Saint jude who is

He is also featured as an older man with a long beard as a testament to not only his long life, but also his wisdom. Many medals also say Pray for Us as a part of the designs. While Saint Jude medals have been around for a long time, the popularity of this figure has grown in recent times thanks to the opening of the St. Jude Research Hospital. This hospital was created by a man named Danny Thomas, who prayed to Saint Jude for guidance regarding finding the right life path in a time of personal desperation.

The hospital now cares for children with cancer and other life threating illnesses, as well as performing groundbreaking research, at no cost to the patient or their families. This organization has certainly brought the patron saint of lost causes and faith in the face of grave difficulties back to the forefront. Today, people choose to wear St. Jude medals for a variety of reasons. They are commonly worn by Catholics but can be worn by any religious affiliation.

These medals make a beautiful gift to anyone experiencing a hard time in life since St. Jude symbolizes hope in times of great need. A medal depicting St. Jude can also be worn by those looking to stay steadfast in their faith. Some Latin manuscripts of Matthew refer to him as Judas the Zealot.

For many centuries he was wrongly confused with Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. He is also not to be confused with "Thaddeus of Edessa", one of the seventy disciples sent out by Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom of God. The Letter or Epistle of Saint Jude in the Bible is usually attributed to the Apostle Jude, and though a short text it is a beautiful piece of Holy Scripture read it here. Little is known about Jude's later life, but the ancient tradition of the Church is that after preaching about the Good News of God's love for all Jude died as a martyr, giving his life in witness to Jesus Christ.

Benedict the Canon records that the cult was popular in Rome during the twelfth century, and he tells us that two altars under which the relics of the saints rested were incensed during solemn night vigils.

The altar is directly over the spot where modern archaeological investigations suggest Saint Peter was actually crucified. Saint Jude in religious art In religious art Saint Jude is normally shown holding a club, axe or palm branch, the symbols of his martyrdom, or a scroll or book containing his epistle. Another common attribute in depictions of Jude is to show him holding an image of Jesus, symbolising his relationship to Christ as a blood relative, or a carpenter's rule, showing that he was a follower of Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth.

In icons Jude is often shown with a flame around his head, representing his receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost with the other apostles. Devotion to Saint Jude today Jude is today revered as a saint with widespread devotion among Christians of many denominations, especially Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglicans.

In the Catholic tradition and others of Christianity, saints - God's holy men and women both on earth and in heaven - are regarded as models of how to follow Jesus Christ, and as "intercessors". Because the saints in heaven live fully in the presence of God, yet are still bound to those living on earth by bonds of love, they present our needs to God.

The saints are not a substitute for developing a personal relationship with God, but they can be regarded as our friends, asking God for what we truly need, even if we do not know what that need may be ourselves. Jude was a true internationalist, traveling throughout Mesopotamia, Libya, Turkey, and Persia with St. Simon, preaching and converting many people to Christianity.

He was credited with helping the early creation of the Armenian Church, and other places beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. Around the year 60 A. Jude wrote a Gospel letter to recent Christian converts in Eastern churches who were under persecution. In it, he warned them against the pseudo-teachers of the day who were spreading false ideas about the early Christian faith.

He encouraged them to persevere in the face of the harsh, difficult circumstances they were in, just as their forefathers had done before them. He exhorted them to keep their faith and to stay in the love of God as they had been taught. His inspirational support of these early believers led to him becoming the patron saint of desperate cases.

He is believed to have been martyred in Persia or Syria around 65 A. The axe or club that he is often shown holding in pictures symbolizes the way in which he was killed. Truly, he paid the ultimate price for his faith.

After his death his body was brought back to Rome and was placed in a crypt beneath St. Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand or close to his chest. This idea comes from a apocryphal story in which King Abgar of Edessa a city located in what is now southeast Turkey asked Jesus to cure him of leprosy and sent an artist to bring him a drawing of Jesus. Jude to take to Abgar.