Sts. Simon and Jude

Sts. Simon and Jude are two of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles. The Church celebrates their feast day on October 28.

Not much is known about the lives of Sts. Simon and Jude from the Gospels. They are mentioned together because they were companions in their mission of evangelization. They traveled together to preach the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ, to the nations and are believed to have been martyred together on their mission to Suanis, a city of Persia.

Relics of the Apostles Jude Thaddaeus and Simon are located in Rome at St. Peter's Basilica, at the Basilica of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, and also in the Archdiocese of Cologne.

St. Simon is one of only two apostles with no quotes recorded in the Bible (St. James the Less is the other quote-less apostle). He is referred to in Scripture by Matthew and Mark as the “Cananaean” and by Luke as “the Zealot.” Both titles mean the same, zealous for the Jewish Law, and distinguish him from the Simon whom the Lord renamed Peter, or Rock.

In the Apostles’ time, there was an active political party of Jews called the Zealots, known for their singular zeal for Jewish law and their opposition to Roman occupation. This latter characteristic would eventually lead to a complete rebellion in 66 A.D. and the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D. It is unknown whether the Apostle Simon was a member of this party or whether “zealot” simply described his religious character generally.

It is believed that after Pentecost, he traveled extensively to spread the message of Christ. Some wrote that he preached in Syria, Egypt, Britain, Mesopotamia, and Persia - places that do indeed have evidence of early Christian influence. While in Mesopotamia, Simon reportedly met up with Jude Thaddeus. The two apostles are alleged to have traveled together to Persia and there taught of the life of Jesus. Their words and actions were so convincing that thousands of Persians converted to Christianity. However, after some time, the two were martyred there.

Regarding St. Simon's martyrdom, the most likely account says that he was martyred by having his hands sawed off.

Pope Benedict XVI taught:

Simon is given a nickname that varies in the four lists: while Matthew and Mark describe him as a “Cananaean,” Luke instead describes him as a “Zealot.”

In fact, the two descriptions are equivalent because they mean the same thing: indeed, in Hebrew the verb qanà’ means “to be jealous, ardent” and can be said both of God, since he is jealous with regard to his Chosen People (cf. Exodus 20:5), and of men who burn with zeal in serving the one God with unreserved devotion, such as Elijah (cf. 1 Kings 19:10).

Thus, it is highly likely that even if this Simon was not exactly a member of the nationalist movement of Zealots, he was at least marked by passionate attachment to his Jewish identity, hence, for God, his People and divine Law.

If this was the case, Simon was worlds apart from Matthew, who, on the contrary, had an activity behind him as a tax collector that was frowned upon as entirely impure. This shows that Jesus called his disciples and collaborators, without exception, from the most varied social and religious backgrounds.

It was people who interested him, not social classes, or labels! And the best thing is that in the group of his followers, despite their differences, they all lived side by side, overcoming imaginable difficulties: indeed, what bound them together was Jesus himself, in whom they all found themselves united with one another.

This is clearly a lesson for us who are often inclined to accentuate differences and even contrasts, forgetting that in Jesus Christ we are given the strength to get the better of our continual conflicts.

Let us also bear in mind that the group of the Twelve is the prefiguration of the Church, where there must be room for all charisms, peoples and races, all human qualities that find their composition and unity in communion with Jesus.

St. Simon is the patron saint of saw workers and tanners.

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St. Jude is the saint increasingly popular as the patron of hopeless causes and one of two Apostles with this name. The other, usually called Judas, is the infamous Judas Iscariot, known for his betrayal of Jesus.

The apostle St. Jude is distinguished from the Iscariot by the surname of Thaddaus, which signifies in Syriac praising or confession (being of the same import with the Hebrew word Judas), also by that of Lebbaeus, which is given him in the Greek text of St. Matthew.

Pope Benedict XVI taught:

[W]ith regard to Jude Thaddaeus, this is what tradition has called him, combining two different names: in fact, whereas Matthew and Mark call him simply “Thaddaeus” (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18), Luke calls him “Judas, the son of James” (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13).

