St. Matthew isn't a character in a book -- he was a person

Taylor Cooper, The Brunswick News, Ga.
·8 min read

Sep. 2—Within the Catholic tradition, Gospel readings repeat every three years. One year, it's Matthew, then Mark and, finally, Luke. This year is St. Matthew's year, and Sept. 21 is St. Matthew's feast day. It holds some significance for Father Tim McKeown of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Brunswick.

"I used to be in St. Matthew's Parish in Statesboro," McKeown said. "We held a special mass that day, and we'd do a parish feast and have a nice meal that day to celebrate our patron. ... On the church calendars, pretty much every day is a saint's day, and it's usually the day you die. Particularly for St. Matthew, it would be observed as a feast day."

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