Jude Thaddeus

Patron ofDesperate Causes, Lost Causes, Hospitals

SituationsDesperation, Hopelessness, Impossible Cases

ProfessionsHospital Workers

Why this patronage

Saint Jude Thaddeus is the patron of desperate and lost causes by a strange and touching turn of history: because his name so closely resembled that of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, the faithful long shrank from invoking him, fearing confusion — so his intercession went neglected, reserved as it were for the most hopeless cases that no other saint seemed to answer. Tradition holds that, precisely because he was so seldom asked, God grants him special power to aid in extremity, and his reputation as the helper of the abandoned grew until countless shrines and grateful notices testify to his aid. His patronage of hospitals and their workers flows from the same source — he is the saint of those who have nowhere left to turn. By tradition he preached the Gospel as far as Persia, where he was martyred with the apostle Simon.

Life

Saint Jude Thaddeus, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes. Not to be confused with Judas Iscariot, he is traditionally believed to have preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Mesopotamia, and Libya. He was martyred in Persia alongside the apostle Simon.

Prayer

Prayer to Saint Jude (Oratio ad Sanctum Iudam)

Sancte Iuda, Apostole et Martyr,

Saint Jude, Apostle and Martyr,

virtúte magnus et mérito praeclare,

great in virtue and rich in merit,

Iesu Christi fidelis intercessor:

faithful intercessor of Jesus Christ:

memor esto mei,

remember me,

qui ad te confúgio in angústiis meis.

who comes to you in my distress.

Obtíne mihi, quaeso,

Obtain for me, I beg,

gratiam quam húmiliter implóro.

the grace which I humbly implore.

Ne despícias petitiónem meam;

Do not despise my petition;

tu enim peculiáriter et próprie

for you are especially and properly

patrónus es desperatórum.

the patron of desperate cases.

Amen.

— Traditional prayer