Apostle Simon
(Simonet, Cione)

He is mentioned mostly in connection with the apostle Judas Thaddeus.  They are celebrated on the same day, 28th October.  His second name, Cananaeus, stands for “zealot”.  Legend names him one of the brothers of Jacob, son of Althaeus and Maria Cleophas.  Detailed legend takes him and his brother to Persia, where both die the martyr’s death through beheading.  In his representations his symbol is sometimes a lance (as in the Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne Cathedral) and a truncheon (Shrine of Maria in the Cathedral of Aachen dating from 1335).  Not until about 1300 AD when he is pictured on the stained-glass windows of the St. Dionys Church in Esslingen (Germany) is his martyr’s death by a saw represented.