St. Jude

St. Jude, also called Thaddeus, was one of the Twelve Apostles and, by tradition, a kinsman of the Lord. He appears by name only once in the Gospels' dialogue, at the Last Supper, where he asks Jesus why He will reveal Himself to the disciples and not to the world, drawing forth the Lord's teaching on love and obedience. He is traditionally honored as the author of the brief New Testament Epistle of Jude, which warns against false teachers and urges the faithful to persevere.

Ancient tradition holds that after Pentecost he preached the Gospel in Mesopotamia, Persia, and Armenia, often paired with the Apostle Simon, and that the two were martyred together. Because his name resembled that of Judas Iscariot, the faithful were long reluctant to invoke him, and so, it is said, he became the willing patron of the most desperate and hopeless causes, to whom Catholics still turn in their gravest needs. He is celebrated with St. Simon on 28 October.