St. Simon the Apostle

Simon was one of the Twelve Apostles and is distinguished in the Gospel lists by the designation Zealot, also rendered Cananaean. The New Testament gives little further personal information about him. His identity should not be confused with Simon Peter or filled out with details borrowed from other people of the same name.

His designation has attracted interpretations about his earlier loyalties, but it does not supply a documented political career. What the Gospel lists establish is his inclusion among the small group Jesus chose as apostles. His shared vocation is more certain than the later attempts to reconstruct his background.

Devotional accounts describe Simon and Jude refusing idolatry at the cost of their lives. Those stories explain their joint celebration and later veneration, including their association with relics in Saint Peter’s Basilica. They should be read as the Church’s received missionary tradition, rather than as eyewitness itineraries.

Later traditions connect Simon’s preaching and martyrdom with Jude, particularly in Persia, but the accounts vary. The Church celebrates the two apostles together on October 28. His biography is therefore best centered on his securely attested place among the Twelve, while clearly identifying the later missionary narratives as tradition.

Benedict XVI’s 2006 audience explains Simon’s two designations through a word associated with ardor or zeal, connecting it with biblical language about Elijah’s devotion to God. This reading places Simon’s nickname within Jewish religious vocabulary rather than treating it as a complete account of his politics.

The pope then contrasts this probable attachment to Jewish identity and law with Matthew’s background as a tax collector. He reads their shared place among the Twelve as an example of people from sharply different settings becoming one community around Jesus. This is a theological interpretation of the apostolic group, not evidence of a recorded dispute between Simon and Matthew.