Where is the body of St. Matthew? A visit to his tomb

Tradition holds that the body of St. Matthew lies in the crypt beneath the Salerno Cathedral in Italy.

The saint, an apostle and author of one of the four Gospels, is said to have evangelized in Asia according to ancient sources. While the Gospels record his life as a Jewish tax collector in Capernaum before he followed Jesus, the Catholic Encyclopedia notes that the Gospels provide no further details about his career beyond his inclusion in the list of apostles.

In the Salerno crypt, a bronze statue of St. Matthew was placed above the altar by Michelangelo Naccherino in 1606. The sculpture depicts the saint writing his Gospel with a pen and a book, while an angel hands him an inkwell.