St. Jude Thaddeus

St. Jude Thaddeus shows his special help and protection in difficult and desperate circumstances. Thus, he has become universally known as the “Patron of Hopeless and Desperate Cases.” 


St. Jude has obtained recovery for those stricken with maladies that defied human skill and remedies. He has obtained grace to overcome deeply-rooted evil habits— those afflictions that are far more difficult to cure than any sickness. Because of his own love for purity, and his zealous care in preserving it, he has come to be regarded as a special protector of this virtue. Not only does he help those who are pure to retain their purity, but he also speedily aids those assailed by impure thoughts and enslaved by impure habits. 


The holy Apostle obtains help in anguish, distress, calumny, poverty, misery—yes, even in despair and in circumstances where aid seems utterly impossible. In return, we ought to give him our confidence, love and gratitude. If our requests are not immediately granted precisely according to our own ideas and wishes, surely they will be, sooner or later, according to the designs of God. 


A shining example of veneration of this holy Apostle was given by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who, during his whole life, highly honored a relic of St. Jude. When dying, St. Bernard asked that the relic be placed upon his breast and buried with him, that he might not be entirely without him whom in life he had found to be a powerful protector of his purity and a potent helper in every circumstance. 


All who are in trouble should be filled with confidence in the intercession of St. Jude, for the saving virtue of our prayer proceeds from confidence, the Saints tell us. St. Jude is the helper, the consoler of all oppressed with heavy trials. 


St. Jude, pray for us, and for all who invoke thine aid.