Simeon, the son of Cleophas (Matthew xiii. 55), was ordained Bishop of Jerusalem in 62 AD and was Saint James’ immediate successor in that See. In the reign of the Emperor Trajan he was accused to the Consul Atticus of being a Christian and a relation of Christ for, at this time, all they, that were of the House of David were seized. After having endured various tortures, Simeon was put to death by the same punishment which our Saviour suffered, and all the beholders were filled with astonishment to find how at his age (for he was 120 years old) he could go through the intense pains of crucifixion without showing a sign of fear or irresolution.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
How venerable our Saint of today, with his hundred and twenty years, and his episcopal dignity, and his Martyr-crown! He succeeded the Apostle Saint James in the See of Jerusalem. He had known Jesus and had been His disciple. He was related to Jesus, for he was of the House of David. His father was Cleophas, and his Mother that Mary whom the tie of kindred united so closely to the Blessed Mother of God that she has been called her sister. What grand titles these of Simeon who comes with all our other Martyrs of Septuagesima to inspirit us to penance! Such a veteran who had been a contemporary of the Saviour of the world and was a Pastor who could repeat to his flock the very lessons this Jesus had given him — such a Saint, we say, could never rejoin His Divine Master save by the path of martyrdom, and that martyrdom must be the Cross. Like Jesus, then, he dies on a Cross and his death, which happened in the year 106, closes the first period of the Christian Era or, as it is called, The Apostolic Age. Let us honour this venerable Pontiff whose name awakens within us the recollection of all that is dear to our Faith. Let us ask him to extend to us that fatherly love which nursed the Church of Jerusalem for so many long years. He will bless us from that throne which he won by the Cross, and will obtain for us the grace we so much need — the grace of conversion.
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Receive, most venerable Saint, the humble homage of our devotion. What is all human glory compared with yours! You were of the family of Christ. Your teaching was that which His divine lips had given you. Your charity for men was formed on the model of His Sacred Heart, and your death was the closest representation of His. We may not claim the honour you had of calling ourselves brothers of the Lord Jesus, but pray for us that we may be of those of whom He thus speaks: “Whoever will do the will of my Father that is in Heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew xii. 50). We have not, like you, received the doctrine of salvation from the very lips of Jesus, but we have it in all its purity by means of holy Tradition, of which you are one of the earliest links. Obtain for us a docility to this word of God, and pardon for our past disobedience. We have not to be nailed to a cross, as you were, but the world is thickly set with trials to which our Lord Himself gives the name of the Cross. These we must bear with patience, if we would have part with Jesus in His glory. Pray for us, O Simeon, that henceforth we may be more faithful; that we never more become rebels to our duty, and that we may repair the faults we have so often committed by infringing the law of our God.
Also on this day according to the ROMAN
MARTYROLOGY:
At Ostia, the holy martyrs Maximus
and his brother Claudius, and Praepedigna, the wife of Claudius, with
her two sons Alexander and Cutias, all of an illustrious family. By
the order of Diocletian, they were apprehended and sent into exile.
Afterwards being burned alive, they offered to God the sweet-smelling
sacrifice of martyrdom. Their remains were cast into the river, but
Christians found them and buried them near that city.
In Africa, the holy martyrs Lucius,
Sylvanus, Rutulus, Classicus, Secundinus, Fructulus and Maximus.
At Constantinople, the holy bishop
Flavian, who for having defended the Catholic faith at Ephesus, was
buffeted and kicked by the partisans of the impious Dioscorus, and
being banished, ended his life within three days.
At Toledo, St. Helladius, bishop and
confessor.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs,
confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