The nickname “Thaddaeus” is of uncertain origin and is explained either as coming from the Aramaic, taddà’, which means “breast” and would therefore suggest “magnanimous”, or as an abbreviation of a Greek name, such as “Teodòro, Teòdoto.”

Very little about him has come down to us. John alone mentions a question he addressed to Jesus at the Last Supper: Thaddaeus says to the Lord: “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?”

This is a very timely question which we also address to the Lord: why did not the Risen One reveal himself to his enemies in his full glory in order to show that it is God who is victorious? Why did he only manifest himself to his disciples? Jesus’ answer is mysterious and profound. The Lord says: “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:22-23).

This means that the Risen One must be seen, must be perceived also by the heart, in a way so that God may take up his abode within us. The Lord does not appear as a thing. He desires to enter our lives, and therefore his manifestation is a manifestation that implies and presupposes an open heart. Only in this way do we see the Risen One.

While he was the author of the short New Testament book the Epistle of Jude, we do not know much more about him. Details of his life, his calling, or the time spent with Christ are not recounted in the Gospels. We know of him because he is mentioned in the lists of the Apostles and because of one single question he was quoted to have asked Christ during the Last Supper:

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:22-23)

Regarding St. Jude’s Epistle Pope Benedict XVI taught:

The paternity of one of those New Testament Letters known as “catholic,” since they are not addressed to a specific local Church but intended for a far wider circle, has been attributed to Jude Thaddaeus. Actually, it is addressed “to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ” (v. 1).

A major concern of this writing is to put Christians on guard against those who make a pretext of God’s grace to excuse their own licentiousness and corrupt their brethren with unacceptable teachings, introducing division within the Church “in their dreamings” (v. 8).

This is how Jude defines their doctrine and particular ideas. He even compares them to fallen angels and, mincing no words, says that “they walk in the way of Cain” (v. 11).

Furthermore, he brands them mercilessly as “waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever” (vv. 12-13).

Today, perhaps, we are no longer accustomed to using language that is so polemic, yet that tells us something important. In the midst of all the temptations that exist, with all the currents of modern life, we must preserve our faith’s identity. Of course, the way of indulgence and dialogue, on which the Second Vatican Counsel happily set out, should certainly be followed firmly and consistently.

But this path of dialogue, while so necessary, must not make us forget our duty to rethink and to highlight just as forcefully the main and indispensable aspects of our Christian identity. Moreover, it is essential to keep clearly in mind that our identity requires strength, clarity, and courage in light of the contradictions of the world in which we live.

Thus, the text of the Letter continues: “But you, beloved” – he is speaking to all of us -, “build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And convince some, who doubt…” (vv. 20-22).

The Letter ends with these most beautiful words: “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen” (vv. 24-25).

It is easy to see that the author of these lines lived to the full his own faith, to which realities as great as moral integrity and joy, trust and lastly praise belong, since it is all motivated solely by the goodness of our one God and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the letter he wrote, St. Jude calls himself a “servant of Christ and brother of James” (Jude 1:1). Other texts have suggested to some that he was a brother of St. James, Joses (Joseph), and St. Simeon of Jerusalem, who are styled the brethren of our Lord, and were sons of Cleophas and Mary, sister to the Blessed Virgin. From its beginning, the Church believed that only Jesus our High Priest ever entered the Holy of Holies of His Mother’s womb, a doctrine called Her Perpetual Virginity. The Jewish reverence for the Ark, the Temple, the Sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies was a mere foreshadowing of the reality of the Incarnation, in which the Word would take flesh from Woman and dwell among us.

For this reason, the Church sought other explanations for the brothers of Jesus in both the Gospel text and the practice of Israel. The simplest is linguistic. The Greek word adelphoiused in the New Testament is equivocal and can refer to blood brothers and other close male relatives but also spiritual kinship. A Jew was a member of a family, a tribe, and Israel. We have similar usages today, both culturally and in the Church, where we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

The other explanation is that Joseph was a widower with children, and these were the brothers and sisters of the Lord. However, if this were true, then the fact that from the Cross Jesus entrusted His Mother to John, a non-brother, remains a puzzling contradiction.

