The feast of St. Jude is held in the Roman Church each year on 28 October. St. Jude was the son of Cleophas and Mary, who witnessed Our Lord's Crucifixion. St. Jude was a blood relative of Jesus, His cousin. St. Jude was an Apostle.
The Epistle of St. Jude
The Epistle of St. Jude is one of the shortest books of the Bible. It has only one chapter and 25 versus. Despite the short length of this Epistle, it is rich with advice. In versus 14-16, St. Jude decries the false teachers and warns of their impending punishment, reminding the reader of the prophesy of Enoch. In fact, St. Jude reminds us that their punishment will be similar to the Jews who were delivered out of Egypt, but those who did not believe were destroyed (verse 5). He also reminds the reader that rebel angels have a place reserved in chains and darkness for eternity (verse 6). The wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah are given as another example (verse 7). St. Jude mentions, in verse 9, St. Michael the Archangel.
But not all is bad. In versus 17-23, St. Jude reminds the faithful of their mission. Specifically, in verse 21, we are reminded to keep the Love of God and the Mercy of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
The Epistle of St. Jude ends with a beautiful doxology, reminding us that God is is Most Wise (verse 25) and that Jesus is able to present us faultless before God and will protect us from stumbling.
Many Bible scholars put the date of this Epistle as before A.D. 64. It was certainly written before A.D. 70; otherwise, St. Jude would have mentioned the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.
Confusion Between St. Jude and Judas
In the early Church, some Christians were confused between St. Jude and Judas. The names were so similar that people were hesitant to pray for St. Jude's intercession. This hesitancy to ask for his help is what tradition attributes to St. Jude being the patron saint of difficult or impossible causes. Devotion to his was a difficult cause to spread; thus his becoming the patron of difficult causes.
Even 2000 years later, confusion is still possible between St. Jude and Judas. In Spanish, St. Jude is known as San Judas, or San Judas Tadeo. One can see how it would be difficult to distinguish between the two. Remember that Spanish derives from Latin, so the confusion is even more apparant with the use of Latin in the Roman Empire.
St. Jude is also known as St. Jude Thaddeus. The word Thaddeus refers to his kind or sweet character.
Depictions of St. Jude
St. Jude was reported to look a lot like Jesus, which is not surprising since he was a blood relative. Because of this similarity, many images of St. Jude bear a striking similarity to images used to represent Jesus.
Most depictions of St. Jude also have him wearing a medallion with the profile of Jesus. A small flame, representing the Holy Spirit as He appeared at Pentecost, is above his head. He is often times shown holding a plume pen, which refers to his writing the Epistle of Jude.
