(A.D. 107.)
[Roman, and all ancient Martyrologies, but commemorated by the
Greeks on April 27th. Authorities:--Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., lib.
iii., c. 10, 32; Hegesippus quoted by Eusebius.]
After the martyrdom of S. James, and the capture of Jerusalem by the
Romans, the surviving apostles and disciples of our Lord are reported
to have assembled at Jerusalem to consult who should be appointed
bishop in the room of S. James. They unanimously declared Simeon, the
son of Cleopas, as deserving to succeed to that important office. He
is said to have been cousin-german to our Saviour, for Hegesippus
asserts that Cleopas was the brother of Joseph. Hegesippus gives the
following account of his martyrdom:--"There are those that take the
lead of the whole Church as martyrs, even the kindred of our Lord.
Profound peace had lasted for the Church till the days of Trajan, when
Simeon, the relative of our Lord, being the son of Cleopas, was
waylaid by the heretics, and was accused to the Consul Atticus. After
he had been tormented many days, he died a martyr, with such firmness
that all wondered, even the president himself, that a man of one
hundred and twenty years of age should endure such tortures. At last
he was ordered to be crucified."
In art, S. Simeon appears with a cross, and as a very aged man. Some
of his relics are preserved in the church of S. James the Great, at
Bologna; his head in the Jesuit church at Brussels; other portions of
the body at Lisborne, near Lipstadt, in Westphalia.