About St. Jude of Thaddaeus
Feast Day: October 28. Patron of Desperate Cases
St. Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of St. James the Less, and St. Simeon of Jerusalem; and a relative of Our Saviour. St. Jude was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. 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.
St. Jude is shown, traditionally, as carrying the image of Jesus in his hand. According to tradition, this represents the imprint of the Divine Countenance that was entrusted to him by Our Lord. Ancient writers tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Lybia. 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.
He is an author of an epistle 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 in Armenia, which was then subject to Persia.
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. St. Jude is not the same person as Judas Iscariot who betrayed Our Lord and despaired because of his great sin and lack of trust in God's mercy.