St. Jude Thaddeus

Posted on October 28, 2018 by admin No comments

Born: 1st century AD Galilee, Judaea, Roman Empire

Died: 1st century AD Persia, or Ararat, Armenia

Venerated: in Eastern Orthodox Churches, Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Church of the East, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism, Aglipayan Church Islam

Canonized: Pre-Congregation

Major shrine: St. Thaddeus Armenian Monastery, northern Iran; Saint Peter’s, Rome; Reims, Toulouse, France

Feast: 28 October (Western Christianity) 19 June (Eastern Christianity)

Attributes: Axe, club, boat, oar, medallion

Patronage: Armenia; lost causes; desperate situations; hospitals; St. Petersburg, Florida; Cotta; the Chicago Police Department; Clube de Regatas do Flamengo from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Lucena, Quezon, Sibalom, Antique, and Trece Mártires, Cavite, the Philippines; and Sinajana in Guam

Jude, also known as Judas Thaddaeus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is generally identified with Thaddeus, and is also variously called Jude of James, Jude Thaddaeus, Judas Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus. He is sometimes identified with Jude, the brother of Jesus, but is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus prior to his crucifixion. Judas Thaddaeus became known as Jude after early translators of the New Testament from Greek into English sought to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot and subsequently abbreviated his forename. Most versions of the New Testament in languages other than English and French refer to Judas and Jude by the same name.

The Armenian Apostolic Church honors Thaddeus along with Saint Bartholomew as its patron saints. In the Roman Catholic Church, he is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes.

Saint Jude’s attribute is a club. He is also often shown in icons with a flame around his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles. Another common attribute is Jude holding an image of Jesus Christ, known as the Image of Edessa. In some instances, he may be shown with a scroll or a book (the Epistle of Jude) or holding a carpenter’s rule.

Identity
New Testament

Jude is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, another apostle and later the betrayer of Jesus. Both Jude and Judas are translations of the name Ὶούδας in the Koine Greek language original text of the New Testament, which in turn is a Greek variant of Judah (Y’hudah), a name which was common among Jews at the time. In most Bibles in languages other than English and French, Jude and Judas are referred to by the same name.

Aside from Judas Iscariot, the New Testament mentions Jude or Judas six times, in four different contexts:
1. “Jude of James”, one of the twelve apostles (Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13);
2. “Judas, (not Judas Iscariot)”, apparently an apostle (John 14:22);
3. the brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3);
4. the writer of the Epistle of Jude, who identifies himself as “the brother of James” (Jude 1:1).

The first two are almost always thought to be the same person, although theologian Raymond Brown saw the identification as uncertain. The latter two are also usually thought to be the same person, though this too is not certain; see Epistle of Jude.
Catholic tradition generally holds all of these four to be the same person; while Protestants generally believe 1&2 to be one person, and 3&4 to be a one person, but different from 1&2.

Tradition and legend

Tradition holds that Saint Jude preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia and Libya. He is also said to have visited Beirut and Edessa, though the emissary of the latter mission is also identified as Thaddeus of Edessa, Addai, one of the Seventy. The 14th-century writer Nicephorus Callistus makes Jude the bridegroom at the wedding at Cana. The legend reports that St. Jude was born into a Jewish family in Paneas, a town in Galilee later rebuilt during the Roman period and renamed Caesarea Philippi.

In all probability he spoke both Greek and Aramaic, like almost all of his contemporaries in that area, and was a farmer by trade. According to the legend, St. Jude was a son of Clopas and his mother Mary, a cousin of the Virgin Mary. Tradition has it that Jude’s father, Clopas, was martyred because of his forthright and outspoken devotion to the risen Christ.

Although Saint Gregory the Illuminator is credited as the “Apostle to the Armenians”, when he baptized King Tiridates III of Armenia in 301, converting the Armenians, the Apostles Jude and Bartholomew are traditionally believed to have been the first to bring Christianity to Armenia, and are therefore venerated as the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Linked to this tradition is the Saint Thaddeus Monastery (now in northern Iran) and Saint Bartholomew Monastery (now in southeastern Turkey) which were both constructed in what was then Armenia.

Tradition holds that Jude the Apostle was vegetarian.

Death and remains

According to tradition, Saint Jude suffered martyrdom about 65 AD in Beirut, in the Roman province of Syria, together with the apostle Simon the Zealot, with whom he is usually connected. The axe that he is often shown holding in pictures symbolizes the way in which he was killed. Their acts and martyrdom were recorded in an Acts of Simon and Jude that was among the collection of passions and legends traditionally associated with the legendary Abdias, bishop of Babylon, and said to have been translated into Latin by his disciple Tropaeus Africanus, according to the Golden Legend account of the saints.

Sometime after his death, Saint Jude’s body was brought from Beirut to Rome and placed in a crypt in St. Peter’s Basilica which was visited by many devotees. Now his bones are in the left transept of St. Peter’s Basilica under the main altar of St. Joseph in one tomb with the remains of the apostle Simon the Zealot. According to another popular tradition, the remains of St. Jude were preserved in an Armenian monastery on an island in the northern part of Issyk-Kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan at least until the mid-15th century. Later legends either deny that the remains are preserved there or claim that they were moved to a yet more desolate stronghold in the Pamir Mountains.

