St Matthias, St Corona

St Matthias

Apostle. Matthias was chosen by the apostles, to fill the place left vacant by Judas Iscariot. He was with them at Pentecost. According to legend he preached in Judea and then Cappadocia and near the Caspian Sea.

Tradition also links him with Ethiopia. His history is sometimes confused with that of Matthew and Andrew. It is claimed that St Matthias the Apostle's remains are interred in the Abbey of St Matthias in Trier, Germany, brought there through Empress Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine.

According to Greek sources, the remains of the apostle are buried in the castle of Gonio-Apsaros in Georgia. Since 1969, his feast has been celebrated on this day.

and St Corona

Martyr. She was a 16 year old Christian girl who was martyred for her faith in Syria, in the 2nd century. According to legend she stood up publicly to defend a Roman soldier named Victor, who was being tortured because he had converted to Christianity. She was cruelly tortured and killed. She is patron saint of Belluo-Feltre in northeastern Italy. Some of her relics are in the Basilica of Sts Victor and Corona.

Some of her relics are also in Aachen Cathedral, in western Germany - where they were brought by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III in 997.

In 2019, long before the onset of the coronavirus, the cathedral planned an exhibition for 2020, to display for the first time in many years, the beautiful gold, bronze and ivory St Corona shrine that has recently been restored.

St Corona is known locally as a patron saint of butchers and treasure-hunters, prayed to in times of financial hardship. In the small Austrian town of St Corona she is also prayed to by farmers to protect their livestock from contagious diseases.