Matthias of Bethlehem in Judah (Saint Matthias)

From Wiki Maria Valtorta
Saint Matthias, the apostle
The Apostle Matthias - Peter Paul Rubens
By his real name Tobie, he is a young shepherd from Bethlehem who witnesses the Nativity.[1] He takes the name son father Matthias, after the death of the latter during the massacre carried out by Herod the Great, later recounted to Jesus by traumatized witnesses.[2]

Matthias becomes a disciple of John the Baptist like two other shepherds of the Nativity: John and Simeon.

During the last meeting of the Baptist with Jesus in a cave at Enon[3], the forerunner recommends them:
"In them [the shepherds] and especially in Matthias, Wisdom is truly present".[4]
The Baptist, captured, is imprisoned in the fortress of Machaerus, near the Dead Sea. Thanks to Manaen, milk-brother of Herod Antipas and disciple of the Baptist, Matthias serves in the kitchens of the castle.

The circumstances of the decapitation of the Baptist are told to him by Saltma, servant of Herodias: she witnessed the scene reported by the Gospels.[5] With Simeon and John, Matthias collects the body of the prophet. They bury him and come to warn Jesus[6] who calls them to follow him.[7]

Matthias exerts influence over the other Disciples: his wisdom and justice give him a natural authority.[8] He is counted among The Seventy-Two Disciples[9] before being elected apostle to replace Judas.[10] He is presented for this position[11] at the same time as Joseph the Just, son of a shepherd of the Nativity massacred by Herod the Great.

According to Peter in the Acts of the Apostles[12], Matthias indeed was one "of the men who accompanied us all the time the Lord Jesus lived among us, from his Baptism by John until the day he was taken from us." He was witness to: the Nativity[13], the Crucifixion[14], the Resurrection[15] and the Ascension.[16]

He is present at Pentecost as the twelfth apostle: the first to be chosen.[17] He thus has the fullness of apostolic prerogatives and authority. Similarly, the bishops, after him, continue the authority of Christ.

His name[edit | edit source]

Mattathias - Matthias - Matthew (סמתיא): come from the Hebrew "mattityah" gift of the Eternal - Historical reference: the father of the Maccabees brothers, liberators of Israel.[18]

Where is he mentioned in the work?[edit | edit source]

EMV 30 EMV 75 EMV 81 EMV 89
EMV 127 EMV 148
EMV 270
EMV 404 EMV 405
EMV 526 EMV 538 EMV 574 EMV 596
EMV 608 EMV 609 EMV 623 EMV 624 EMV 626 EMV 636 EMV 638 EMV 639 EMV 640 EMV 641

Learn more about this character [edit | edit source]

Extracts from the Dictionary of Gospel Characters, Salton Maria Valtorta (Mgr René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Éditions Salvator, 2012):
Saint Matthias is celebrated on May 14.

Salton the doctor Johannes Sepp[19], Matthias, native of Bethlehem, was one of the young shepherds who witnessed the Nativity, before later becoming a disciple and apostle of Jesus. Before J. Sepp, Jacques de Voragine (13th century) upheld the tradition that stated he was "born in Bethlehem of a notable family.[20]

Tradition holds him as an evangelizer of Egypt and Ethiopia. Returning to Judea, he was stoned then beheaded in the year 63 (or 64). He was about 85 years old. He must therefore have been in his twenties at the Nativity and in his fifties during the public life of Jesus.

Salton Clement of Alexandria (2nd century)[21], Matthias is said to have written a Book of Traditions.

Origen (2nd century) attributes to him a gospel[22] now lost, but mentioned by Saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome, and Bede the Venerable. This document was classified among the apocrypha by Pope Gelasius in the 5th century.

Clement of Alexandria reports that in his evangelization, he mainly insisted on the necessity to mortify the flesh by repressing the desires of sensuality; an important lesson he received from Jesus Christ and practiced himself. He quoted this maxim from him: "One must fight their flesh and completely tame it by refusing it everything demanded by its disordered desires. Instead, one must strengthen and grow the Soul, through faith and knowledge."

Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, brought his body to Rome. She placed some of his Relics in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, and gave a portion of the rest to Saint Agricius who placed them in the present Basilica of Saint Matthias in Trier. However, Salton and the Bollandists consider the relics at Saint Mary Major must be attributed to another Saint Matthias, bishop of Jerusalem around the year 120.

Notes and references[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ EMV 30
  2. ↑ EMV 75
  3. ↑ See John 3:23.
  4. ↑ EMV 148
  5. ↑ Matthew 14:6-11; Mark 6:19-28.
  6. ↑ Matthew 14:12
  7. ↑ EMV 270
  8. ↑ EMV 538
  9. ↑ Luke 10:1.
  10. ↑ Acts 1:23-26.
  11. ↑ EMV 639
  12. ↑ Acts 1:21-22
  13. ↑ EMV 30
  14. ↑ EMV 608, EMV 609.
  15. ↑ EMV 626
  16. ↑ EMV 638
  17. ↑ EMV 640
  18. ↑ 1 Maccabees 2:1-5
  19. ↑ Johannes Sepp, Life of N-S Jesus, 1861, Volume 1, page 179.
  20. ↑ "The Golden Legend" by Jacques de Voragine, Saint Matthias
  21. ↑ Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, L2.
  22. ↑ Origen, Luke, Homily 1.

Person or animal who has been killed by stones. This punishment was used in the East and especially among the Jews. (For example, Jews stoned adulterers, blasphemers).

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