St. Jude Medals

Sometimes the challenges in life can seem impossible to overcome; an illness, a job loss, a relationship, an addiction. Who can we turn to for help? Saint Jude. He is the patron saint of hopeless causes and is there to petition our needs.

Jude, called in the Bible Jude Thaddeus, was one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. He is called Jude to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Our Lord. He was the brother of the Apostle St James the Less, and like James, a relative of Jesus. He is the author of the Epistle of Jude. The Scriptures do not say a lot about him, but tradition holds that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia. He was martyred for the faith in Beirut with the Apostle Simon the Zealot. He was killed by an ax.

His remains were taken to St Peter’s Basilica, Rome, where they remain today, resting alongside Simon’s. He is the patron saint of desperate causes, Armenia and the Phillippines. His epistle emphasizes perseverance in difficult situations.’ I was under a necessity to write unto you’, he tells his readers ‘to beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.’

St Jude’s feast is on October 28. According to tradition, he was a vegetarian.