Saints Simon & Jude, Apostles

On the twenty-eighth of October the Church keeps the feast of the holy Apostles Simon and Jude, two of the twelve whom our Lord chose to be the foundation-stones of His Church. They had walked with Christ, beheld His miracles, received His teaching, and witnessed His Resurrection; and after the descent of the Holy Ghost they went forth to preach the Gospel to the nations. The Church has long honoured them together on a single day, joining their names as she joins them in the company of the Apostles.

The two Apostles

Saint Simon is called in the Gospel “the Zealot” and “the Cananean,” to distinguish him from Simon Peter; the name marks him as one zealous for the law of God before he was called to follow Christ. Saint Jude, also named Thaddeus, was the writer of one of the catholic epistles of the New Testament, a short but earnest letter exhorting the faithful to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints and to build themselves up in their most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. He is the same Apostle who, at the Last Supper, asked the Lord how He would manifest Himself to His disciples and not to the world, and received the answer that the Father and the Son would come and make their dwelling in whoever loves Christ and keeps His word.

Of their apostolic labours after Pentecost the Scriptures say little, and the details that later tradition supplies are not all certain. It is held that they preached the Gospel in distant lands and there gave their lives for Christ, winning together the crown of martyrdom; and the Church, in keeping their feast in the red vestments of the martyrs, honours them as faithful witnesses who sealed their preaching with their blood. What is sure and of first importance is their dignity as Apostles: chosen by Christ, sent by Him, and numbered forever among the twelve foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem.

The feast

The veneration of Saints Simon and Jude is ancient, and their joint feast on the twenty-eighth of October is of long standing in the Church of Rome, where their relics are honoured. In modern centuries Saint Jude Thaddeus has been invoked with great confidence as a patron in difficult and desperate cases, and devotion to him under that title has spread widely among the faithful.

In honouring these two Apostles, the Church gives thanks to God for the apostolic foundation on which she is built, and prays, in the words of the collect, that as she has come to know them through their preaching, so she may ever advance toward the everlasting joys to which they call her. Their feast is kept on the twenty-eighth of October.

Patronage

Saint Jude Thaddeus is invoked as the patron of difficult and desperate cases; both Apostles are honoured at Rome, where their relics are venerated.