The Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle

Today is the feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle, who was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot among the Twelve. We get the story of Matthias' appointment in Acts:

Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers and sisters
(there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons
in the one place).
He said, "My brothers and sisters,
the Scripture had to be fulfilled
which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand
through the mouth of David, concerning Judas,
who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus.
Judas was numbered among us
and was allotted a share in this ministry.
For it is written in the Book of Psalms:

Let his encampment become desolate,
and may no one dwell in it.
and:
May another take his office.

Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men
who accompanied us the whole time
the Lord Jesus came and went among us,
beginning from the baptism of John
until the day on which he was taken up from us,
become with us a witness to his resurrection."
So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas,
who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.
Then they prayed,
"You, Lord, who know the hearts of all,
show which one of these two you have chosen
to take the place in this apostolic ministry
from which Judas turned away to go to his own place."
Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias,
and he was counted with the Eleven Apostles.

So we know that Matthias had been among the disciples from the beginning of Jesus' ministry, which was necessary because he had to be a witness to the Resurrection. The Apostles were aware that, just as was true in their own cases, the choice of the new Apostle was God's choice, not theirs. They simply ask Him to "show which one of these two you have chosen."

Matthias proved to be quite a witness, indeed. Like most of the other Apostles, not a whole lot is known about him beyond what Scripture tells us. Tradition tells us Matthias preached the Gospel for more than 30 years, traveling around Judea, Cappadocia, Egypt and Ethiopia. Matthias, like the rest of the Twelve with the exception of St. John, died a martyr's death. He was stoned to death at Colchis (in modern-day Georgia on the eastern shore of the Black Sea) in 80 AD. Some of St. Matthias' relics are in the abbatical church of Triers, Germany, while others are in Saint Mary Major in Rome.

The timing of this feast is just perfect this year, falling in between the Ascension and our celebration of Pentecost tomorrow. In Acts, the appointment of Matthias took place after the Ascension of Jesus; the restoration of the Twelve was an essential part of the preparation for the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The number twelve was representative of the Twelve Tribes of Israel; the Twelve Apostles were symbolic of the Church's role as the New Israel.