October 28th – Sts Simon and Jude, Apostles

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October 28 – Sts Simon and Jude, Apostles

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger  (1841-1875)

Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee. Thus does the Church, disowned by Israel, extol in her chants the apostolic fruitfulness which resides in her till the end of time. Yesterday she was already filled with that loving hope which is never deceived, that the holy Apostles Simon and Jude would anticipate their solemnity by shedding blessings upon her. Such is the condition of her existence on earth, that she can remain here only as long as she continues to give children to our Lord; and therefore, in the Mass of the 27th of October, she makes us read the passage of the Gospel where it is said: I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit, he will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

The pruning is painful, as the Epistle of the Vigil points out. In the name of the other branches, honored like himself with the divine election, the Apostle there recounts the labors, sufferings of every description, persecutions, revilings, denials, at the cost of which the preacher of the Gospel purchases the right to call sons those whom he has begotten in Christ Jesus. Now, as St. Paul more than once repeats, especially in the Epistle of the feast, this supernatural generation of the Saints is nothing else but the mystical reproduction of the Son of God, who grows up in each of the elect from infancy to the measure of the perfect man.

However meager in details be the history of these glorious Apostles, we learn from their brief Legend how amply they contributed to this great work of generating sons of God. Without any repose, and even to the shedding of their blood, they edified the Body of Christ; and the grateful Church thus prays to our Lord today: “O God, who by means of thy blessed Apostles Simon and Jude hast granted us to come to the knowledge of thy name; grant that we may celebrate their eternal glory by making progress in virtues, and improve by this celebration.”

St. Simon is represented in art with a saw, the instrument of his martyrdom. St. Jude’s square points him out as an architect of the house of God. St. Paul called himself by this name; and St. Jude, by his Catholic Epistle, has also a special right to be reckoned among our Lord’s principal workmen. But our Apostle had another nobility, far surpassing all earthly titles: being nephew, by his father Cleophas or Alpheus, to St. Joseph, and legal cousin to the Man-God, Jude was one of those called by their compatriots the brethren of the carpenter’s Son (Together with James the Less, Apostle and first Bishop of Jerusalem, a certain Joseph less known, and Simeon, second Bishop of Jerusalem, all sons of Cleophas, and of our Lady’s step-sister called in St. John Mary of Cleophas). We may gather from St. John’s Gospel another precious detail concerning him. In the admirable discourse at the close of the Last Supper, our Lord said: “He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” Then Jude asked him: “Lord, how is it, that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world?” And he received from Jesus this reply: “If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which you have heard is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.”

Ecclesiastical history informs us that, towards the end of his reign, and when the persecution he had raised was at its height, Domitian caused to be brought to him from the East two grandsons of the Apostle St. Jude. He had some misgivings with regard to these descendants of David’s royal line, for they represented the family of Christ himself, whom his disciples declared to be king of the whole world. Domitian was able to assure himself that these two humble Jews could in no way endanger the Empire, and that if they attributed to Christ sovereign power, it was a power not to be visibly exercised till the end of the world. The simple and courageous language of these two men made such an impression on the emperor that, according to the historian Hegesippus, from whom Eusebius borrowed the narrative, he gave orders for the persecution to be suspended.

We have only to add to the following brief notice of our Apostles that the churches of St. Peter in Rome and Saint-Sernin at Toulouse dispute the honor of possessing the greater part of their holy remains.

Simon, surnamed the Chanaanite and Zelotes, and Thaddeus, the writer of one of the Catholic Epistles, who is called also in the Gospel Jude the brother of James, preached the Gospel, the former in Egypt, the latter in Mesopotamia. They rejoined each other in Persia, where they begot numerous children to Jesus Christ, and spread the faith among the barbarous inhabitants of that vast region. By their teaching and miracles, and finally by a glorious martyrdom, they both rendered great honor to the most holy Name of Jesus Christ.

I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain. These words were addressed by the Man-God to you, as to all the twelve, as the Church reminded us in her Night Office. And yet, what remains now of the fruit of your labors in Egypt, in Mesopotamia, in Persia? Can our Lord and his Church be mistaken in their words, or in their appreciations? Certainly not; and proof sufficient is that, above the region of the senses, and beyond the domain of history, the power infused into the twelve subsists through all ages, and is active in every supernatural birth that develops the mystical Body of our Lord and increases the Church. We, more truly than Tobias, are the children of saints; we are no longer strangers, but the family of God, his house built upon the foundation of Apostles and Prophets, united by Jesus the chief cornerstone. All thanks be to you, O holy Apostles, who in labor and sufferings procured us this blessing; maintain in us the title and the rights of this precious adoption.

