Sts. Simon and Jude

Simon the Zealot and Jude Thaddeus

Sts. Simon and Jude were two of the Twelve Apostles, listed side by side in the Gospels and honored together in the Western Church on October 28. Simon is called "the Zealot" or "the Cananean," a name suggesting either fervent zeal for the law or past association with the Jewish nationalist movement of the day. Jude, called Thaddeus, is identified in St. John's Gospel as "Judas, not the Iscariot"; at the Last Supper he asked the Lord why he would reveal himself to the disciples and not to the world. The short New Testament Letter of Jude has traditionally been attributed to him.

Traditions of Mission in Persia

Beyond these glimpses, Scripture is silent, and the apostles' later careers are known only from tradition. Hagiographical accounts relate that after Pentecost Simon preached in Egypt and Jude in Mesopotamia, and that the two met in Persia, where they evangelized together and were martyred—the tradition that underlies their shared feast in the West. The details of these journeys and deaths cannot be verified, but the Church's ancient veneration of both as apostles and martyrs is constant.

Patron of Desperate Causes

Devotion to St. Jude as the patron of desperate and seemingly hopeless causes grew enormously in modern times. A popular explanation holds that the faithful long hesitated to invoke him because his name recalled Judas Iscariot, so that those who finally turned to him did so in extremity—and found a powerful intercessor. Shrines of St. Jude around the world continue to draw those in urgent need.

Relics in St. Peter's Basilica

Venerated since the Church's first generation, long before formal canonization processes, Simon and Jude are commemorated on October 28. Their relics are venerated in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, beneath the altar of St. Joseph in the left transept, where pilgrims—especially those carrying seemingly impossible intentions—still seek their intercession.

Significance

Simon and Jude remind the Church that the foundations of faith were laid by apostles whose deeds are mostly hidden from history. Honored together from the earliest times, they stand for the steady, unrecorded labor of spreading the Gospel. Through devotion to Jude as patron of desperate causes, countless people facing seemingly hopeless situations have learned that no need is beyond the reach of prayer.