Simon Zealotes (Simon the Zealot)

In Foxe’s Book of Martyrs we read, ‘Simon, surnamed Zelotes, preached the Gospel in Mauritania, Africa, and even in Britain, in which latter country he was crucified, AD74.’ If St Simon reached Britain, he would have been the only one of the apostles to do so, and of course he could well have visited or even landed at the port of Londinium. However, there is no other evidence, and he is not mentioned in Bede’s History of the English Church. St Alban is the first Christian martyr in Britain whom we know anything about.

See also