Iconography

Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand or close to his chest, betokening the legend of the Image of Edessa, recorded in apocryphal correspondence between Jesus and Abgar which is reproduced in Eusebius’ History Ecclesiastica, I, xiii. Eusebius relates that King Abgar of Edessa (now Şanlıurfa in southeast Turkey) sent a letter to Jesus seeking a cure for an illness afflicting him. With the letter he sent his envoy Hannan, the keeper of the archives, offering his own home city to Jesus as a safe dwelling place. The envoy painted a likeness of Jesus with choice paints (or alternatively, impressed with Abgar’s faith, Jesus pressed his face into a cloth and gave it to Hannan) to take to Abgar with his answer. Upon seeing Jesus’ image, the king placed it with great honor in one of his palatial houses. After Christ’s execution, Jude Thomas the Apostle sent Addai, one of the 70 or 72 in Luke 10:1–12 to King Abgar and the king was cured. Astonished, he converted to Christianity, along with many of the people under his rule. Additionally, St. Jude is often depicted with a flame above his head, representing his presence at Pentecost, when he was said to have received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles.

Veneration

According to tradition, after his martyrdom, pilgrims came to his grave to pray and many of them experienced the powerful intercessions of St. Jude. Thus the title, ‘The Saint for the Hopeless and the Despaired’. St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Bernard had visions from God asking each to accept St. Jude as ‘The Patron Saint of the Impossible’.

His feast day is 28 October (Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Church) and 19 June (Eastern Orthodox Church).

The Order of Preachers (better known as the Dominicans) began working in present-day Armenia soon after their founding in 1216. At that time, there was already a substantial devotion to Saint Jude by both Catholic and Orthodox Christians in the area. This lasted until persecution drove Christians from the area in the 18th century. Devotion to Saint Jude began again in earnest in the 19th century, starting in Italy and Spain, spreading to South America, and finally to the United States (starting in the vicinity of Chicago) owing to the influence of the Claretians and the Dominicans in the 1920s.

Patronage

Among some Roman Catholics, Saint Jude is venerated as the “patron saint of lost causes”. This practice stems from the belief that few Christians invoked him for misplaced fear of praying to Christ’s betrayer, Judas Iscariot, because of their similar names. The ignored Jude thus supposedly became quite eager to assist anyone who sought his help, to the point of interceding in the most dire of circumstances. The Church also wanted to encourage veneration of this “forgotten” apostle, and maintained that Saint Jude would intercede in any lost cause to prove his sanctity and zeal for Christ.

Saint Jude is the patron saint of the Chicago Police Department and of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (a soccer team in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). His other patronages include desperate situations and hospitals. One of his namesakes is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, which has helped many children with terminal illnesses and their families since its founding in 1962.

Prayer to St. Jude Thaddeus

O most holy apostle, Saint Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honoureth and invoketh thee universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, and of things almost despaired of.

Pray for me, who am so miserable. Make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded to thee, to bring visible and speedy help where help was almost despaired of.

Come to mine assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consolation and succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly (here make your request) and that I may praise God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity.

I promise thee, O blessed Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favour, to always honour thee as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to thee. Amen.

Prayer to St. Jude Thaddeus in the times of suffering

Most holy Apostle, Saint Jude Thaddeus, friend of Jesus, I place myself in your care at this difficult time. Help me know that I need not face my troubles alone. Please join me in my need, asking God to send me: consolation in my sorrow, courage in my fear, and healing in the midst of my suffering. Ask our loving Lord to fill me with the grace to accept whatever may lie ahead for me and my loved ones, and to strengthen my faith in God’s healing powers. Thank you, Saint Jude Thaddeus, for the promise of hope you hold out to all who believe, and inspire me to give this gift of hope to others as it has been given to me.

V. Saint Jude, Apostle of Hope
R. Pray for us!

Prayer to St. Jude for Physical Healing

St. Jude, you witnessed the healing power of our Lord Jesus. You saw His compassion for the sick and dying. You yourself touched the sick, shared the sorrows of the mournful, and encouraged the despairing. You received this authority and healing power to work wonders, to cure the incurable, to make people whole. We ask you to intercede with our brother, Jesus, to send His saving grace to heal the sickness and suffering of __________________, to uplift his/her despondent spirit, and to instill hope in his/her heart. Amen.

Novena to St. Jude

Most Holy apostle St. Jude relative of Jesus Christ, thou glorious martyr, renowned for thy virtue and miracles, faithful and prompt intercessor for all who honour and trust in thee! Thou art a powerful patron and helper in great afflictions.

I come to thee and entreat thee from the depths of my heart; come to my aid with thy powerful intercession, thou who hast received from God the privilege of assisting with thy manifest help those who almost despair of all hope. Look down upon me; my life is a life of crosses, my days are days of tribulation, and my heart is an ocean of bitterness. All my paths are strewn with thorns, and scarcely one moment passes that does not witness my tears and sights; uneasiness, discouragement, mistrust and almost despair prey upon my soul.

Divine Providence seems lost to my sight, and Faith seems to falter in my heart. Weighed down by these thoughts, I see myself surrounded by a dark cloud. Thou cannot forsake me in this sad plight. I will not depart from thee until thou has heard me. Hasten to my aid. I will give thee thanks all my life, I will honour thee as my special patron. I will thank God for the graces. He has bestowed upon thee, and will promote thy honour with all my power. Amen.