Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. VIII, 1952 Sacred Scripture Peoples and figures

Matthias, Apostle

MATTIA, APOSTOLO

Feast day: 24 February

Italian original Cite

Also known as: St. Matthias

MATTHIAS, APOSTLE (Μαθθίας is an abbreviation of the Hebrew Mattanjāh = "Gift of Yahweh"; also Ματθαθίας = Hebrew Mattithjāh; Syriac Tolmaj). - He took the place of Judas Iscariot. According to Eusebius (Hist. eccl., 1, 12) he was one of the 72 disciples. Acts 1:15-26 relates that Peter proposed to replace Judas with one of those disciples who had associated with the Apostles during Jesus' public ministry, from the Baptism of John the Baptist to the Ascension, so that he too might be able to become a "witness of the Resurrection." Among the 120 of whom the Church of Jerusalem was composed, two were proposed, certainly the most prominent, Joseph called Barsabbas, surnamed "Justus," and M. Since the apostle had to be chosen by Jesus, the Apostles turned to Him (Κύριος καρδιαγνώστης), that He might show by lot which of the two was the chosen one. M. was elected, and without any further formality was aggregated to the apostolic College.

According to Heracleon he would have died a natural death (in Clement of Alexandria, Strom., IV, 9; PG 8, 1281). According to Nicephorus (Hist. eccl., II, 40; PG 145, 862), he would have preached in Ethiopia, suffering martyrdom there; according to others in Judea, where he would have been stoned. The apocrypha have him preach in the land of the anthropophagi, like Matthew and Andrew. It is not clear whether they confuse him with Matthew. There exist the apocrypha: Acta Andreae et Matthiae in urbe anthropophagorum, the "Traditions" and the "Gospel" of M. (v. below). Clement of Alexandria (Strom., III, 4; PG 8, 1131) reports an agraphon of M.: "One must fight against one's own flesh and treat it with rigor."

Feast on 24 (or 25) February. He is the patron of butchers and of engineers. His relics are preserved at St. Mary Major in Rome and at Trier. In the Canon of the Mass he appears in the list of the Nobis quoque.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: Acta SS. Februarii, III, Paris 1865, pp. 431-54; A. Arrighini, I Dodici (Apostoli), Turin 1935, pp. 485-501; A. Médiéchi, Apostolat, in DBs, I, coll. 566-68; O. Hophan, Gli Apostoli, Italian trans. Turin 1950, pp. 247-57. For the medieval legends, cf. Jacopo da Varazze, La leggenda aurea, Italian trans., Alba 1938, pp. 297-301.

GOSPEL OF MATTHIAS

Apocryphon mentioned by Origen (Hom. I in Lucam., t. 1), by Eusebius (Hist. eccl., III, 25, 6), by the so-called "Catalogue of the 60 canonical books" and by the Gelasian Decree.

Some (A. Harnack, E. Hennecke) distinguish it; others (Th. Zahn, O. Bardenhewer) identify it with the gnostic Traditions of Matthias (Παραθέσεις Μανθίου), composed in the 2nd century in Egypt and cited three times by Clement of Alexandria (Strom., II, 9, 45; III, 4, 26; VII, 13, 82), and with the Secret Discourses of Jesus to the apostle M., possessed by the Basilidian leaders, of which (cf. Philosophonumena, VII, 20) only the citations in Clement of Alexandria survive.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: Th. Zahn, Gesch. des neutest. Kanons, II, Erlangen 1892, p. 751 ff.; E. Hennecke, Handbuch zu den neutest. Apokryphen, Tübingen 1904, p. 90; Bardenhewer, I, p. 520; G. Bonaccorsi, Vangeli apocrifi, Florence 1948, pp. XVI ff., 28-30; J. B. Frey, Apocryphes du Nouv. Test., in DBs, I, col. 478.

Bonaventura Mariani

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By Bonaventura Mariani

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Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII (1952), coll. 500–501.

More by Bonaventura Mariani: Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist, Saint · Marracci, Lodovico · Marini, Marco · Marcellinus the Evangelist · Malermi (Malerbi, Manebri), Niccolò

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Chicago

Mariani, Bonaventura. “Mattia, apostolo (μαθθίας è abbreviazione dell'ebr. mattanjāh = « dono di jahweh »; anche ματθαθίας = ebr. mattithjāh; sir. tolmaj).” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, coll. 500–501. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/mattia-apostolo-maththias-e-abbreviazione-dell-ebr-mattanjah-dono-di-jahweh-anche-matthathias-eb.

MLA

Mariani, Bonaventura. “Mattia, apostolo (μαθθίας è abbreviazione dell'ebr. mattanjāh = « dono di jahweh »; anche ματθαθίας = ebr. mattithjāh; sir. tolmaj).” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, coll. 500–501. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/mattia-apostolo-maththias-e-abbreviazione-dell-ebr-mattanjah-dono-di-jahweh-anche-matthathias-eb.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec8_mattia_apostolo_maththias_e_ab,
  author    = {Mariani, Bonaventura},
  title     = {Mattia, apostolo (μαθθίας è abbreviazione dell'ebr. mattanjāh = « dono di jahweh »; anche ματθαθίας = ebr. mattithjāh; sir. tolmaj)},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {VIII},
  pages     = {500--501},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1952},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/mattia-apostolo-maththias-e-abbreviazione-dell-ebr-mattanjah-dono-di-jahweh-anche-matthathias-eb}
}

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