Jude the Apostle
.Saint Jude the Apostle
Anthonis van Dyck 088.jpg
Apostle Jude by Anthony van Dyck
Apostle and Martyr
Born 1st
century AD
Galilee, Judaea, Roman Empire
Died 1st
century AD
Persia, or Ararat, Armenia[1]
Venerated in Eastern Orthodox Churches,
Roman Catholic Church,
Eastern Catholic Churches,
Oriental Orthodox Churches,
Church of the East,
Anglican Communion,
Lutheranism,
Aglipayan Church
Islam
Canonized Pre-Congregation
Major shrine Saint Peter's, Rome, Reims, Toulouse, France
Feast October
28 (Western Christianity)
June 19 (Eastern Christianity)[2]
Attributes Axe, club, boat, oar, medallion
Patronage Armenia; lost causes; desperate situations; hospitals; St.
Petersburg, Florida; Cotta;[3] the Chicago Police Department; Clube de Regatas
do Flamengo from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Lucena, Quezon, Sibalom, Antique, and
Trece Mártires, Cavite, the Philippines; and Sinajana in Guam
Jude, also known as
Judas Thaddaeus,[4] was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is generally
identified with Thaddeus, and is also variously called Jude of James, Jude
Thaddaeus, Judas Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus. He is sometimes identified with Jude,
the brother of Jesus, but is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the
apostle who betrayed Jesus prior to his crucifixion. Judas Thaddaeus became
known as Jude after early translators of the New Testament from Greek into
English sought to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot and subsequently
abbreviated his forename.[5] Most versions of the New Testament in languages other
than English and French refer to Judas and Jude by the same name.[6]
The Armenian Apostolic Church honors
Thaddeus along with Saint Bartholomew as its patron saints. In the Roman
Catholic Church, he is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes.
Saint Jude's attribute
is a club. He is also often shown in icons with a flame around his head. This
represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the
other apostles. Another common attribute is Jude holding an image of Jesus
Christ, known as the Image of Edessa. In some instances, he may be shown with a
scroll or a book (the Epistle of Jude) or holding a carpenter's rule.
New Testament[edit]
Jude is clearly
distinguished from Judas Iscariot, another apostle and later the betrayer of
Jesus. Both Jude and Judas are translations of the name Ὶούδας in the Greek
original New Testament, which in turn is a Greek variant of Judah (Y'hudah), a
name which was common among Jews at the time. In most Bibles in languages other
than English and French, Jude and Judas are referred to by the same name.
Aside from Judas Iscariot, the New
Testament mentions Jude or Judas six times, in four different contexts:
"Jude of
James", one of the twelve apostles (Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13);
"Judas, (not Judas
Iscariot)", apparently an apostle (John 14:22);
the brother of Jesus
(Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3);
the writer of the
Epistle of Jude, who identifies himself as "the brother of James"
(Jude 1:1).
The first two are
almost always thought to be the same person,[7] although theologian Raymond
Brown saw the identification as uncertain.[8]
The latter two are also
usually thought to be the same person, though this too is not certain; see
Epistle of Jude.
Catholic tradition
generally holds this to be the same person; while Protestants generally believe
1 and 2, and 3 and 4 were two different people.
Brother of James, or
Son of James?[edit]
He is designated as
"Jude of James" in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13. Interpreters differ on
whether this means "Jude, brother of James" or "Jude, son of
James".
The traditional
interpretation is that he is "Jude, brother of James", and the same
person as the writer of the Epistle of Jude, who identifies himself as
"Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James" (Jude 1:1).
Most Protestants, and
most modern translations (including the New International Version, Revised
Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version), identify him as "Jude
the son of James", and not the same person as the author of the Epistle of
Jude. Protestant scholar Darrell L. Bock writes that it must mean
"son" not "brother", because when "brother" is
intended, the Greek word for "brother" (adelphos) is present.[9] Bock
also says that means he was not the brother of Jesus.
Brother of Jesus?[edit]
Opinion is divided on whether Jude
the apostle was also Jude, brother of Jesus, the traditional author of the
Epistle of Jude.[10] Generally, Catholics believe the two Judes are the same
person,[11] while Protestants generally do not.
