Today is the feast of St. Simeon of Jerusalem, brother of the Lord (which we as Catholics know means "kinsman of the Lord," as Aramaic had no separate word for brother, or cousin, or [more distant] male relative); died 107 AD. This man was the son of Cleophas, St. Joseph's brother, making him, as the terminology goes, a "cousin german" of Our Lord. He was named second bishop of Jerusalem after the murder of St. James the Lesser, his brother. He served wisely and well -- and providentially removed all or most of the Christians from Jerusalem just prior to Vespasian's destruction of the Temple (70 AD), and then again just before Hadrian's complete razing of it. He had led them to safety in the city of Pella, beyond the Jordan. Here (and back in Jerusalem, later) miracles abounded and the Church flourished.
Simeon was not free of suffering; he was denounced as a descendant of David AND a Christian -- which punishment was death. And though he was by this time well over a hundred years old, he endured torture and then death by crucifixion with such courage that even his executioner, Atticus, was impressed. Brave St. Simeon, pray for us.
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