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Saint Matthias the Apostle, a gold-ground panel from the workshop of the Serra brothers, about 1360

Saint Matthias the Apostle

Chosen by lot to take the place of Judas among the Twelve

Honoured as
one of the Twelve Apostles
Western calendar
14 May
Orthodox calendar
9 August (22 August on the old calendar)

Matthias was one of the seventy disciples and had been with Jesus from his baptism by John until the Ascension, and when the apostles gathered after it, Peter asked them to choose someone to take the place of Judas; two men were put forward, and the lot fell on Matthias. Of the rest of his life the traditions disagree: the Orthodox remember that he preached in Judea and in Pontic Ethiopia, the land now called western Georgia, and was stoned at Jerusalem by sentence of the Sanhedrin, while other accounts have him crucified, or dying at Sebastopolis.

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What is a saint’s feast day?

It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

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Why did you choose these saints and not others?

We began with the saints people search for most, by name, by need and by date, along with the apostles and the saints Orthodox Christians look for. Then we made sure every day of the year has at least one saint. That gives 378 so far, and we keep adding the saints readers ask for.

Every saint here, by feast day