Great evils surround us; is there any hope left to the world? The confidence of thy devout clients proclaims thee, O Jude, the patron of desperate cases; and for thee, O Simon, this is surely the time to prove thyself Zelotes, full of zeal. Deign, both of you, to hear the Church’s prayers; and aid her, with your apostolic might, to re-animate faith, to rekindle charity, and to save the world.

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Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles
by Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876

(Feast Day: October 28th)

St. Simon, whose festival the Catholic Church commemorates to-day, was surnamed the Cananaean or Canaanite, because he was born at Cana, a town in Galilee. In this town, Jesus wrought his first miracle, by changing water into wine, as is known from the Gospel. Nicephorus and some others are of opinion, that Simon was the bridegroom whose wedding our Lord and His holy Mother honored with their presence, but that he afterwards left his bride with her consent and followed Christ. St. Jude, the brother of Simon, is called Thaddseus to distinguish him from the other Jude or Judas' who betrayed and sold the Lord. According to Nicephorus, Mary Cleophas was their mother, and James the Less their brother. Other writers say that Simon and Jude were not brothers. The Gospel tells us that both Simon and Jude were chosen by Christ as Apostles; but when or under what circumstances this took place, is not recorded, nor have any particulars of their words and actions been left us. There is, however, not the slightest doubt that they, as all the others, constantly followed the Saviour, and although they forsook Him when He was taken prisoner, they had, after His resurrection the grace to see Him frequently, to be present at His Ascension, and to receive the Holy Ghost on Pentecost.

When, later, the Apostles separated to preach the Gospel, St. Simon went to Egypt and St. Jude to Mesopotamia. Both however, were also in other lands, to preach the word of Christ, and after thus spending 30 years in apostolic labors, they met again, by divine dispensation, in Persia. On their arrival in this land, they found the Persian army in the field; for the King had declared war against India, and was in the act of marching against it. Baradach, the general in chief, had offered many sacrifices to the gods, desiring to know the issue of the war; but no answer was given, which had always been given before, as the Evil spirits spoke through the idols. Hence Baradach, amazed at such unusual silence, sent to another idol which was kept in a place far from the camp, and desired to know the reason of it. Satan, answering through it, said, that the presence of two Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ was the cause of the silence of the gods, as the power of these two Apostles was so great, that not one of the gods, until now so greatly honored, dared to appear before them.

Baradach, having received this answer, had the two Apostles brought before him. He met them with great manifestations of respect and listened to them while they spoke to him of the nothingness of the gods which he worshipped. As he was desirous to know the issue of the war, they made use of the occasion to show him how false were the words of the idols and hence how groundless was the notion of their divinity. They bade him propose his questions to the idols, through the magicians as usual, and told him that they would give his gods permission to speak. The magicians were ordered to ask the gods, and returned with the answer, that the result would be a long, bloody, and disastrous war. The Apostles having heard this, said to Baradach: "Now, great prince, recognize the falsity and the deceit as well of your magicians as of your gods. A deputation of the Indians will arrive to-morrow, at this hour, in your camp, to request peace of you on whatever conditions you may choose to prescribe." Baradach, surprised at these words, awaited with great impatience the following day. At the very hour the Apostles had foretold, the Indian embassy came humbly begging for peace, which was forthwith concluded.

This event was reported to the king, who resided at Babylon. He called the Apostles into his presence, listened with great attention to their words, and after having been sufficiently instructed in Christianity, was baptized by his holy teachers. The example of the king was followed by the whole court and a great part of the city. After this, the holy men went through the other towns and villages of the kingdom, everywhere preaching the mysteries and truths of the Christian faith. Many thousands became converts, only the magicians and fortune-tellers remained in their blindness, and seeing, with deep resentment, that they were everywhere despised and derided, they sought means to kill the holy Apostles. To this end, they excited the inhabitants of a town, which was far distant from the residence of the king, against the Saints, who had no sooner arrived there than thay were seized and dragged, the one before an idol of the sun, the other before that of the moon, and were commanded to offer incense. The holy men refused to comply with so wicked a demand, saying that they sacrificed only to the true God; after which they began to preach the Gospel. But the furious Pagans refused to listen to them, and in their rage, cut St. Simon asunder with a saw, and beheaded St. Jude. In this manner these two holy Apostles ended their lives and earned the glorious crown of martyrdom.

