“Simon was a simple Galilean, a brother of Jesus, as the
ancients called one’s close relatives — aunts, uncles,
first cousins; he was one of Our Lord’s four first cousins,
with James the Less, Jude and Joseph, all sons of Mary,
the wife of Alpheus, or Cleophas, either name being a
derivative of the Aramaic Chalphai. The latter was the
brother of Saint Joseph, according to tradition. All the
sons of this family were raised at Nazareth near the Holy
Family. (See the Gospel of Saint Matthew 13:53-58)
Simon, Jude and James were called by Our Lord to be
Apostles, pillars of His Church, and Joseph the Just was
His loyal disciple.
Saint Simon the Zealot or the Zealous, was the name
this Apostle bore among the twelve. He preached in
Egypt, Mauritania (Spain), and Libya, leaving behind him
the fertile hills of Galilee, where he had been engaged in
the healthful cultivation of the vineyards and olive
gardens. He later rejoined his brother, Saint Jude, in
Persia, where they labored and died together. At first
they were respected by the king, for they had manifested
power over two ferocious tigers who had terrorized the
land. With the king, sixty thousand Persians became
Christians, and churches rose over the ruins of the
idolatrous temples.
But the ancient enemy, who never sleeps, rose up, and
when the two went elsewhere the pagans commanded
them to sacrifice to the sun. Both Apostles, just before
that time, had seen Our Lord amid His Angels. Simon
said to Jude, “One of the Angels said to me, I will take
you out of the temple and bring the building down upon
their heads. I answered him, Let it not be so; perhaps
some of them will be converted.” They prayed for mercy
for the people and offered their lives to God. Saint Simon
told the crowd that their gods were only demons, and
ordered them to come out of the statues, which they did,
revealing themselves under hideous forms. But the
idolaters fell on the Apostles and massacred them, while
they blessed God and prayed for their murderer’s.Saint
Jude has left us a short but powerful epistle, written after
the death of his brother James, bishop of Jerusalem, and
addressed to the new Christians being tempted by false
brethren and heretics.”
- translated from “Lives of the Saints for Everyday” by