According to the surviving fragments
of the work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord of the Apostolic Father
Papias of Hierapolis, who lived c. 70–163 AD, Mary the wife of Cleophas or
Alphaeus would be the mother of Judas the brother of Jesus that Papias
identifies with Thaddeus:
Mary the wife of Cleophas or
Alphaeus, who was the mother of James the bishop and apostle, and of Simon and
Thaddeus, and of one Joseph...(Fragment X)[12]
Possible identity with Thaddeus
St. Thaddeus, St.
Sandukht and other Christians in Sanatruk's prison
In the apostolic lists
at Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18, Jude is omitted, but there is a Thaddeus (or in
some manuscripts of Matthew 10:3, "Lebbaeus who was surnamed
Thaddaeus", and so in the King James Version) listed in his place. This
has led many Christians since early times to harmonize the lists by positing a
"Jude Thaddeus", known by either name. This is made plausible by the
fact that "Thaddeus" seems to be a nickname (see Thaddeus) and that
many New Testament figures have multiple names (such as Simon Peter and Joseph
Barnabas).
A further complication
is the fact that the name "Judas" was tarnished by Judas Iscariot. It
has been argued that for this reason it is unsurprising that Mark and Matthew
refer to him by an alternate name.[13]
Some Biblical scholars
reject this theory, however, holding that Jude and Thaddeus did not represent
the same person.[14] Scholars have proposed alternative theories to explain the
discrepancy: an unrecorded replacement of one for the other during the ministry
of Jesus because of apostasy or death;[15] the possibility that
"twelve" was a symbolic number and an estimation;[16] or simply that
the names were not recorded perfectly by the early church.[17]
Thaddeus, one of the
twelve apostles, is often indistinguishable from Thaddeus of Edessa, one of the
Seventy Disciples.[18][19]
In some Latin
manuscripts of Matthew 10:3, Thaddeus is called Judas the Zealot.
Tradition and
legend[edit]
Saint Thaddeus Armenian
Monastery, Iran
Tradition holds that
Saint Jude preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia
and Libya.[20] He is also said to have visited Beirut and Edessa, though the
emissary of the latter mission is also identified as Thaddeus of Edessa,
Addai,[21] one of the Seventy.[22] The 14th-century writer Nicephorus Callistus
makes Jude the bridegroom at the wedding at Cana. The legend reports that St.
Jude was born into a Jewish family in Paneas, a town in Galilee later rebuilt
during the Roman period and renamed Caesarea Philippi.[23][note 1]
In all probability he
spoke both Greek and Aramaic, like almost all of his contemporaries in that
area, and was a farmer by trade. According to the legend, St. Jude was a son of
Clopas and his mother Mary, a cousin of the Virgin Mary.[25] Tradition has it
that Jude's father, Clopas, was martyred because of his forthright and
outspoken devotion to the risen Christ.
Although Saint Gregory
the Illuminator is credited as the "Apostle to the Armenians", when
he baptized King Tiridates III of Armenia in 301, converting the Armenians, the
Apostles Jude and Bartholomew are traditionally believed to have been the first
to bring Christianity to Armenia, and are therefore venerated as the patron
saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Linked to this tradition is the Saint
Thaddeus Monastery (now in northern Iran) and Saint Bartholomew Monastery (now
in southeastern Turkey) which were both constructed in what was then Armenia.
Tradition holds that Jude the Apostle
was vegetarian.[26]
Death and remains[edit]
Symbol of his martyrdom
According to tradition, Saint Jude
suffered martyrdom about 65 AD in Beirut, in the Roman province of Syria,
together with the apostle Simon the Zealot, with whom he is usually connected.
The axe that he is often shown holding in pictures symbolizes the way in which
he was killed.[27] Their acts and martyrdom were recorded in an Acts of Simon
and Jude that was among the collection of passions and legends traditionally
associated with the legendary Abdias, bishop of Babylon, and said to have been
translated into Latin by his disciple Tropaeus Africanus, according to the
Golden Legend account of the saints.[28]
Sometime after his death, Saint
Jude's body was brought from Beirut to Rome and placed in a crypt in St.
Peter's Basilica which was visited by many devotees. Now his bones are in the
left transept of St. Peter's Basilica under the main altar of St. Joseph in one
tomb with the remains of the apostle Simon the Zealot. According to another
popular tradition, the remains of St. Jude were preserved in an Armenian
monastery on an island in the northern part of Issyk-Kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan at
least until the mid-15th century. Later legends either deny that the remains
are preserved there or claim that they were moved to a yet more desolate
stronghold in the Pamir Mountains.
