Saint Matthew

Matthew, also called Levi, son of Alphaeus, was a tax collector in Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee. Tax collectors worked for the Roman occupiers and were despised as traitors and sinners. Yet when Jesus passed by and said, "Follow me," Matthew got up and followed him (Matthew 9:9). He then hosted a banquet for Jesus with other tax collectors, and when critics complained, Jesus answered that he came to call not the righteous but sinners.

Christian tradition holds that Matthew wrote the first of the four Gospels, which presents Jesus as the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel and includes the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. Ancient tradition says he later preached in distant lands, often named as Ethiopia or Persia, and died a martyr. His symbol is a winged man, because his Gospel begins with the human genealogy of Jesus.

His relics are venerated in the cathedral of Salerno, Italy, whose patron he is; on September 21 the city carries his silver statue in a great procession to the sea.

Caravaggio's famous paintings of his calling and martyrdom hang in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. Accountants, bankers and tax workers often ask his intercession on his feast.