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The Arm of St. Jude is coming to Corpus Christi
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March 14, 2024From September 2023 to May 2024, the arm of Saint Jude Thaddeus, venerated in Rome since ancient times, will be on a pilgrimage in the United States, making stops in 100 cities. On Wednesday, March 20, it will arrive at Most Precious Blood Parish in Corpus Christi.
“We are all really excited — the devotion to St. Jude is very popular here,” says Pastor Fr. Joseph Lopez. This is the first time this relic has ever traveled outside of Italy. Fr. Carlos Martins, who is organizing the relic tour, contacted him because the church contains a St. Jude Shrine. It is the only stop in the Diocese of Corpus Christi.
St. Jude is well known as the “Apostle of the Impossible,” he is the patron saint of hopeless causes – his intercession is invoked when everything else has failed. The legend says that this practice stems from the belief that few Christians invoked him for misplaced fear of praying to Christ's betrayer, Judas Iscariot, because of their similar names. The ignored Jude thus supposedly became quite eager to assist anyone who sought his help, to the point of interceding in the direst of circumstances. St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Bernard had visions from God asking each to accept St. Jude as “The Patron Saint of the Impossible.”
The relic is commissioned and officially recognized by the Vatican. It will arrive on Wednesday around 2 pm in a special car, accompanied by Fr. Martins from St. Theresa Parish in Sugar Land, close to Houston. The first veneration time is from 2-6 pm – at 6 pm, a special Mass dedicated to St. Jude will be celebrated. After Mass, veneration continues until 9 pm.
So, how does a veneration of a relic work? “You can imagine it as an extension of visiting someone at the cemetery,” says Fr. Lopez. In her wisdom, the Church allows recognized relics to be venerated as a tangible sign of the saints’ special dedication to the Lord, which the faithful can strive to imitate.
Holy Cards and little statutes are sold to help finance the tour, the first of its kind of the relic. After the day in Corpus Christi, the Arm of St. Jude will move on to McAllen in the diocese of Brownsville.
