Sts. Simon and Jude the Apostles

Sts. Simon and Jude were two of the Twelve Apostles chosen by the Lord, honored together in a single feast. Simon is called in the Gospels "the Zealot" or "the Cananean," a title that suggests his ardent zeal for the Law of God and for the cause of Christ. Jude, also named Thaddaeus, is traditionally identified as the author of the brief New Testament Epistle of Jude, which exhorts the faithful to contend earnestly for the faith handed down to them; because his name resembled that of Judas the traitor, he was long left aside by many, and so came to be invoked as the patron of desperate and seemingly hopeless causes.

After Pentecost the two apostles carried the Gospel far from Jerusalem, and an ancient tradition holds that they preached together in Mesopotamia and Persia, where they won many to Christ and at last gave their lives as martyrs. United in their labors and in their death, they have been venerated together since antiquity, and the Church celebrates their feast on 28 October.