Catholic - Universal Church ST. SIMEON - 18FEB (1st - c.110)

This day is the feast of St. Simeon, bishop and martyr. He was successor to the apostle St. James in the See of Jerusalem and was arrested and probably crucified inabout A.D. 110, under the emperor Trajan. He ruled over the Church of Jerusalem for forty years. A blood relative of Christ, he was martyred in early apostolic times. Succeeding the apostle James, Simeon, the son of Cleophas, was, it may be said, the first bishop of Jerusalem. Under the Emperor Trajan he was arraigned before Atticus, the governor, on charges of being a Christian and a relative of Jesus. For at a certain period, alldescendants of David were apprehended. After enduring all types of torture, he was affixed toa cross, even as His Savior. Those present marveled how a man of such advanced age (he was 120 years old) could so steadfastly andjoyously bear the excruciating pains of crucifixion. He died on the 18th of February, 106 A.D. The siege and the destruction of Jerusalem took place during his episcopacy. He accompanied the Christian community to Pella. — Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsc SOURCE: http:// www.catholiccult ure.org/ culture/ liturgicalyear/ calendar/ day.cfm?date=201 2-02-18 Saint Simeon was the son of Cleophas, otherwise called Alpheus, who was father also of Saint James the Lesser, the first bishop of Jerusalem, of Saint Jude the Apostle, and of another son named Joseph. Alpheus, accordingto tradition, was Saint Joseph’s brother; thus Saint Simeon was the nephew of Saint Joseph and the cousin of our Saviour. We cannot doubt but that he was an early follower of Christ; tradition assigns the family’s residence to Nazareth. He certainlyreceived the Holy Ghost on the dayof Pentecost, with the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles. When the Jews massacred Saint James the Lesser, his brother Simeon reproached them for their atrocious cruelty. After this first bishop of Jerusalem had been putto death in the year 62, that is, twenty-nine years after Our Saviour’s Resurrection, the Apostles and disciples met at Jerusalem to appoint a successor, and unanimously chose Saint Simeon, who had probably already assisted his brother in thegovernment of that Church. In the year 66 or 67, during which Saints Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom at Rome, civil war broke out in Judea as a resultof the hostility of the Jews againstthe Romans and their seditions. The Christians of Jerusalem were warned by God of the impending destruction of that city. With Saint Simeon at their head, they therefore left it in that year and retired beyond the Jordan to a small city called Pella, before Vespasian, Nero’s General, later Roman Emperor, entered Judea. After the taking and burning of Jerusalem they returned there once more, still under the leadership of Saint Simeon, and settled amid its ruins. The Jerusalem church flourished again for a few years until razed by Adrian, and multitudes of Jews were converted by the great number of prodigies and miracleswrought in its midst. The emperors Vespasian and Domitianhad commanded all to be put to death who were of the race of David; but Saint Simeon escaped their searches. When Trajan renewed the same decree, however, certain heretics and Jews accused the Saint before the Roman governor in Palestine, as being both of the race of David and a Christian. The holy bishop was condemned to be crucified. He died in the year107, after having undergone during several days the usual tortures, though he was one hundred and twenty years old. He suffered these torments with so much patience that he won universal admiration. He had governed the Church of Jerusalemfor about forty-three years. SOURCE: http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/engl/02-18.htm#simeon—