The first chapter of Acts tells how, in the days between the Ascension and Pentecost, Peter stood among about a hundred and twenty believers and said that one who had accompanied them from the baptism of John until the day the Lord was taken up must become with them a witness to the Resurrection. Two men were proposed, Joseph called Barsabbas and Matthias. The community prayed, cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias, who was numbered with the eleven apostles. That account is the first reading of the feast. The choice is instructive about the Church's own self-understanding: the number twelve, corresponding to the tribes of Israel, was to be restored before the Spirit was given, and the qualification was to have been an eyewitness of the Lord's ministry and Resurrection. Nothing further about Matthias is recorded in the New Testament, and the later accounts of his preaching and martyrdom belong to tradition rather than to Scripture; the Church honors him with red vestments as a martyr. The Gospel of the feast is the Lord's word at the Last Supper: "It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain." In the reform of the calendar after the Second Vatican Council the feast was moved from February 24 to May 14, so that it would fall within the Easter Season near the events of Acts that it commemorates. In some particular calendars and religious orders the older date is still observed.

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May 14

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