Today is my name-day. Once upon a time, the feast day of the saint after whom one was named was celebrated much as we celebrate birthdays today. Today is the feast day of St. Matthew, the repentant tax collector who wrote one of the four canonical gospels. St. Matthew is often portrayed with an angel, the symbol of his gospel (the others are: an eagle for John, a winged ox for Luke, and a winged lion for Mark). The painting is by Caravaggio, who did a series of paintings on St. Matthew's life as portrayed in the gospels.Just some other facts about this Evangelist: tradition says he was martyred spreading Christianity to Ethiopia, the name "Matthew" means "Gift of Yahweh", Matthew's gospel was addressed to the Jews and written in Hebrew.
Also, Matthew's feast day has excellent personal timing as tomorrow is my birthday. St. Matthew, pray for us!