Who is St. Jude?

St. Jude statue, Danny & Rose Marie Thomas Memorial Garden, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis. Photo by jch.

Fundraising dinner for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, second of five narratives read between courses of the meal.

Who is St. Jude? He is one of Jesus’s twelve disciples, also called Thaddeus. According to tradition, he spread the good news of Jesus to areas east of the Mediterranean, and bordering the Black and Caspian seas. His letter to eastern Christians is one of the shortest in the Bible, but carries a profound message to trust God, even during difficult times. Partly for this reason, as Church tradition developed, Jude became known as the saint to turn to for support to carry the heaviest burdens.

In art, St. Jude often is depicted with a club or shepherd’s staff, and a flame above his head, showing he was present at Pentecost. He carries an image of Jesus in his hand, which recalls a miracle. According to Eusebius, King Abgar of Edessa asked Jesus to cure him of leprosy, and sent an artist to bring him a drawing of Jesus. Impressed with Abgar's faith, Jesus pressed His face on a cloth, leaving the image of His face on it. He gave the cloth to St. Jude, who took the image to Abgar, and Abgar was cured.

The National Shrine of St. Jude calls Jude “the Patron Saint of Hope and impossible causes,” a good fit for the challenges faced in the children’s hospital named after him. There’s an old story from a Nazi prison camp about the rabbi who used precious lard from his meager food portion to fashion a candle for prayers. His reason? “Without food, we can live many days. Without hope, we cannot live an hour.” The medical care and research provided by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital offers hope that children in desperate circumstances today will live to see tomorrow.

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