Jude - Patron Saint of the Hopeless

Jude: A Pilgrimage to the Saint of Last Resort by Liz Trotta is a book we’ve had since it was first published in 1998. That’s why you get books when you see them, knowing that some time in the future you’ll get around to them.

St. Jude is called the patron saint of the hopeless. Often confused with the traitor Judas Iscariot, Jude Thaddeus has been pushed aside in favor of more famous apostles, such as St. Peter, St. John, and St. Matthew. He still has a feast day – October 28 – but shares it with St. Simon.

Because Jude is so obscure, Liz Trotta decided to make that pilgrimage to find out more about him. No stranger to running around the world in search of a story, Trotta was for many years an NBC correspondent and was the first woman to report from Vietnam during the war. Turkey, Italy, Armenia, and the United States should be child’s play. But trying to find facts about a man who lived in the first century A.D. is not so easy. There are plenty of legends and traditions, but not many certainties. The certainties come from the people who have story after story of how St. Jude has helped them or a loved one. Everywhere she went she found people who are devoted to him.

People who have dealt with hopelessness, desolation, and despair pray to St. Jude and have been answered. Even if the situation doesn’t change, people feel more able to cope with their burden, they have hope. St. Jude leads people to acceptance of God’s will, no matter what it is. And that’s what a saint’s job is whether they are famous or seem to hide in the shadows like Jude.