Matthew the Apostle

Drawing of Matthew by Lorenzo Ferri Salton following the indications of Maria Valtorta. Source: documentary collection of the Maria Valtorta Heir 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, Azarias 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?

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

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).