_Lat._ S. Mattheus. _Ital._ San Matteo. _Fr._ Saint Matthieu. _Ger._
St. Matthäus. (Sept. 21.)
St. Matthew among the Apostles takes the seventh or eighth place, but
as an Evangelist he always stands first, because his gospel was the
earliest written. Very little is certainly known concerning him, his
name occurring but once in his own gospel, and in the other gospels
only incidentally with reference to two events.
He was a Hebrew by birth; by profession a publican, or tax-gatherer, in
the service of the Romans—an office very lucrative, but particularly
odious in the sight of his countrymen. His original name was Levi. It
is recorded in few words, that as he sat at the receipt of custom by
the lake of Gennesareth, Jesus in passing by saw him, and said unto
him, ‘Follow me,’ and he left all and followed him; and farther, that
he made a feast in his house, at which many publicans and sinners sat
down with the Lord and his disciples, to the great astonishment and
scandal of the Jews. So far the sacred record: the traditional and
legendary history of St. Matthew is equally scanty. It is related in
the _Perfetto Legendario_ that after the dispersion of the apostles
he travelled into Egypt and Ethiopia, preaching the Gospel; and
having arrived in the capital of Ethiopia, he lodged in the house of
the eunuch who had been baptized by Philip, and who entertained him
with great honour. There were two terrible magicians at that time in
Ethiopia, who by their diabolical spells and incantations kept all the
people in subjection, afflicting them at the same time with strange and
terrible diseases; but St. Matthew overcame them, and having baptized
the people, they were delivered for ever from the malignant influence
of these enchanters. And further, it is related that St. Matthew raised
the son of the King of Egypt from the dead, and healed his daughter of
the leprosy. The princess, whose name was Iphigenia, he placed at the
head of a community of virgins dedicated to the service of God; and a
certain wicked heathen king, having threatened to tear her from her
asylum, was struck by leprosy, and his palace destroyed by fire. St.
Matthew remained twenty-three years in Egypt and Ethiopia, and it is
said that he perished in the ninetieth year of our era, under Domitian:
but the manner of his death is uncertain; according to the Greek
legend, he died in peace, but according to the tradition of the Western
Church, he suffered martyrdom either by the sword or the spear.
[Illustration: 59 St. Matthew]
Few churches are dedicated to St. Matthew. I am not aware that he is
the patron saint of any country, trade, or profession, unless it be
that of tax-gatherer or exciseman; and this is perhaps the reason
that, except where he figures as one of the series of evangelists or
apostles, he is so seldom represented alone, or in devotional pictures.
In a large altar-piece, the ‘San Matteo’ of Annibal Caracci,[105] he
is standing before the throne of the Madonna, as a pendant to John
the Baptist, and gives his name to the picture: but such examples are
uncommon. When he is portrayed as an evangelist, he holds a book or a
pen; and the angel, his proper attribute and attendant, stands by,
pointing up to heaven, or dictating; or he holds the inkhorn, or he
supports the book. In his character of apostle, St. Matthew frequently
holds a purse or money-bag, as significant of his former vocation (56).
Neither are pictures from his life of frequent occurrence. The
principal incident, entitled the ‘Calling of Matthew,’ has been
occasionally, but not often, treated in painting. The _motif_ is simple
and not easily mistaken. St. Matthew is seated at a kind of desk with
money before him; various personages bring tribute; on one side is
seen Christ, with one or two of his disciples, generally Peter and
Andrew; St. Matthew is either looking towards him with an expression of
awe-struck attention, or he is rising from his seat, as in the act to
follow: the mere accessories and number of the personages vary with the
period of the composition and the taste of the painter.
1. The earliest instance I can cite, probably the oldest which has come
down to us, is in a Greek MS. of the ninth century.[106] St. Matthew
sits with both hands on a heap of gold, lying on a table before him: he
looks round at Christ, who is a little behind.
2. St. Matthew is about to rise to follow the Saviour; by Matte di Ser
Cambio of Perugia, who has represented his patron saint in a small
composition.[107]
3. In the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, there is a very curious
and interesting picture of this subject, by Mabuse, which once belonged
to King Charles I., and is quaintly described in the old catalogue of
his pictures ‘as a very old, defaced, curious altar-piece, upon a thick
board, where Christ is calling St. Matthew out of the custom-house;
which picture was got in Queen Elizabeth’s days, in the taking of Calus
Malus (Cadiz), in Spain. Painted upon a board in a gilded arched frame,
like an altar-piece; containing ten big figures, less than half so big
as the life, and some twenty-two afar off less figures. Given to the
King.’ In the foreground there is a rich architectural porch, from
which St. Matthew is issuing in haste, leaving his money-bags behind;
and in the background is seen the lake of Gennesareth and shipping.
This picture was among the booty taken in Essex’s expedition against
Cadiz in 1596, and probably stolen from some church.
4. In the Vienna Gallery I found three pictures of the same subject,
all by Hemessen, very quaint and curious.