St. Jude

St. Jude was one of the Twelve Apostles and the brother of St. James, who was also one of the twelve. Jude was described by St. Mathew (13:55) as being one of the "brethren" of Jesus, probably meaning a cousin since the Hebrew word for "brethren" indicates a blood relationship. Elsewhere, Jude's mother, Mary, was referred to as a cousin of Jesus' mother.

St Luke's Gospel includes Jude in the list of the 12 Apostles (6:16) and St. John mentions him (14:22). St. Mathew (10:3) and St. Mark (3:18) use the name Thaddeus without Jude. Catholic scripture scholars have long held that Jude and Thaddeus are the same person, and that is why the Church speaks of St. Jude Thaddeus.

It is uncertain how the devotion to St. Jude as the patron of difficult or hopeless cases began.Confusion between St. Jude and the apostle who betrayed Jesus, Judas Iscariot, may have discouraged devotion to the former for many centuries. Although there seems to have been devotion to him in the Middle Ages, it was not until more recent times that the devotion became widely popular.

St. Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand. This idea comes from a popular story in which king bagar of Edessa asked Jesus to cure him of leprosy and sent an artist to bring him a drawing of Jesus. Impressed with Abagar's great faith, Jesus pressed his face into a cloth and gave it to St. Jude to take to Abagar. Upon seeing Jesus' image, The King was cured and he converted to Christianity along with most of the people under his rule. St. Jude is shown very often with a flame around his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other Apostles.

After the death of Jesus, St. Jude traveled throughout Mesopotamia, Libya, and Persia with St. Simon preaching and converting many people to Christianity. He is believed to have been martyred in Persia or Syria. The axe that he is often shown holding in pictures symbolizes the way in which he was killed -- truly, he paid the ultimate price for his faith.After his death his body was brought back to Rome and was placed in a crypt beneath St. Peter's Basilica.