St. Jude was one of the twelve Apostles known as Thaddeus, and is a brother to St. James the Less, also one of the Apostles.
"Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James"
(Jude 1)
St Luke's Gospel includes Jude in the list of the 12 Apostles (6:16) and St. John mentions him (14:22). St. Mathew (10:3) and St. Mark (3:18) use the name Thaddeus without Jude. �Jude�, means giver of joy, while �Thaddeus�, another name he was called, means generous and kind. St. Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand. Base on a recording historian Eusebius in which 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 great faith, Jesus pressed his face into a cloth and gave it to St. Jude to take to Abgar. Upon seeing Jesus' image, The King was cured and he converted to Christianity along with most of the people under his rule. St. Jude also is shown very often with a flame around his head, which represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other Apostles. In the Middle Ages, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (France) was a renowned devotee of St. Jude, as was St. Bridget of Sweden who, in a vision, was encouraged by Jesus to turn to St. Jude with faith and confidence. He told her that, in accordance with Jude's surname, Thaddeus (which means generous, courageous, and kind), "he will show himself to be the most willing to give you help."
St. Jude is the patron for difficult, desperate or hopeless cases. The Church teaches that "true devotion to the saints does not consists so much in the multiplication of exterior acts as in the intensity of an active love, through which, for our greater good and that of the Church, we look to the saints for the example of their lives, a share in their fellowship and the help of their intercession. The Church also teaches that the Triune God is the source of all life and grace. We pray to St. Jude as a brother, pleading with him to join in our prayer before the Most High. St. Jude has proven to be a friend and a beacon of hope to those who seek the Saint's intercession.
