Once again our Saint of the Day is thanks to a request from Lucy -- 'though I think she made the request on behalf of her little brother. Today we will hear about St. Simon the Apostle.
St. Simon was born in the first century in the area of Canaan (see the Gospels of Matt. and Mark). In Luke's Gospel, he is called "the Zealot" - we don't know if this was because of his political views or just because he was zealous for the Kingdom of God. Simon is one of the leas known of the Apostles -- probably because he shares his name with the much better known Simon, called Peter. Simon never speaks in the Gospels and he wrote no epistles, so he left no legacy aside from his status as one of the twelve. Some people also think that Simon the Apostle is the same person as the Simon who is called "brother of the Lord" in the Gospels, but there is nothing in the Gospels to support this.
Eastern traditions say that it was Simon's wedding feast that Jesus attended and tuned the water into wine.
After Pentecost, the Apostles took the Gospel message out to the ends of the known world. We do not know for certain where Simon went to preach, but legend says that he and St. Jude (also a lesser-known Apostle) teamed up to preach in Persia - present day Iraq. He is believed to have been martyred for the faith -- legends differ on whether it was by crucifixion or being cut in half.
Simon shares his feast day with St. Jude on Oct 28.
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