Today, the Church remembers Saints Simon and Jude, two of the 12 apostles. Unfortunately very little is known of them, other than their listing among the apostles in Matthew 10, Mark 3, Luke 6 and Acts 1.

Simon is referred to as “the Zealot”, which probably means that in the face of Roman occupation, he was committed to his Jewish identity and firmly opposed foreign oppression and taxation.

Jude is referred to as “Judas son of James” (Luke and Acts) and “Thaddeus” (Matthew and Mark). The only other reference to Jude comes from John’s Gospel during the Last Supper in which Jude is referred to as “Judas, not the Iscariot…”. When Jesus tells his apostles that He will soon be leaving them, Jude asks Jesus why it is that he doesn’t clearly and convincingly show his divinity to everyone, so that they will believe in Him.

Beyond that, there is only a reference in two Gospels identifying Simon and Jude as Jesus’ brothers: “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?” But scholars believe they are more likely to have been Jesus’ cousins, than brothers, though it was customary at that time to refer to one’s cousin as brother or sister.

The apocryphal (and hence probably unreliable) ‘Passion of Simon and Jude’ together with other sources, provides what we know of Simon’s and Jude’s deaths. Tradition has it that they travelled to Persia to preach the gospel and were killed there in AD 65. Simon is traditionally believed to have been sawn in half, and Jude is traditionally believed to have been beaten with a club.

St Simon is the patron saint of curriers, woodcutters, and tanners and St Jude of hopeless causes and hospital workers.

Picture above: Ugolino di Nerio, “Saint Simon and Saint Thaddeus (Jude),” 1325 (photo: Public Domain), slightly reduced