The commentary on Matthew sent to the monks of Stavelot Malmédy to preserve in writing what the author had expounded is transmitted in nine manuscripts, the earliest of which dates from the late ninth century. The author is traditionally identified as Christian of Stavelot, but in this excellent new edition Huygens suggests that he was a teacher but not a monk at Stavelot, since he refers to ‘iuvenibus vestris’ rather than ‘nostris’. The commentary draws on the commentaries on Matthew by Jerome and Hrabanus, on Bede's commentaries on Mark and Luke and on the Gospel homilies of Gregory the Great, and four homilies of Origen. He frequently uses Isidore for etymologies, and draws on Josephus. The work ends with a long passage taken from the miracles of St Eufemia (pp. 534–8). On several occasions he shows that he had studied the Gospel text in Greek (pp. 129, 210, 489, 512, 513) and he refers to a conversation with a Greek named Eufemius about a Greek Gospel Book which was supposed to have belonged to St Hilary. His commentary tends to explain the historical sense of the text, although he does provide his doctrine of the eucharist at pp. 479–80. There are important discussions of Nomina Sacra (pp. 66, 88) and the use of the apex as an accent (pp. 143–4). He stresses that priests should not judge those making confession to them (p. 167) and describes how a man who took someone else's alod might confess his sin and receive a penance of abstaining from meat and wine. He keeps what he stole and abstains from wine so he has more money than if he had drunk. Christian condemns the confessor who should not have promised that he would be saved and who will himself be condemned. Christian is interested in thunderstorms and their origins (p. 263) He notes the three-fold division of philosophy and how examples of each kind may be found in Scripture (pp. 64–5, 102) He can also find examples of irony, metaphor and synecdoche in Matthew's Gospel. He seems to be the first person to assert that the Magi rode dromedaries (p. 97). He knows about Beneventan castrati (p. 353) and the four kinds of rich men (p. 360). It is not clear where he found his information on Roman customs, but he can discuss triumphs (p. 382), Roman funerary practices (p. 426), rules about striking people in assemblies (p. 493) and how the Romans wrote out the crimes of those condemned to death (p. 507), as well as the abdication of Diocletian (pp. 175–6). He has a story of a philosopher travelling from Greece to Rome who does not fear shipwreck because he has no possessions to lose except his wisdom (p. 433). He knows of the Frankish guesthouse in Jerusalem (p. 498), the conversion of the Bulgars (p. 436) and Gog and Magog and the Khazars (pp. 335, 436). Where did he learn of the six reasons for taking a wife (p. 352)? In the list of non-biblical quotations and allusions Huygens's references to Pliny (p. 434), Horace (pp. 145, 251), Columella (p. 445) and the letters of Paul and Seneca (p. 175) display his own philological acumen, but probably not Christian's reading. His index entries on ‘liturgie’ (including liturgical quotations), ‘episcopi’, ‘observations actuelles’ (on possible contemporary references) and on Christian himself are excellent. And classicists will be glad to learn that the Sybil danced Virgil's Eclogues before the Senate (p. 285)