Floribund Starwort. _Aster floribundus._
Dedicated to _St. Frumentius_.
~October 28.~
_St. Simon_, the Zealot, Apostle. _St. Jude_, Apostle. _St. Faro_, Bp.
of Meaux, A. D. 672. _St. Neot_, A. D. 877.
~St. Simon and St. Jude.~
A festival to these apostles is maintained on this day in the church of
England, whereon also it is celebrated by the church of Rome; hence
their names in our almanacs.
_Simon_ is called the Canaanite, either from Cana the place of his
birth, or from his having been of a hot and sprightly temper. He
remained with the other apostles till after pentecost, and is imagined
on slight grounds to have preached in Britain, and there been put to
death. _Jude_, or Judas, also called _Thaddeus_ and _Libbius_, was
brother to James the brother to Christ, (Matt. xiii. 55.) Lardner
imagines he was the son of Joseph by a former wife. Some presume that he
suffered martyrdom in Persia, but this is doubtful.[363]
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This anniversary was deemed as rainy as St. Swithin’s. A character in
the “Roaring Girl,” one of Dodsley’s old plays, says, “as well as I know
’twill rain upon Simon and Jude’s day:” and afterwards, “now a continual
Simon and Jude’s rain beat all your feathers as flat down as pancakes.”
Hollinshed notices that on the eve of this day in 1536, when a battle
was to have been fought between the troops of Henry VIII., and the
insurgents in Yorkshire, there fell so great a rain that it could not
take place. In the Runic calendar, the day is marked by a ship because
these saints were fishermen.[364]
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