I cannot pass over in silence an event which took place while St. Simon and St. Jude preached the Gospel. The daughter of a noble Persian became the mother of a child, and said that a deacon of the Apostles was its father. The truth of this was not doubted, and the deacon was brought before the king. The holy Apostles, knowing that he was innocent, went to the king, and desired that the parents of the slanderer and the child should be summoned. When they appeared, one of the Saints asked the infant, in the presence of the king and the parents, whether the deacon was its father. The child answered loudly and distinctly: "No! the deacon is innocent." The king and all present thanked and praised the Almighty who had so miraculously saved His servant. The parents, begging pardon of the latter, as well as of the Apostles, requested that the child should be asked who was its father, but the Apostles said. " We come not to accuse the guilty, but to protect the innocent:" This great miracle was not only instrumental in increasing the esteem in which the holy Apostles were held, but was also the means of converting many heathens, and strengthening the faith of those who had already embraced Christianity.

It has further to be remarked that we have, in Holy Writ from the pen of St. Jude, a short but powerful Epistle, in which he admonishes the faithful to guard themselves against those who, having forsaken the true Church, preach heresy; to remain constant in their faith, and to practise diligently all virtues, especially charity, chastity and purity. Luther rejected this Epistle from Holy Writ, though St. Augustine had counted it among the inspired books more than a thousand years before, and also several Councils had declared it canonical. Without doubt Luther was actuated by the fact that he, and such as he, are painted with living colors in the same Epistle.

In the life of St. Bernard we find that this Saint had a particular devotion to St. Jude. He received, with extraordinary joy and veneration, the relics of this holy Apostle which were sent to him, and, on his death-bed, he requested that they should be laid on his breast and be buried with him.



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

I. More than thirty years did the holy Apostles work with unwearied zeal for the salvation of souls. Thousands of dangers, persecutions, nay, even death they did not fear, bearing everything joyfully, filled only with the thought of saving souls. What incited them to this? Doubtless, the love of Jesus Christ, who had ransomed those souls with His precious blood, and also pity, as they knew that, blinded by their error, these people would lose eternal life. St. Jude, in his epistle, exhorts us to have compassion on all those who are seduced by the heretics, and to save them from the fire, that is, from the fire of hell. "But others save, pulling them out of the fire; and on others have mercy." (Jude, xviii.) To-day I request you to have pity on your own soul. "Have pity on thy own soul," says the Wise Man. (Eccl., xxx.) Your soul has been bought with the priceless blood of Christ: esteem it accordingly, and take care that the blood of your Saviour may not have been shed for it in vain. Your soul, in its sin, is in the greatest danger of being cast into eternal fire. Have pity on it, and drag it forcibly from the precipice on which it stands. It is your soul, your own immortal soul, so dearly bought by Christ, given to you to guard and keep it. If you gain the life to come, your soul will be forever happy; but, if you lose it, your soul will eternally suffer in hell. Who will be injured by this but you? Therefore, commit nothing which may draw after it eternal punishment, and leave nothing undone which may aid you in obtaining the glories of heaven. It is your soul. "Have pity on your own soul!"

II. St. Simon is brought to the idol of the Sun, and St. Jude to that of the Moon, with the command to sacrifice; and, when both declare that they sacrifice only to the true God, both suffer martyrdom. Can you also say, with truth, that you sacrifice only to the true God? How many hours, how much labor, trouble and care have you sacrificed to vanity and pride, to the world, the flesh and the devil? Do you consider that less punishable than to offer a few grains of incense to a lifeless image? Oh! learn to despise this way of conducting yourself, and endeavor to live in such a manner that you may truthfully say that you offer sacrifice to the true God alone. Offer to the Almighty, early in the morning, all your thoughts, words and actions, all your cares and labors, and all that you may have to suffer during the day. During the day, offer to Him the incense which is most agreeable to Him,--that of prayer and good works. Offer Him your self-abnegation, the control of your evil inclinations, especially anger, impatience, and curiosity. Offer your self-conquest, by forgiving those who wrong you; by abstaining from unchaste and slanderous conversation; from intemperance in eating and drinking,--in one word, from everything displeasing to Him. Offer to Him, especially at night, a repentant and contrite heart, a heart ready to serve Him zealously and constantly." A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalms, 1.). "It is a wholesome sacrifice to take heed to the commandments, and to depart from all iniquity." (Eccl., xxxv.)