In Matthew's Gospel his name is used when we are introduced to him: "Jesus saw a man named Matthew at the post where taxes were collected. He said to him, 'follow me'. Matthew got up and followed him." (Mt 9:9)

In Mark and Luke the same story is recounted, but the man is identified by both writers as Levi the tax collector.

St Mark tells us that Levi was a son of Alphaeus. This would have made him the brother of James the Less and Simeon as well as a relative by marriage of Jesus.

Apart from knowing that Matthew was a tax collecter for the Roman Empire and that he wrote a Gospel, little else can be gleaned from contemporary sources about him, both during the period of Jesus' ministry and subsequently.

Eusebius mentions Pantanaeus a missionary to India in the second century, who talks of finding a copy of Matthew's Gospel around AD180. Scholars estimate that the Gospel was written around AD50-70 in or near Jerusalem in the Aramic tongue, which at the time was the everyday language of the Jews in Palestine and Syria. The Gospel was re-worked into Greek around the same time and it is the Greek version from which the St James authorized version is derived. The Aramaic was last referred to in the 5th century and has since been lost to history.

We learn a little of Matthew after the calvary from Clement of Alexandria who talks of him being a man of austere personal habits and a vegetarian who lived on nuts, seeds and vegetables. Clement indicates that Matthew ministered to the Christian community in Palestine for fifteen years.

Other legends and myths place him in such diverse places as Iran, Ethiopia, Macedonia, Egypt and Syria. The Ethiopian text, The Apostolic History of Abidas, records Matthew staying in Ethiopia for 23 years, founding churches, ordaining a priesthood and converting the entire royal family.

Equally there is mystery about his death. The Apostolic History of Abidas has him being stabbed in the back by a soldier, whereas the sixth century Martyrdom of Matthew has him being crucified and then burnt to death at the hands of a tribe of cannibals. Clement of Alexandria's account has him dying of old age around AD90.

Matthew is represented by a hatchet or halberd because he was slain at Nadabar with halberd.

According to tradition, Matthew is buried in Salerno or Naples.

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