Matthias, the Holy Apostle of Christ

Matthias, in the opinion of some, was of the royal house of David; and from his youth he was well instructed in the law of God, at Bethlehem. He was one of the seventy disciples of Christ. But shortly after the Lord's ascension, when Judas Iscariot had faithlessly left his apostleship and taken his own life, the remaining eleven apostles, and one hundred and twenty men, through prayer to God and by the lot, unanimously chose him in place of the faithless Judas just named, to be an apostle and ambassador of Jesus Christ, to preach the Gospel, according to the command of the Lord, to all nations, and to baptize the believers. Acts 1, verses 23 to 26.

Afterwards he and the other eleven apostles were scourged by the Jewish council for the name of Jesus Christ, and were commanded to preach no more in the name of Jesus Christ. Acts 5, verses 38 to 40. But they left the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not stop teaching and preaching Jesus Christ.

After the apostles separated and went everywhere to preach, Matthias, in the opinion of Jerome, went far into Ethiopia, where no other apostle had been, into the very interior of the land, indeed, to the uttermost ends, to the inlet of the creek or river Asphar and Hyssus, where the most ignorant and barbarous people were. To these people, sitting as they were in the deepest darkness and ignorance, there arose, through the ministry of this apostle, the true light of the Gospel. But after he had gained many souls there for Christ, he returned, according to history, to Judea, Galilee, and Samaria; namely, because as a result of the dispersion of the apostles, the Jews who lived in those parts could not enjoy the benefits of the ministry of the holy Gospel for their conversion. Hieron. in Catal. Script. Eccl. Isidor. Naucler. Sabell. and Anthon., in Hist. Matthiae. [n120-1]

Concerning the end or martyrdom of Matthias, some write that he would not sacrifice to the false god Jupiter, and was therefore put to death by the heathen. Others, however, state that for the blasphemy which the Jews said he had committed against God, Moses, and the law, he was sentenced by their high priest first to be hung on a cross and stoned, and afterwards beheaded with an ax. In short, when he would not deny Jesus, his Savior, but steadfastly confessed Him, his sentence was this: "Your blood be upon your head, for your own mouth has spoken against you." Then, having been tied on a cross, as some write, or led up onto a rock, as others say, he was stoned, and finally, according to the sentence, beheaded. Joh. Gys., in Hist. Mart., folio 13, column 2, from Anton., in part 1. Also, Konst tooneel, and so on, in the life of Matthias. [n120-2] Also, P. J. Twisck in the Bybelsch Naemboeck, letter M. on the name Matthias, folio 652, columns 1 and 2. [n120-3]