Saint Jude, also called Thaddeus was the Son
of Cleophas and Mary (who stood at the foot of
the Cross, and who anointed Christ's body after
death); brother of Saint James the Lesser; nephew
of Mary and Joseph; cousin of Jesus Christ, and
reported to look a lot like him is thought to
have been a fisherman prior to becoming an apostle.
Ancient writers tell us that he preached the
Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia
(modern day Iraq), and Lybia. Legend claims that
he visited Beirut and Edessa as well. According
to Eusebius, he returned to Jerusalem in the year
62, and assisted at the election of his brother,
St. Simeon, as Bishop of Jerusalem.
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He is an author of an epistle (letter) to the Churches
of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed
against the heresies of the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics.
This Apostle is said to have suffered martyrdom with St.
Simon by being beaten to death with a club, then beheaded
post-mortem in Armenia, which was then subject to Persia.
The final conversion of the Armenian nation to Christianity
did not take place until the third century of our era. Holy
relics of St. Jude can be found at Saint Peter's, Rome,
at Rheims, and at Toulouse, France.
Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why
He would not manifest Himself to the whole world after His
resurrection. Little else is known of his life aside from
the legends that were handed down. For example, it is said
that St. Jude could exorcise pagan idols, which caused the
demons to flee and the statues to crumble.
Jude is invoked in desperate situations because his New
Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere
in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances, just
as their forefathers had done before them. Therefore, he
is the patron saint of desperate cases and his feast day
is October 28. Saint Jude is often mistaken for Judas Iscariot,
the betrayer of Our Lord, and was forgotten by the church
for many years as a result.
