Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

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The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew is a part of the New Testament apocrypha, and sometimes goes by the name of The Infancy Gospel of Matthew. Another name given to the text in antiquity was The Birth of Mary and Infancy of the Saviour.

Pseudo-Matthew is one of a genre of "Infancy gospels" that seek to fill out the details of the life of Jesus of Nazareth up until the age of 12, that are very briefly given in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

The content of the text is primarily an edited reproduction of the Protevangelium of James, followed by an account of the Flight into Egypt (it is not known on what this is based), and subsequently an edited reproduction of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Essentially, it is a (fairly successful) attempt to redact these texts into a single work. To its sources, the Gospel adds the first known mention of an ox and ass being present at the nativity of Jesus.

It had a strong influence in mediaeval thought, partly due to its inclusion in the Golden Legend. One of the consequences of this is the creation of derivative works, such as the Libellus de Nativitate Sanctae Mariae, which consists of just the early part of the text concerning the birth of Mary. Another text to be based on Pseudo Matthew is the Arabic Infancy Gospel, which includes many supernatural embellishments.

Events described in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew inspired The Cherry-Tree Carol.