Matthias, Apostle

Quick: name the 12 Apostles of Jesus.  Your answer may have an asterisk at the end.  This is because there are two different answers (both correct) to the challenge.  Judas Iscariot was one of the original Twelve.  But after his suicide/death (depending on if you read Matthew 27 or Acts 1), the remaining Eleven put forth two names – Barsabbas and Matthias -- as a replacement.  After prayer and casting lots Matthias became a member of the Twelve.

Today is the (western) feast day of St. Matthias. We never hear of him again in the New Testament following his election as an Apostle.  Tradition holds that he preached in Judea before going into the world to evangelize.  The church at Cappadocia maintains that Matthias founded the church there.  There are also traditions about his apostolic activity in the area of the Caspian Sea.  Christian legend maintains that he died a martyr’s death in that region and that after his crucifixion his killers dismembered his body.

Another tradition reports that St. Helena, who was the Roman Emperor Constantine’s mother, transported the relics of Matthias from Jerusalem to Rome.

I have always had an attraction to the Matthias stories because they indicate that there is an equal place in gospel work for relative late-comers.

Saint Matthias is the patron of carpenters, tailors, those with smallpox, and addicts of all kinds & their caregivers.

This is the collect for The Feast of St.Matthias from the Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, who in the place of Judas chose your faithful servant Matthias to be numbered among the Twelve: Grant that your Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always be guided and governed by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.