Saints Simon and Jude

Simon and Jude have been celebrated together since ancient times, and very little is known about either of them. Simon is called the Cananaean or the Zealot. The second name is interesting: the Zealots were the party that wanted to drive out the Romans by force of arms. If the nickname comes from there, it means that among the Twelve there were both a tax collector for Rome — Matthew — and an anti-Roman militant. Jude is called Thaddeus so as not to confuse him with Iscariot, and that confusion cost him centuries of oblivion: out of fear of the name, no one prayed to him. From there, through a kind of popular reversal, he became the patron of hopeless cases — because, people said, forgotten by everyone, he is eager to help those who pray to him. In the United States he is one of the most popular saints there are, and hospitals and research institutes are named after him. In the Gospel of John he asks just one question, during the Last Supper: why Jesus will reveal himself to them and not to the world. The short Letter of Jude in the New Testament is attributed to him. Tradition sends them to preach together in Persia and has them die there. The Armenians consider Jude Thaddeus, together with Bartholomew, the evangelizer of their country. If your name is Simon or Jude, today is your name day.