On September 21st, the Church celebrated the feast of Saint Matthew the Apostle—a few words about this holy man of God, a pillar of the Church.
He was a publican—that is, a Jew who worked for the Roman Empire, collecting taxes for Caesar. Despite this occupation, he was called by Jesus to follow Him while he was in the midst of collecting taxes. No details are known regarding his evangelizing work; he likely died in Persia. Tradition holds that he is the author of the first Gospel, which was written in Aramaic and later translated into Greek.