or Gospel of St Matthew, a canonical book of the New Testament.

St Matthew wrote his gospel in Judæa, at the request of those he had converted; and it is thought he began in the year 41, eight years after Christ's resurrection. It was written, according to the testimony of all the ancients, in the Hebrew or Syriac language; but the Greek version, which now passes for the original, is as old as the apostolical times.

St Matthew the Evangelist's Day, a festival of the Christian church, observed on September 21st.

St Matthew, the son of Alpheus, was also called Levi. He was of Jewish origin, as both his names discover, and probably a Galilean. Before his call to the apostolate, he was a publican or toll-gatherer to the Romans: an office of bad repute among the Jews, on account of the covetousness and exactation of those who managed it; St Matthew's office particularly consisting in gathering the customs of all merchandise that came by the sea of Galilee, and the tribute that passengers were to pay who went by water. And here it was that Matthew sat at the receipt of custom, when our Saviour called him to be a disciple. It is probable, that, living at Capernaum, the place of Christ's usual residence, he might have some knowledge of him before he was called. Matthew immediately expressed his satisfaction in being called to this high dignity, by entertaining our Saviour and his disciples at a great dinner at his own house, whither he invited all his friends, especially those of his own profession, hoping, probably, that they might be influenced by the company and conversation of Christ. St Matthew continued with the rest of the apostles till after our Lord's ascension. For the first eight years afterwards, he preached in Judæa. Then he betook himself to propagating the gospel among the Gentiles, and chose Ethiopia as the scene of his apostolical ministry; where it is said he suffered martyrdom. MAT

dom, but by what kind of death is altogether uncertain. It is pretended, but without any foundation, that Hyrtacus, king of Ethiopia, desiring to marry Iphigenia, the daughter of his brother and predecessor Agrippus, and the apostle having represented to him that he could not lawfully do it, the enraged prince ordered his head immediately to be cut off. Baronius tells us, the body of St Matthew was transported from Ethiopia to Bithynia, and from thence was carried to Salernum in the kingdom of Naples in the year 954, where it was found in 1080, and where duke Robert built a church bearing his name.

St Matthew, a town of Spain in the kingdom of Arragon, seated in a pleasant plain, and in a very fertile country watered with many springs. W. Long. o. 15. N. Lat. 40. 22.

Matthew of Paris. See Paris.