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JUDE,
the apostle
St. Jude Thaddeus, who
has been named tenth and
eleventh in the list of apostles by St.Mathew
and St.Luke, is the cousin of Jesus
( Mathew 13 : 55 ). He is the son
of Cleophas and Mary Cleophas who
is the sister of the Virgin
Mary ( John 19 : 25 ). The evangelists
St.Mathew and St.Mark call him as 'Thaddeus',
not to mix up with the betrayer Judas Iscariot.The
popular name 'Thaddeus' is a Greek name, which
means 'great hearted one'. True
to his name, the world celebrates him today as
"The Saint of
the Impossible".
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JUDE,
the evangelist
Bible's
reference to Saint Jude is short, just as his letter which
is again the last of the 'Epistles of the Apostles'.
The 'Acts of the Apostles'
also do not cover any of Saint
Jude's Evangelism. But many historians conclude
that Saint Jude preached along with St.
Simon Peter.In ' The Contendings of the
Apostles ', an ancient scripture, the
preachings of St. Jude's and preachings
of St. Simon Peter's in Palestine
has been elaborated. He spread faith
in Christ starting from Judaea, Galilee,
Samaria and Idumaea, and afterwards in the
land of Arabia,Syria and Mesopotamia and came, finally,to
the city of Edessa. According to Eusebius,
he returned to Jerusalem in the
62 AD for the 'The Council of the
Apostles', and assisted at the election of St. Simon
Peter as Bishop of Jerusalem.
The ' Epistle of Jude '
in the New Testament
was written by him in the Greek
language and
was addressed to Churches of the East.
It warns against the doctrine that tries to pervert
God's grace into licentious immoral living.
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JUDE,
the martyr
The Apostle is said to have suffered
martyrdom in Suanis, which was then subject
of Persia. Tradition tells us
that he was clubbed into insensibility
and after that his head was shattered with
a broad axe. Another version
tell us that the Apostle
was martyred, aged 80 in
Armenia where he was crucified on a
cross and pierced with arrows.
Because of these beliefs, St.
Jude's pictures and statues depict him holding
a club, an arrow and an axe.
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St. Jude
is traditionally depicted carrying the
image of Jesus in his hand. It represents
the imprint of the Divine Countenance that
was entrusted to him by
Jesus. King Abagar of Edessa in
Syria, asked Jesus to cure
him of leprosy and also sent an
artist to bring him
a drawing of Jesus Christ. Impressed
with King Abagar's great faith, Our
Lord pressed his face
on a cloth and gave it to
St. Jude to take to Abagar
and cure him. The King was cured
and converted to Christianity along
with most of his subjects.
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JUDE, the saint
After the martyrdom, pilgrims came to his
grave to pray and many of them,
experienced the powerful intercessions of St. Jude.
Thus the title, 'The Saint for the Hopeless
and the Despaired'. St. Bridget of Sweden
& St. Bernard had visions from God asking
him to accept St. Jude as 'The
Patron Saint of the Impossible'. In
1548, Pope Paul III declared
the feast of St. Jude to
be celebrated on 'October 28' every year. In the
18 th century, the popular devotion
of St. Jude was strengthened
in France and Germany. Today, more than ever
before, the world is witnessing St. Jude's
powerful intercessions on behalf of
the helpless and the devotion to St. Jude
is spreading with the blessing of our living God.
Isaiah 44:3
"I will pour my spirit
upon your descendents,
and my blessings on your offsprings".
Reference
: Visuddha Yuda Tadevus; Biography (Malayalam); By
Aby Puthukulangara;
Published by: Josco Books Mannanam, Kottayam,
686 561
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