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St. Jude: Faithful Servant and Friend of Jesus
Herald Columnist
From the issue of 11/11/04
By Fr. William P. Saunders
Why is St. Jude the Apostle the one to whom we pray in time of hopeless
causes?
- A reader in Annandale, VA
Before delving into the question at hand, let us first investigate what
we know about St. Jude. Unfortunately, sacred Scripture does not provide
many details about the life of St. Jude. Most importantly, he is listed
as one of the Twelve Apostles called by our Lord, Jesus: "At daybreak,
He called His disciples and selected twelve of them to be His apostles:
Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter, and Andrew, his brother, James
and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James son of
Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas
Iscariot, who turned traitor" (Lk 6:13-16; confer also Acts 1:13). In
both the Gospel of St. Matthew (10:2-4) and Mark (3:16-19), the name
"Judas" (i.e. Jude) does not appear in the list of the Apostles, but
rather the name "Thaddaeus"; some speculate that Thaddaeus was used to
distinguish Jude from the betrayer Judas Iscariot. (Please note, too,
that "Judas" is the Greek form for the English "Jude.") Nevertheless,
both names, Jude and Thaddaeus, refer to the same person, and oftentimes
one will hear St. Jude Thaddaeus. Our liturgical tradition also reflects
this point: The Latin text of Eucharistic Prayer I in the Mass uses the
name Thaddaeus, while the English text uses the word Jude in the listing
of the Apostles.
Traditionally, St. Jude was the author of "The Epistle of Jude," found
in the New Testament. Some scholars in recent times have disputed
whether the Apostle St. Jude was in fact the author Jude of this letter.
Rather than plunge into all of those arguments, let's recount briefly
the traditional evidence supporting St. Jude as the author. The
Muratorian Fragment (c. AD 155) provides one of the earliest listings of
those writings that could be read at Mass because they were of apostolic
authorship and free of heresy or error. These works would later be
included in the canon of the New Testament. The Muratorian fragment
lists The Epistle of Jude as one of those accepted writings, thereby
attesting to the authorship of the Apostle St. Jude.
However to accept this point stirs up another question: Why then does
the author of the epistle identify himself as the "brother of James"
(Jud 1), referring to the Apostle St. James the Lesser? In the listing
of the Twelve Apostles cited above, Jude is identified as "the son of
James," and St. James the Lesser is identified as "the son of Alphaeus."
The problem lies in the translation from the Greek text of the Gospel
into English. Returning to the original Greek text of the Gospel of St.
Luke, one does not find the word son either in reference to "James son
of Alphaeus" or "Judas son of James"; rather, the literal translation
would be "James of Alphaeus," and "Judas of James." (The same is true of
the Latin Vulgate text.) So what are the actual relationships?
The "James" referred to in the Letter of Jude is St. James the Lesser
(not the brother of St. John), who was a cousin of Jesus (Mt 13:55,
noting brother used as an all-encompassing term for any male blood
relation). Since in the listing of the Apostles in the Gospels of St.
Matthew and Mark, the name Thaddaeus follows immediately that of "James,
of Alphaeus," the traditional conclusion is that Thaddaeus and James are
related. Thaddaeus, remember, is the other name for St. Jude. Therefore,
the author of the epistle is the same Jude who is the brother of James
the Lesser. For good reason then, the Douay Rheims Bible correctly
translated the listing in Luke 6:13-16 as follows: "James, the son of
Alphaeus, and Simon who is called Zelotes, and Jude, the brother of
James." Another reason St. Jude identified himself as "the brother of
James" at the beginning of his epistle may be because the Apostle St.
James the Lesser was the well-known Bishop of Jerusalem; therefore, the
relationship attests to the apostolic authorship of the epistle and
dispels any confusion with Judas Iscariot.
Now that the reader probably knows more than he ever wanted to about why
St. Jude is the Apostle, the brother of St. James the Lesser, the cousin
of Jesus, and the author of the New Testament Epistle of Jude, we can
continue with answering the question.
St. Jude does have one recorded spoken verse in the Gospel of St. John.
