Saints Simon and Jude

Apostles and Martyrs
(1st century)

Saints Simon and Jude are honoured together on October 28th, their joint feast in the Roman Calendar arising from the ancient tradition that they preached the Gospel together in Persia and suffered martyrdom there at the same time. Both are among the less well-documented of the Twelve Apostles, and what is known of them historically is largely confined to their appearance in the apostolic lists and a few brief mentions in the Gospels.

Simon is called the Zealot or the Cananaean in the Gospel lists, an epithet that may indicate his former membership in the Zealot movement, a Jewish group committed to violent resistance against Roman rule, though this identification is debated. That Jesus called both a tax collector (Matthew) and a Zealot (Simon) to be among the Twelve, men whose political positions would normally have made them bitter enemies, is itself a striking testimony to the power of the Gospel to overcome human divisions.

Jude, also called Thaddaeus, is the author of the brief Letter of Jude in the New Testament, which warns against false teachers with great vehemence and concludes with one of the most beautiful doxologies in Scripture. He is not to be confused with Judas Iscariot, and in the Gospel of John he is distinguished by name from the traitor when he asks Jesus why He will manifest Himself to the disciples and not to the world. He is the patron of hopeless causes and desperate cases, a role attributed to the fact that few prayed to him for fear of confusing him with Judas, so when he did act it was regarded as miraculous.

Both Apostles are said by ancient tradition to have evangelised in Mesopotamia, Persia, and Armenia before suffering martyrdom. Simon is represented iconographically with a saw, the instrument of his martyrdom. Their feast on October 28th is one of the ancient observances of the Roman Calendar.