GRM 370 GRM 371 GRM 372 GRM 375 GRM 376 GRM 377 GRM 378
In Judea: GRM 379 GRM 380 GRM 381 GRM 382 GRM 383 GRM 384 GRM 385
AGodx in Judea: GRM 386 GRM 387 GRM 388 GRM 389 GRM 390 GRM 391 GRM 392 GRM 393 GRM 394 GRM 398 GRM 399 GRM 402 GRM 403
Plain of Sharon: GRM 404 GRM 405 GRM 406 GRM 407 GRM 408 GRM 409 GRM 410 GRM 411 GRM 412
Pentecost, Decapolis and Plain of Esdraelon: GRM 413 GRM 414 GRM 415 GRM 416 GRM 417 GRM 418 GRM 419 GRM 420 GRM 421 GRM 422 GRM 423 GRM 424 GRM 425 GRM 426 GRM 427 GRM 428 GRM 429 GRM 430 GRM 431 GRM 432
Summer in Nazareth: GRM 435 GRM 436 GRM 437 GRM 440 GRM 441 GRM 443 GRM 444 GRM 445 GRM 446 GRM 447 GRM 448 GRM 449 GRM 450 GRM 451 GRM 452 GRM 453 GRM 454 GRM 455 GRM 456 GRM 457 GRM 458 GRM 459 GRM 460 GRM 461 GRM 462 GRM 463 GRM 465
In Syro-Phoenicia: GRM 466 GRM 467 GRM 468 GRM 469 GRM 470 GRM 471 GRM 475 GRM 473 GRM 474 GRM 475 GRM 475 GRM 475
The Feast of Tabernacles: GRM 495
In Moab and Judea: GRM 499 GRM 500 GRM 503 GRM 504 GRM 510 GRM 511 GRM 514 GRM 515 GRM 517 GRM 520 GRM 521
The Feast of Dedication: GRM 529 GRM 531 GRM 532 GRM 535 GRM 536 GRM 537 GRM 538
The resurrection of Lazarus: GRM 547
Exile in Samaria: GRM 551 GRM 552 GRM 554 GRM 566 GRM 567 GRM 568 GRM 571 GRM 574 GRM 575
Return to Jerusalem: GRM 576 GRM 577 GRM 582 GRM 584 GRM 586 GRM 587
Holy Week: GRM 592 GRM 594 GRM 595 GRM 597 GRM 600 (to be completed)
Resurrection Sunday: GRM 621 GRM 626
From the Resurrection to the Ascension: GRM 628 GRM 629 GRM 630 GRM 631 GRM 634 GRM 635 GRM 638 GRM 639 GRM 640 GRM 649

Learn more about this character

In this very famous 13^th-century recension, Matthew is presented as follows:

"Saint Matthew had two names, Matthew and Levi. Matthew means a hasty gift, or a good giver of advice. Or Matthew comes from magnus, great, and Theos, God, as if to say great to God, or good in hand and Theos, hand of God. Indeed he was a hasty gift since his conversion was prompt. He gave advice through his salutary preachings. He was great before God by the perfection of his life, and he was the hand God used to write his Gospel. Levi means taken away, placed, added, appended. He was taken away from his tax office, placed among the Apostles, added to the society of the Evangelists, and appended to the catalog of martyrs."

He is also endowed with four Virtues: Promptness of his obedience, his generosity and liberality, his humility.

His gospel is one of the most read.

Notes and references

Note: Quotations from the work of Maria Valtorta on this page currently use machine-translated text and will gradually be replaced by the official English translation. Until then, the official translation may be consulted through the reference link provided with each quotation.

person who, among the Romans, was responsible for collecting taxes and duties for the State. The legal rate of each tax being hidden, the publicans could raise the amount without any means of control. (Ex: Matthew the evangelist, before following Jesus as an apostle).