21 September St Matthew the Apostle
Among the early followers of Jesus and mentioned as a former tax collector
from Capernaum, he was called into the circle of the twelve. He was called
Levi and the son of Alpheus.
He may have collected taxes for Herod Antipas; Jews who collected taxes
were despised, but he would be literate in Aramaic and Greek. He was one
of the witnesses of the Resurrection and the Ascension.
Later Church Fathers claimed that Matthew preached the Gospel to the
Jewish community in Judea before going to other countries. Muslim tradition
says that he went to Ethiopia with Andrew. There is a tradition that he died a
martyr. Consensus in the Middle Ages (e.g. Augustine of Hippo) puts the
Gospel of Matthew at about 15 years after the Ascension and being the first.
Modern scholars think that the Gospel was originally written in Greek by a
non-eyewitness, whose name is unknown and depended on sources like
Mark (and Q).
30 September St Jerome (ca 347-420)
Jerome was a Latin Christian priest, theologian and historian who became a
Doctor of the Church. He is best known for his translation of the Bible into
Latin, the ‘Vulgata’. and for commentaries to the ‘Gospel of the Hebrews,’
thought to be by Matthew. Born in Stridon, he went to Rome to study in 366.
He merrily indulged in student life and repented it bitterly afterwards. He
was converted to Christianity in Rome and travelled to Gaul and settled in
Trier to study theology.
About 373 he went on a long journey through Asia Minor and to Antioch.
Seriously ill, he devoted himself there to study the Bible, learning Hebrew to
translate the ‘Gospel of the Hebrews’ into Greek. Ordained in 378 in Rome,
he worked for the Pope and undertook a revision of the Latin Bible based on
Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. Forced to leave Rome, he went
back to Antioch and by 388 to Jerusalem.
He spent the rest of his life as a hermit in a cell near Bethlehem. In his last
34 years, he wrote his most important works, among them his version of the
Old Testament from the Hebrew text. He is the most voluminous writer of
Latin Christianity.
He died near Bethlehem in 420, his remains were later taken to Rome. He is
often depicted with a lion, after the story of his removal of a thorn from the
lion’s paw. He is the Patron Saint of translators, librarians and
encyclopaedists.
Brigitte Williams
StOM Page 9