Jude the Apostle

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Jude the Apostle

Saint Jude Thaddeus, by Georges de La Tour. c. 1615-1620.
Apostle and Martyr
Died 1st Century, Persia
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Coptic Christians, Anglican Church
Major shrine Saint Peter's, Rome, Rheims, Toulouse, France
Feast October 28,June 19
Attributes axe, club, boat, oar, medallion
Patronage lost causes, desperate situations, hospitals, St. Petersburg, Florida, the Chicago Police Department Clube de Regatas do Flamengo from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
For other uses, see Saint Jude (disambiguation).

Jude (or Judas) is a Christian saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is also called Thaddaeus, Thaddeus or Judas Thaddaeus. He should not be confused with Judas Iscariot, another apostle and later the betrayer of Jesus.

The Armenian Apostolic Church honours Saint Jude, along with Saint Bartholomew as their patron saint. 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. Occasionally he is represented holding an axe or halberd, as he was brought to death by one of these weapons. In some instances he may be shown with a scroll or a book (the Epistle of Jude) or holding a carpenter's rule.

New Testament

Jesus loves me


In the New Testament the Apostle Jude is referred to by several names. The list given in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13 mention a "Judas (the son) of James".

The Gospel of John John 14:22 also mentions a disciple called Judas, who during the Last Supper asks Jesus: "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" The passage takes care to distinguish the disciple from the subsequent traitor by the wording "Judas (not Iscariot)"

The lists of the Apostles given by in Matthew 10:1–4 and Mark 3:13–19, otherwise identical to the one given by Luke, mention in the same spot a "Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus" and "Thaddaeus" respectively.

Since tradition also numbered a Thaddeus among the Seventy Disciples mentioned in Luke 10:1–24, some scholars have argued that an another Thaddaeus was one of the Seventy. However, the identification of the two names has been virtually universal, leading to the name of Judas Thaddaeus. But Eusebius is writing in his Historia Ecclesiastica, I, xiii: "Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, under divine impulse sent Thaddeus, who was also numbered among the seventy disciples of Christ, to Edessa, as a preacher and evangelist of the teaching of Christ."

Some writers have argued that the multiplicity of names for this apostle is caused by a concern to distinguish this Apostle from Judas Iscariot:

"Even in the Gospels the evangelists were embarrassed to mention the name of Judas. Their prejudice is quite apparent. In the one passage in which St John spoke of Thaddeus, he hurried over the name, and was quick to add, "Judas, not the Iscariot..." Even more striking is the fact that both Matthew and Mark never mentioned the full name of this apostle, Jude Thaddeus, but merely called him by his surname, Thaddeus. One can correctly assume that the evangelists wanted to reestablish a good name for this apostle among his companions and especially among the people. By using only his surname, they could remove any stigma his name might have given him" —Otto Hophan, The Apostle ch. X [1].

The name by which Luke calls the Apostle, Jude of James is ambiguous as to the relationship of Jude to this James. Though such a construction commonly denotes a relationship of father and son, it has been traditionally interpreted as "Jude, brother of James" (See james version Luke 6:16).

Based on this interpretation, Jude and his supposed brother James were identified with Jude and James, two of the "brethren of the Lord" mentioned in Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55–57.

As brother of a James, Jude was also identified with the author of the Epistle of Jude, who calls himself "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James" (Jude 1:1).

Tradition and legend

Tradition holds that Jude preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia and Libya. He is also said to have visited Beirut and Edessa, though the latter is probably a confusion with the Thaddeus evangelizing there. He is reported as suffering martyrdom together with Simon the Zealot in Persia.

The 14th century writer Nicephorus Callistus makes Jude the bridegroom at the wedding at Cana.

The legend reports that Jude was born into a Jewish family in Paneas, a town in Galilee. He probably spoke Greek and Aramaic, like many of his contemporaries in that area, and he was a farmer (as many of his family were) by trade.

According to the legend, Jude was a son of Clopas and his wife Mary, a cousin of the Virgin Mary. Tradition has it that Jude's father, Clopas, was murdered because of his forthright and outspoken devotion to the risen Christ. After Mary's death, miracles were attributed to her intercession.

Though Saint Gregory the Illuminator is credited as the "Apostle to the Armenians", when he baptised King Tiridates III of Armenia in 301, converting the Armenians, the Apostles Jude and Bartholomew are considered the first to bring Christianity to Armenia in the first century and thus are venerated as the the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church and so are under the protection and patronage of both apostolic saints. Linked to this tradition is the Thaddeus Monastery.

Death and remains

According to the Armenian tradition, Saint Judeous suffered martyrdom around 65 AD together with the apostle Simon the Zealot, with whom he is usually connected. 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 [2], [3]. Saints Simon and Jude are venerated together in the Roman Catholic Church on October 28.

Sometime after his death, Saint Jude's body was brought to Rome and placed in a crypt in St. Peter's Basilica which is visited by many devotees.

According to popular tradition and some historical evidence[citation needed], the remains of Jude were preserved in a monastery on an island in the northern part of Issyk-Kul lake in Kyrgyzstan at least until mid-15th century. Later legend either denounce remains as being preserved there or moved to yet more desolate stronghold in the Pamir mountains. Recent discovery of the ruins of what could be that monastery may put an end to the dispute.

Iconography of Saint Jude

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 Abgarus which is reproduced in Eusebius' History. According to it, King Abgar of Edessa (a city located in what is now southeast Turkey) sent a letter to Jesus to cure him of leprosy and sent an artist to bring him a drawing of Jesus. Impressed with Abgar's great faith, Jesus pressed his face into a cloth and gave it to Jude to take to Abgar. Upon seeing Jesus' image, the King was cured and he converted to Christianity along with most of the people under his rule.

Veneration

Jude Thaddeus 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. (The epithet is also commonly rendered as "patron saint of lost causes".)Johnathan Stien is a lost cause.

Many Christians, especially in the past, reckoned him as Judas Iscariot and avoided prayers on behalf of him. Therefore he was also called the "Forgotten Saint". Devotion to Saint Jude began again in earnest in the 1800s, starting in Italy and Spain, spreading to South America, and finally to the U.S. (starting in the area around Chicago) in the 1920s. Novena prayers to Jude helped people, especially newly arrived immigrants from Europe, deal with the pressures caused by the Great Depression, World War II, and the changing workplace and family life. He is frequently thanked in the personals column of the Daily Telegraph, Private Eye and other newspapers.

Jude is the patron saint of the Chicago Police Department and of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (a popular 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.

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

A common Roman Catholic prayer is:

“Most holy apostle, St. Jude Thaddeus, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor has caused you to be forgotten by many. But the Church honors and invokes you universally as the patron of hopeless cases, of things almost despaired of. Pray for me, I am so helpless and alone. Make use, I implore you, of that particular privilege given to you, to bring visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly -- (Here make your request) and that I may praise God with you and all the saints forever. I promise, O blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, to always honor you as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you. Amen.” (3 Our Father's, 3 Hail Mary's and 3 Glory Be's)

To encourage devotion to St. Jude, it is common to acknowledge in writing favors received.

There is a renacting group named after him called "The Company of St Jude" which co-exists in England.

External links

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