St. Jude
Born: c. 10 C.E.
Died: 65 C.E.
Feast day: October 28
Patron saint of: hopeless causes, desperate situations, hospitals
St. Jude Thaddeus, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles, is known as the patron saint of hopeless causes and desperate situations. Mentioned in every gospel except John, tradition identifies Jude as a relative of Jesus, possibly a cousin, and the brother of St. James the Less.
St. Jude is also credited with authoring the Epistle of Jude in the New Testament, which encourages Christians to persevere in faith and to trust in God during hard times. After Pentecost, he traveled widely to spread the gospel, including to Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Persia. He is believed to have been martyred around 65 C.E., possibly alongside St. Simon the Zealot.
Today, the National Shrine to St. Jude is located at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Chicago, a Claretian parish. It was founded by Father James Tort in 1929, a Claretian with a strong devotion to St. Jude, at that time a relatively unknown saint. He asked St. Jude for his intercession to help the workers of the parish, many of whom were laborers in the nearby steel mills and who faced unemployment and hard working conditions.
“One of the things the devotion to St. Jude brings is the sense of being heard, of being helped,” explains Claretian Father Agustin Carillo, the current codirector of the National Shrine of St. Jude. Today, more than three million people participate in this vibrant community of prayer, both in person and online.
More about St. Jude:
Jude didn’t let them down
The devotion to St. Jude, patron of difficult or hopeless causes, has been fostered by the Claretians since the 1920s through the National Shrine of St. Jude.
Bring your parenting worries to St. Jude
There is value in naming our deepest desires, whether or not we truly believe that our prayers will accomplish tangible ends.
St. Jude’s journey to Chicago’s south side
How a scrappy priest and the patron saint of hopeless causes inspired U.S. Catholic’s ministry.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
