St Jude/Thaddeus' Feast Day is June 19th in the Orthodox religion, and October 28th in Roman Catholic belief along with St. Simon, since they both died on the same day.
St Jude/Thaddeus is the patron saint of hopeless and difficult causes. This is most likely from the Epistle of Jude which tells Christians to presevere despite their circumstnces.
The Apostle Juda (Judas) was also called Thaddeus (or Lebbeus), "the brother of James, the Less" (The Holy Bible - Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18, Like 6:16, King James version). Thaddeus was a relative of Christ through Joseph's side of the family. He was though to be the son of Cleophas and Mary Thaddeus. Mny think that he may have resembled his cousin, Jesus. No one knows when Thaddeus (his surname) became a disciple of Christ. Jude Thaddeus was a missionary in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Persia. According to Western tradition, St. Jude (Thaddeus) was matryred with St. Simon in Persia. Jude and Simon were stoned and beaten to death with clubs.
Jude's name was borne by one of the canonical epistles, which has much in common with the second epistle of St. Peter.
His name Judas is identical to that of the infamous disciple who betrayed Christ, this saint was long neglected as an object of veneration. Author and writer, Danny Thomas, invoked and received aid in St. Jude's cause. St. Jude Hospital was begun by the Thomas family
It is generally thought that Jude founded a church in Edessa, an ancient city on the Black Sea. He also travelled to Beirut in these years. One of St Jude's miracles was curing King Abgar of leprosy, after Abgar agreed to let Jude construct a church in Edessa (today in the Ukraine).
Jude asked Jesus, at the last supper, why Jesus would not manifest Himself to the whole world after his Resurrection (Jn 14:2233).
SOURCES:
Butler's Lives of Saints, The concise edition, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1985.
From Butler's. One Hundred Saints. New York: A Bulfinch Press Book, Little, Brown and Company, 1993.
Ellsberg, Robert. All Saints. New York: The Crossroad publishing Company, 1997.
Hoffman, William F. Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings. Chicago: Polish Genealogical Society of America, 1993.
Jockle, Clemens, Encyclopedia of Saints. London: Alpine Arts Collection Ltd., 1995, 193.
Kelly, Sean and Rosemary Rodgers. The Birthday Book of Saints. New York: Villard Books (Random House), 2001.
Knab, Sophie Hodorowicz. Polish First Names. New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., 2000.
Smith, William. A Dictionary of the Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, date not given.
LINKS:
St Jude/Thaddeus
Epistle of St. Jude
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