Iconography
Church of Saints Simon and Jude
Thaddeus in Rudno, Poland.
Jude is traditionally depicted
carrying the image of Jesus in his hand or close to his chest, betokening the
legend of the Image of Edessa, recorded in apocryphal correspondence between
Jesus and Abgar which is reproduced in Eusebius' History Ecclesiastica, I,
xiii. Eusebius relates that King Abgar of Edessa (now Şanlıurfa in southeast
Turkey) sent a letter to Jesus seeking a cure for an illness afflicting him.
With the letter he sent his envoy Hannan, the keeper of the archives, offering
his own home city to Jesus as a safe dwelling place. The envoy painted a
likeness of Jesus with choice paints (or alternatively, impressed with Abgar's
faith, Jesus pressed his face into a cloth and gave it to Hannan) to take to
Abgar with his answer. Upon seeing Jesus' image, the king placed it with great
honor in one of his palatial houses. After Christ's execution, Jude Thomas the
Apostle sent Addai, one of the 70 or 72 in Luke 10:1–12 to King Abgar[29] and
the king was cured. Astonished, he converted to Christianity, along with many
of the people under his rule. Additionally, St. Jude is often depicted with a
flame above his head, representing his presence at Pentecost, when he was said
to have received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles.
Veneration
Statue of St. Jude in the
Archbasilica of St. John Lateran by Lorenzo Ottoni.
Procession in Lima, Peru.
According to tradition, after his
martyrdom, pilgrims came to his grave to pray and many of them experienced the
powerful intercessions of St. Jude. Thus the title, 'The Saint for the Hopeless
and the Despaired'. St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Bernard had visions from God
asking each to accept St. Jude as 'The Patron Saint of the
Impossible'.[27][30][31]
His feast day is October 28 (Roman
Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Church) and June 19
(Eastern Orthodox Church).
The Order of Preachers
(known better as the Dominicans) began working in present-day Armenia soon
after their founding in 1216. At that time, there was already a substantial
devotion to Saint Jude by both Catholic and Orthodox Christians in the area.
This lasted until persecution drove Christians from the area in the 18th
century. Devotion to Saint Jude began again in earnest in the 19th century,
starting in Italy and Spain, spreading to South America, and finally to the
United States (starting in the area around Chicago) owing to the influence of
the Claretians and the Dominicans in the 1920s.
Patronage
Among some Roman
Catholics, Saint Jude is venerated as the "patron saint of lost
causes". This practice stems from the belief that few Christians invoked
him for misplaced fear of praying to Christ's betrayer, Judas Iscariot, because
of their similar names. The ignored Jude thus supposedly became quite eager to
assist anyone who sought his help, to the point of interceding in the most dire
of circumstances. The Church also wanted to encourage veneration of this
"forgotten" apostle, and maintained that Saint Jude would intercede
in any lost cause to prove his sanctity and zeal for Christ.[citation needed]
Saint Jude is the
patron saint of the Chicago Police Department and of Clube de Regatas do
Flamengo (a soccer team in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). His other patronages
include desperate situations and hospitals. One of his namesakes is St. Jude
Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, which has helped many
children with terminal illnesses and their families since its founding in
1962.[32]
Shrines and churches[edit]
Many
countries venerate the Apostle Jude and have constructed either shrines or
churches dedicated to his memory. Such sites include those in Australia,
Brazil, Sri Lanka, Cuba, India, Iran, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, the
United States and Lebanon. The National Shrine of St. Jude in Chicago, Illinois
was founded in 1929 by the Claretian Missionaries. The Nationwide Center of St.
Jude Devotions [33] in Baltimore was founded in 1917 by the Pallottines. The
National Shrine of Saint Jude Thaddeus in the Philippines was erected by the
Archdiocese of Manila in 1954 as Espíritu Santo Chinese Parish. The Shrine
holds the saint's novena liturgy every Thursday, and is now under the Society
of the Divine Word that also runs the attached Saint Jude Catholic School. The
National Shrine of Saint Jude at Faversham in England was founded in 1955.[34]
PRAYER TO ST. JUDE
For the intentions of those without a job and means of
income and those living in a state of depression, and frustration…