At the Last Supper, he asked Jesus, "Lord, why is it that you will
reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" (Jn 14:22). Our Lord then
spoke of how anyone who loves Him will be true to His word, in turn His
Heavenly Father will love him, and together they will send the Holy Spirit.
The Epistle of Jude is similar to the Second Epistle of Peter. Some
scholars date the letter to about AD 70. St. Jude encourages the
community to "fight hard for the faith," and warns against false
teachers. He challenges the early faithful: "Grow strong in your holy
faith through prayer in the Holy Spirit. Persevere in God's love, and
welcome the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which leads to life eternal.
Correct those are confused; the others you must rescue, snatching them
from the fire" (20-22).
Tradition says that after the resurrection, St. Jude Thaddaeus retrieved
our Lord's burial cloth, which many believe to be the Shroud of Turin.
He eventually brought it to Edessa in present day Turkey. From there, he
traveled into the area of Armenia. The Armenian Rite traces its origins
to St. Jude Thaddaeus.
St. Jude then preached the gospel in Mesopotamia where he was joined by
St. Simon. From there, they did missionary work in Persia, where they
suffered martyrdom. St. Jude was beaten to death with a club; St. Simon
was sawed into pieces. Their feast day is Oct. 28.
So why is St. Jude Thaddaeus the patron saint of desperate causes? The
traditional reason is rather simple: When one hears the name Judas
(Latin and Greek) or even Jude (English), one immediately thinks of
Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Lord. Therefore, a person had to be
desperate to invoke his name. Being so seldom invoked and reverenced,
St. Jude is ready and waiting to hear the prayers of those who call upon
him. Ironically, he is probably the Apostle who is invoked the most in
prayer, and the most memorialized in churches with statues or other
artwork.
A prayer distributed by the National Shrine of St. Jude in Chicago reads
as follows:
"Most holy Apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, 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 us 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, tribulation, and sufferings,
particularly (state request) and that I may praise God with you and all
the elect 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."
Fr. Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Potomac Falls and a
professor of catechetics and theology at Notre Dame Graduate School in
Alexandria.
Herald Columnist
From the issue of 11/11/04
By Fr. William P. Saunders
Why is St. Jude the Apostle the one to whom we pray in time of hopeless
causes?
- A reader in Annandale, VA
Before delving into the question at hand, let us first investigate what
we know about St. Jude. Unfortunately, sacred Scripture does not provide
many details about the life of St. Jude. Most importantly, he is listed
as one of the Twelve Apostles called by our Lord, Jesus: "At daybreak,
He called His disciples and selected twelve of them to be His apostles:
Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter, and Andrew, his brother, James
and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James son of
Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas
Iscariot, who turned traitor" (Lk 6:13-16; confer also Acts 1:13). In
both the Gospel of St. Matthew (10:2-4) and Mark (3:16-19), the name
"Judas" (i.e. Jude) does not appear in the list of the Apostles, but
rather the name "Thaddaeus"; some speculate that Thaddaeus was used to
distinguish Jude from the betrayer Judas Iscariot. (Please note, too,
that "Judas" is the Greek form for the English "Jude.") Nevertheless,
both names, Jude and Thaddaeus, refer to the same person, and oftentimes
one will hear St. Jude Thaddaeus. Our liturgical tradition also reflects
this point: The Latin text of Eucharistic Prayer I in the Mass uses the
name Thaddaeus, while the English text uses the word Jude in the listing
of the Apostles.
Traditionally, St. Jude was the author of "The Epistle of Jude," found
in the New Testament. Some scholars in recent times have disputed
whether the Apostle St. Jude was in fact the author Jude of this letter.
Rather than plunge into all of those arguments, let's recount briefly
the traditional evidence supporting St. Jude as the author. The
Muratorian Fragment (c. AD 155) provides one of the earliest listings of
those writings that could be read at Mass because they were of apostolic
authorship and free of heresy or error. These works would later be
included in the canon of the New Testament. The Muratorian fragment
lists The Epistle of Jude as one of those accepted writings, thereby
attesting to the authorship of the Apostle St. Jude.
