Name: St Jude Thaddaeus
Feast Day: October 28
Death: 1st century, AD. The location and circumstances are disputed.
Patronage: Armenia, lost causes, hospitals, Chicago Police Department, the Philippines
Customs: Praying for impossible causes to St Jude
Shrine: Altar of St Joseph, St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.
The Altar of St Joseph, St Peter’s Basilica, which contains the relics of St Jude Thaddaeus. Image: Wikimedia Commons.
Life Story and Scripture:
Tradition holds St Jude is a cousin of Christ, that he is the same Jude listed in Mark 6:3 as brother of James, Joseph and Sim, who were also cousins of Christ.
The Apostle is considered the author of The Epistle of St Jude, by Origin and St Jerome, among other Fathers.
Church Fathers:
St Paulinus of Nola mentions him going to “Libya”.
St Jerome and the Eastern tradition hold that St Jude visited Mesopotamia and founded the Church at Edessa.
Apocryphal texts hold St Simon and St Jude Thaddeus were martyred in Persia.
With thanks to Rev Dr Paul Stenhouse MSC, Whatever happened to the twelve apostles? (2006, Chevalier Press)
