The Two Who Stayed Together

St Jude painted by another mother and  St Simon painted by our Henry

Saints Simon and Jude were brothers and were often grouped together in the Bible and in stories of them after the Resurrection.  We do not know much about their lives; however, we can presume that they carried on the message of Salvation through the spread of their devotion.

St. Simon (the Zealot)

Feast Day:  October 29
Born:  ??
Death:  65 AD
Patron: Curriers; sawmen; sawyers; tanners

The Zealots were a Jewish sect that represented an extreme of Jewish nationalism. For them, the messianic promise of the Old Testament meant that the Jews were to be a free and independent nation. God alone was their king, and any payment of taxes to the Romans was a blasphemy against God.  Simon ended his association with this group upon his following of Jesus but this is a distinction to set set him apart from the other apostles.

It is believed that he preached in Egypt and then went to Persia with St. Jude, where both suffered martyrdom.  St. Simon is represented in art with a saw, the instrument of his martyrdom by being sawn in half.

St. Jude (also known as Thaddeus to distinguish from the traitor Iscariot)

Feast Day:  October 29
Patron: Desperate situations; forgotten causes; hospital workers; hospitals; impossible causes; lost causes

In iconic pictures of St. Jude, he holds a square to depict his role as an architect of the house of God.  This is likely because of the epistle attributed to him to the Churches of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed against the heresies of the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics.

It is known that Jude was the nephew of St. Joseph, yet he was called to the inner circle with his brother James the Lesser.

At the Last Supper, Jude's conversation with Jesus is recorded in the Gospel of John:

Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me." (21-23)

Images of St. Jude often include a flame around his head, which represent his presence at Pentecost, when he accepted the Holy Spirit alongside the other apostles. Another attribute is St. Jude holding an image of Christ.  It is believed that the king of Edessa was ill, and Jude placed an image of Jesus on the king and he was miraculously healed.

Jude is believed to have been martyred either in Armenia or Beirut.  Following his death, Jude's body was brought to Rome and left in a crypt in St. Peter's Basilica. Today his bones can be found in the left transept of St. Peter's Basilica under the main altar of St. Joseph in a tomb he shares with the remains of the apostle Simon the Zealot.

The prayer of the liturgy of the Catholic Church thus prays to our Lord today: "O God, through the work of the apostles you have spoken your Word of love, your Son, into our world's deafness. Open our ears to hear; open our hearts to heed; open our will to obey, that we may proclaim the good news with our lives."