Saint Simeon and Saint Anna the Prophetess

At that same time lived Anna, the prophetess Anne, la prophétesse Daughter of Phanuel, a widow devoted to the service of God in the Temple. , daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She had lived many days. In her youth, having lost her husband after seven years of marriage, she had remained in widowhood: she was then eighty-four years old. She never left the Temple, serving God, night and day, in fasting and prayer. Anna, having therefore arrived at this moment, praised the Lord herself and spoke of the child to all those who were awaiting the redemption of Israel.

It is claimed that the relics o f Saint Sime saint Siméon Righteous man of Jerusalem who welcomed the Child Jesus at the Temple. on were transported from Judea t o Constantinop Constantinople City where the saint exercised his ministry and patriarchate. le during the time of Theodosius the Younger (408-450) or under subsequent reigns, and that they were seen there in the 8th century in a church of Saint James the Less, from where they were a lleged Venise Final location of the transfer of relics in 1200. ly transferred to Venice in 1200. For a long time, a monument was shown to pilgrims in the Valley of Josaphat, near Jerusalem, which was claimed to be the tomb of this holy old man; nevertheless, in the time of Saint Gregory of Tours (559-593), the general opinion held that he had been buried on the Mount of Olives, with the priest Zechariah, father of Saint John the Baptist, by the apo saint Jacques le Mineur Apostle cited for having buried Simeon according to Gregory of Tours. stle Saint James the Less, in a tomb that he had had made for himself. One of the arms of the holy old man has been for several yea rs in P Ligueux Commune in the Dordogne department housing an arm of Saint Simeon. érigord, at Ligueux (Dordogne, arrondissement of Périgueux, canton of Savignac), which was before the Revolution a large Benedictine monastery (B. M. de Ligurio).

The feast of Saint Simeon was celebrated on different days. In the East, it was usually held on February 2 or 3. The oldest martyrologies of the Western Church mark it on January 5; others place it on February 2 or 4; some on the 9th of the same month. Ado and Usuard placed it on October 8 without us knowing the reason: they were followed by Baronius Baronius Cardinal and hagiographer who fixed the feast day on October 8. in his Roman Martyrology.

Saint Simeon is depicted holding the Child Jesus in his arms. He is the patron sa int Zara City in Dalmatia of which Simeon is the patron saint. of Zara, in Dalmatia.

Abbé Darras, General History of the Catholic Church; Ballist; Local notes.