St. Jude: Our Patron

Saint Jude Thaddeus is the patron of desperate cases. He is the brother of James the Less, as indicated in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13.

It was Saint Jude who at the Last Supper asked, “Lord, why is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Our Lord replied, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me." (John 14:22)

This exchange between our patron and our Lord reveals how beautifully comfortable the Apostles’ relations with our Lord are: “they simply ask him about things they do not know and get him to clear up any doubts they have. This is a good example of how we ourselves should approach our Lord, who is also our teacher and friend.” (Casciaro et. all 659)

Christ’s reply to St. Jude is clear. If we love Him, we will believe in Him, and keep his Words in our heart. Here Jesus is speaking of the presence of God in each person. God will dwell in the souls of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

According to Butler’s Lives of the Saints, after the Ascension, St. Jude preached first in Mesopotamia, and was martyred in Persia.

St Jude’s life teaches us about the virtue of zeal. “Zeal is an ardent love which makes a man fearless in defense of God’s honor, and earnest at all costs to make known the truth. If we would be children of the Saints, we must be zealous for the Faith.” (Butler 346-347)

Saint Jude calls us to be zealous in his epistle, when he instructs the reader to "contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." After outlining the numerous ways licentious people attacked the honor of our Lord through false teaching, He exhorts us to ”Build [ourselves] in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And convince some, who doubt; save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you without blemish, before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude: 20-25) Saint Jude’s \

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. (sanjudastadeo) “The...Edessian tradition... reports a picture of Christ brought to [King] Abgar and the arrival of a man named Addai, sent by Jesus, who cured and baptized Abgar and established Christianity in Edessa. Eusubius, the first Christian historian, calls this man Thaddeus.” Thaddeus is described by more than one source “as one of the seventy-two disciples sent out by Christ... Saint Jerome, writing later in the third century, identifies Addai /Thaddeus as the Apostle Jude Thaddeus {our patron}. For a mission of this importance, it would seem more reasonable to have chosen one of the twelve” (Carroll, 409). This picture of Christ may have been the Shroud of Turin, or another image of our Lord such as the Holy Face, as depicted here. In any event, the miraculous healing brought about the conversion of Edessa to Christianity, thus establishing the Church in Persia.

St. Jude is often rendered with a tongue of fire above his head. This flame represents his presence in the Upper Room at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles. (sanjudastadeo)

He is sometimes depicted holding a club, axe, or halberd, presumably as a sign of the instrument of his martyrdom. Artists may also portray him carrying a book or letter, in reference to the Epistle attributed to him.

Sources:
Butler, Rev. Alban. Lives of the Saints with Reflections for Every Day in the Year
   Compiled from the “Lives of the Saints”; Benziger Brothers, 1894. Kindle
   Edition Evinity Publishing, 2009.

Carroll, Warren H. The Founding of Christendom: A History of Christendom, vol.
   1; Christendom Press, Front Royal, VA, 1993.

Casciaro, Jose Maria et. all, The Catholic Epistles, The Navarre Bible, Four Courts
   Press, Dublin, 1999.

http://sanjudastadeo.info/en_History.htm