| Saint Matthew the Apostle —
Patron Saint of Accountants,
Bookkeepers, Tax Collectors "St.
Matthew, one of the twelve Apostles, is the author of the first Gospel. Son of
Alphaeus, he lived at Capenaum on Lake Genesareth. He was a Roman tax collector,
a position equated with collaboration with the enemy by those from whom he collected
taxes. Christ's contemporaries were surprised to see him with a traitor, but Jesus
explained that he had come 'not to call the just, but sinners' (Mark 2:17). He
can also be identified as the Levi of Mark and Luke. Matthew's
Gospel is given pride of place in the canon of the New Testament, and was written
to convince Jewish readers that their anticipated Messiah had come in the person
of Jesus. He preached among the Jews for 15 years, possibly including to the Jewish
enclave in Ethiopia, and places in the East; though nothing definite is known
about his later life. It is also uncertain whether he died a natural death or
was martyred." |
12mm
diameter 
