MATTHEW, BISHOP OF COSENZA

MATTHEW, BISHOP OF COSENZA - 8 APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 8th of April

MATTHEW, BISHOP OF COSENZA

A page of one of Fortunatus Hueber's
Saints' books,
"Stammenbuch..." (1693)

Matthew (Matthaeus) is listed as the forty-sixth bishop of Cosenza in Calabria. He was a born Earl of Ayeta. Once, when he stayed at Pesto, not far from Capaccio, near the ruins of the ancient Paestum, lightning struck his bedroom and set his bed on fire without any harm coming to him. In thanks for this protection he dedicated his life to God as a cleric and went to the mission house in Rome.

Endowed with a captivating gift for oratory, he brought about numerous conversions. In his thirty-third year (on October 3, 1667) Pope Clement IX consecrated him Bishop of Cosenza (Consentia). One of Matthew's first acts was to declare Saint Philip Neri protector of his diocese.

Throughout his episcopate, Matthew kept up a truly extraordinary level of activity. He devoted all his care to the poor, sick and afflicted, to the decoration of the churches, to the proclamation of the divine word, to the inspection of the parishes and schools.

In the midst of these works he died at Rocca on April 8, 1702. His body was buried at Tursi, as he had requested. Dying, he dictated his epitaph: Hic jacent ossa miserabilis peccatoris Matthaei Cosentini olim dicti Episcopi Anglonensis.

(Ugh. VII. 109 and 110).

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875, p. 317)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

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