_Ital._ San Mattia. _Fr._ St. Mathias. (Feb. 24.)
St. Matthias, who was chosen by lot to fill the place of the traitor
Judas, is the last of the apostles. (Acts i.) He preached the Gospel
in Judea, and suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Jews, either by
the lance or by the axe. In the Italian series of the apostles, he
bears as his attribute the lance; in the German sets, more commonly the
axe.[230] The ceremony of choosing St. Matthias by lot is the subject
of a mediocre picture by Boschi. St. Denis says that the apostles were
directed in their choice by a beam of divine splendour, for it were
impious to suppose that such an election was made by chance. In this
picture of Boschi, a ray of light falls from heaven on the head of St.
Matthias.
[Illustration: 83 St. Matthias (Raphael)]
There is a figure of this apostle by Cosimo Roselli, holding a sword
_by the point_: what might be the intention of that capricious painter
it is now impossible to guess.[231] Separate pictures of St. Matthias
are very rare, and he is seldom included in sets of the apostles.