FEAST: OCTOBER 28
Sts. Simon and Jude are some of the lesser known apostles in the Gospels. Neither have any dialogue in the Gospels. Their feast is celebrated together because they share a tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, even though they were both martyred spreading the gospel elsewhere.
St. Jude, who is also referred to as Thaddeus in Mathew’s gospel, was a relative of Jesus and brother to Apostle St. James the lesser. Jude also has a very brief epistle which is located in the New Testament. St. Jude is the patron saint of desperate causes. St. Simon has even less known about him. We know that he was referred to as a zealot to differentiate him from Simon Peter. A zealot would have been a Jewish extremist, likely descended from Maccabean spirituality.