However to accept this point stirs up another question: Why then does
the author of the epistle identify himself as the "brother of James"
(Jud 1), referring to the Apostle St. James the Lesser? In the listing
of the Twelve Apostles cited above, Jude is identified as "the son of
James," and St. James the Lesser is identified as "the son of Alphaeus."
The problem lies in the translation from the Greek text of the Gospel
into English. Returning to the original Greek text of the Gospel of St.
Luke, one does not find the word son either in reference to "James son
of Alphaeus" or "Judas son of James"; rather, the literal translation
would be "James of Alphaeus," and "Judas of James." (The same is true of
the Latin Vulgate text.) So what are the actual relationships?
The "James" referred to in the Letter of Jude is St. James the Lesser
(not the brother of St. John), who was a cousin of Jesus (Mt 13:55,
noting brother used as an all-encompassing term for any male blood
relation). Since in the listing of the Apostles in the Gospels of St.
Matthew and Mark, the name Thaddaeus follows immediately that of "James,
of Alphaeus," the traditional conclusion is that Thaddaeus and James are
related. Thaddaeus, remember, is the other name for St. Jude. Therefore,
the author of the epistle is the same Jude who is the brother of James
the Lesser. For good reason then, the Douay Rheims Bible correctly
translated the listing in Luke 6:13-16 as follows: "James, the son of
Alphaeus, and Simon who is called Zelotes, and Jude, the brother of
James." Another reason St. Jude identified himself as "the brother of
James" at the beginning of his epistle may be because the Apostle St.
James the Lesser was the well-known Bishop of Jerusalem; therefore, the
relationship attests to the apostolic authorship of the epistle and
dispels any confusion with Judas Iscariot.
Now that the reader probably knows more than he ever wanted to about why
St. Jude is the Apostle, the brother of St. James the Lesser, the cousin
of Jesus, and the author of the New Testament Epistle of Jude, we can
continue with answering the question.
St. Jude does have one recorded spoken verse in the Gospel of St. John.
At the Last Supper, he asked Jesus, "Lord, why is it that you will
reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" (Jn 14:22). Our Lord then
spoke of how anyone who loves Him will be true to His word, in turn His
Heavenly Father will love him, and together they will send the Holy Spirit.
The Epistle of Jude is similar to the Second Epistle of Peter. Some
scholars date the letter to about AD 70. St. Jude encourages the
community to "fight hard for the faith," and warns against false
teachers. He challenges the early faithful: "Grow strong in your holy
faith through prayer in the Holy Spirit. Persevere in God's love, and
welcome the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which leads to life eternal.
Correct those are confused; the others you must rescue, snatching them
from the fire" (20-22).
Tradition says that after the resurrection, St. Jude Thaddaeus retrieved
our Lord's burial cloth, which many believe to be the Shroud of Turin.
He eventually brought it to Edessa in present day Turkey. From there, he
traveled into the area of Armenia. The Armenian Rite traces its origins
to St. Jude Thaddaeus.
St. Jude then preached the gospel in Mesopotamia where he was joined by
St. Simon. From there, they did missionary work in Persia, where they
suffered martyrdom. St. Jude was beaten to death with a club; St. Simon
was sawed into pieces. Their feast day is Oct. 28.
So why is St. Jude Thaddaeus the patron saint of desperate causes? The
traditional reason is rather simple: When one hears the name Judas
(Latin and Greek) or even Jude (English), one immediately thinks of
Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Lord. Therefore, a person had to be
desperate to invoke his name. Being so seldom invoked and reverenced,
St. Jude is ready and waiting to hear the prayers of those who call upon
him. Ironically, he is probably the Apostle who is invoked the most in
prayer, and the most memorialized in churches with statues or other
artwork.
A prayer distributed by the National Shrine of St. Jude in Chicago reads
as follows:
"Most holy Apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, 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 us 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, tribulation, and sufferings,
particularly (state request) and that I may praise God with you and all
the elect 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."
Fr. Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Potomac Falls and a
professor of catechetics and theology at Notre Dame Graduate School in
Alexandria.