St. Jude

St. Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of St. James the Less, and one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus.

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 (letter) 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. The final conversion of the Armenian nation to Christianity did not take place until the third century.

Jude was the one who asked Jesusat the Last Supper why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world after His resurrection. Little else is known of his life.

Jude is invoked in desperate situations because his New Testamentletter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances, just as their forefathers had done before them. His Feast Day is October 28.