Matthew was a 13th century cleric based in the Kingdom of Scotland

Kingdom of Scotland

The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...

. Walter Bower

Walter Bower

Walter Bower , Scottish chronicler, was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian.He was abbot of Inchcolm Abbey from 1418, was one of the commissioners for the collection of the ransom of James I, King of Scots, in 1423 and 1424, and in 1433 one of the embassy to Paris on the business of the...

 called him Macchabeus, a Latinization (literature) of the Gaelic name Mac Bethad or Mac Beathadh, previously held by a 12th century bishop

Mac Bethad of Rosemarkie

Mac Bethad is the first recorded High Medieval Bishop of Ross, a See then located at Rosemarkie.He makes his only historical appearance as Macbeth Rosmarkensis Episcopus Mac Bethad (fl. 1127 x 1131) is the first recorded High Medieval Bishop of Ross, a See then located at Rosemarkie.He makes his...

. Either Bower is confused or Matthew changed his name or took a pseudonym more appropriate to the environment of the "international" church, a practise not unusual in the period.

He was given the title of Magister ("Master") by Bower, indicating the completion of a university

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 education and more particularly of a Masters' degree at some stage in his life, but details of this have not survived and the title may be spurious. He is found as succentor

Succentor

The Succentor in an ancient cathedral foundation sings psalms and Preces and Responses after the Precentor. In English cathedrals today the priest responsible for liturgy and music is usually the Precentor, but some cathedrals, such as St Paul's and Durham, retain a Succentor as well. Westminster...

 of the cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 of Ross

Diocese of Ross

The Diocese of Ross was an ecclesiastical territory or diocese in Scotland in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period. The Diocese was led by the Bishop of Ross, and was based at Fortrose. The diocese had only one Archdeacon, the Archdeacon of Ross, first attested in 1223 with the appearance of...

 in a Moray

Diocese of Moray

The Diocese of Moray was one of the most important of the medieval dioceses in Scotland. It was founded in the early years of the 12th century by David I of Scotland under its first bishop, Gregoir...

 document dating between 1255 and 1271; he is the first person known to have held this position, and probably the first to have held this new position under the new cathedral constitution of 1256.

After the death of Robert

Robert (d. 1271)

Robert was a 13th century prelate based in the Kingdom of Scotland. He was successively Archdeacon of Ross and Bishop of Ross; he is the second Robert to have held the bishopric of Ross....

, Bishop of Ross

Bishop of Ross

The Bishop of Ross was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Ross, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. The first recorded bishop appears in the late 7th century as a witness to Adomnán of Iona's Cáin Adomnáin. The bishopric was based at the settlement of Rosemarkie until the mid-13th...

, Matthew was part of the team of five compromissarii (delegated electors) who voted for the new bishop; as it happened, it was Matthew who was elected. He travelled to the papal court at Orvieto

Orvieto

Orvieto is a city and comune in Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff...

, along with the archdeacon Robert de Fyvie

Robert de Fyvie

Robert de Fyvie [also de Fyvin] was a prelate based in the Kingdom of Scotland in the last quarter of the 13th century. Perhaps coming from Fyvie in Formartine, from a family of Teesdale origin, Robert was Archdeacon of Ross and a student at the University of Bologna by 1269...

, and without waiting very long, was consecrated by Pope Gregory X

Pope Gregory X

Pope Blessed Gregory X , born Tebaldo Visconti, was Pope from 1271 to 1276. He was elected by the papal election, 1268–1271, the longest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church....

 personally (per nos ipsos) by 28 December 1272, on which date a mandate was issued authorising him to proceed to his bishopric.

Presumably after returning to Ross

Ross

Ross is a region of Scotland and a former mormaerdom, earldom, sheriffdom and county. The name Ross allegedly derives from a Gaelic word meaning a headland - perhaps a reference to the Black Isle. The Norse word for Orkney - Hrossay meaning horse island - is another possible origin. The area...

, he travelled back to continental Europe

Continental Europe

Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

 to attend the Second Council of Lyon

Second Council of Lyon

The Second Council of Lyon was the fourteenth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, France, in 1274. Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII to reunite the Eastern church with the West...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, held in the summer of 1274. There, according to Bower, he died (of unspecified causes); Bower on this occasion calls him Magister Matthaeus episcopus Rossensis, "Master Matthew Bishop of Ross" rather than Macchabeus. Whether or not Bower's claim about his death at Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

s is true, the bishopric was certainly vacant by the following Christmas.