Both explanations have in common, however, that Jesus had no blood brothers, since Mary bore only one Child, the Word-made-flesh, and together, Mother and Son, fulfilled all the foreshadowing of the Old Covenant with respect to this sublime mystery.

Anyway, Nicephorus, Isidore, and the Martyrologies tell us that St. Jude preached up and down Judea, Samaria, Idumaa, Syria and especially in Mesopotamia. St. Paulinus says that St. Jude planted the faith in Libya. He returned from his missions to Jerusalem in the year 62, after the martyrdom of his brother, St. James, and assisted at the election of St. Simeon. From Mesopotamia St. Jude travelled into Persia.

Fortunatus and the western Martyrologists tell us that the apostle St. Jude suffered martyrdom in Persia; the Menology of the Emperor Basil and some other Greeks say at Arat or Ararat, in Armenia, which at that time was subject to the Parthian empire, and consequently esteemed part of Persia. Many Greeks say he was shot to death with arrows: some add whilst he was tied on across. The Armenians at this day venerate him and St. Bartholomew for the first planters of the faith among them.
One account has St. Jude being martyred by an axe or spear while preaching together with St. Simon in Persia. Another account states he was martyred in Beirut, Lebanon, by an axe. The common element is the axe, which, in fact, became a symbol associated with Jude Thaddeus.

St. Jude is popularly known for being the patron saint of hopeless cases, the impossible. This patronage may stem from an experience Jude allegedly had in the city of Edessa (a city now known as Sanilurfa in modern Turkey), according to the ancient Church historian Eusebius. Supposedly, while Jesus was still alive, the ruler Abgar V of Edessa was stricken with an incurable, painful disease. Abgar had heard of the miracles of Jesus and wrote him a letter requesting a visit. Jesus responded with a promise that, in time, he would send one of his disciples. After Jesus’ ascension (most likely at some point following Pentecost), Jude went to evangelize in the region near Edessa and ultimately visited Abgar. While there, Jude laid his hands upon the anguished monarch, who was then instantaneously healed.

It is also said that Jesus first appeared to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th-century French abbot, mystic, and Doctor of the Church. He had multiple visions throughout his lifetime, one in which Jesus asked him

“to accept Saint Jude as ‘The Patron Saint of the Impossible.'”

Saint Bernard held a deep devotion to Saint Jude throughout his life and venerated his relic. Saint Bernard’s devotion to Saint Jude was so great that he asked to be buried with the relic “as a sign of the reverence...noting that the apostle had helped him safeguard his purity.”

Saint Bridget, a 14th-century mother, wife, nun, and mystic, also had multiple visions of Jesus. Jesus said of Saint Jude in one of her visions,

“In accordance with his surname, Thaddeus, the amiable or loving, he will show himself most willing to give help.”

Prayer for Saint Jude’s intercession:

Most holy Apostle, Saint Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus,
the Church honors and invokes you universally,
as the patron of difficult cases, of things almost despaired of.
Pray for me, I am so helpless and alone.

Intercede with God for me that He may bring visible and speedy help
where help is almost despaired of.

Come to my assistance in this great need,
that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven
in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly

(make your request here)

and that I may praise God with you and all the saints forever.
I promise, O Blessed Saint Jude,
to be ever mindful of this great favor granted me by God
and to always honor you as my special and powerful patron,
and to gratefully encourage devotion to you.
Amen.


You can find the Novena to St. Jude here.
You can find the Litany to St. Jude here.
You can find the Litany of the Saints here.


Saint Jude, patron saint of the impossible, please pray for us!


Sources: NC Register (St. Jude), NC Register (St. Simon), ChurchPOP, EWTN (St. Jude), EWTN (St. Simon).