February 18.

S. SIMEON, B. OF JERUSALEM.
(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.

SS. CLAUDIUS, MAXIMUS, AND COMP., MM.
(A.D. 295.)

[Almost all Martyrologies. Authority:—The very ancient, but fabulous Acts of S. Susanna, VM. See Aug. 11th.]