St. Jude is the patron saint of desperate cases, lost causes, and of the Diocese of St. Petersburg. He is the patron of impossible causes because of his Apostolic ministry in the early Church. By visiting and encouraging early Christian communities who endured tremendous hardship, he accomplished the improbable. While early communities despaired and perhaps others were frustrated already at the role of division in the early Church, St. Jude brought encouragement.  As one who carries and brings the image of Christ to those in need and was filled with the fire of the Spirit at Pentecost, St. Jude intercedes powerfully for our local Church. Too often we forget this powerful intercessor in our daily life and the relationship that we, as a Diocese, have to him. Who better to turn to as we confront difficulties than the one whose name means “Giver of Joy.” Today I invite you to call upon St. Jude for his intercession.  The feast day of St. Jude the Apostle is October 28.

How did St. Jude become the patron saint of our diocese?
In November 1950, Father Paul Manning was assigned to organize a new parish in St. Petersburg. A founding parishioner suggested naming the new parish after the little-known St. Jude the Apostle. The parishioner’s son had been badly injured in an automobile accident and through his novenas to St. Jude, the boy completely recovered. Father Manning asked Most Reverend Joseph Hurley, the Archbishop of St. Augustine, and he agreed.

On December 12, 1950, the archbishop announced the canonical establishment of the Parish of St. Jude the Apostle. When Pope Paul VI established the Diocese of St. Petersburg in 1968, the parish of St. Jude the Apostle became the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle, thereby making St. Jude the patron saint of our diocese.

St. Jude the Apostle, pray for us!