St. Matthew the Evangelist

Levi, a tax collector at Capernaum, a collaborator in the eyes of his people, who got up from his table when Christ said follow me and gave a dinner for his fellow publicans, at which the Pharisees asked why the Teacher ate with sinners. His Gospel was written, by the earliest account, for Jews who had believed, and shows Christ fulfilling the Law and the prophets at every turn; it holds the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord’s Prayer in the form the Church says it. Tradition sends him to preach in the East and has him die a martyr. Feast: November 16.