Oct. 28 is the feast of St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes.
Was he the Jude mentioned in Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55 in the lists of Jesus' brothers? The grandchildren of Jude, "the Lord's brother according to the flesh," are described by Eusebius, the Father of Church History, in Book III, Chapter 20.
Why do so many Catholics turn to him for help? Some answers to that question may be found in Robert A. Orsi's brilliant social history, Thank You, St. Jude: Women's Devotion to the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes, published by Yale University Press in 1996.
Orsi "examines St. Jude's rise from obscurity to national popularity, beginning in Chicago in 1929, and he shows how the daughters and granddaughters of Catholic immigrants called on the saint to help them make lives for themselves in the tumultuous years of the Depression and the Second World War, and for strength in changing workplaces and family lives."
-- from the back cover
Click here for some reviews of Orsi's award-winning book.
Click here to visit the National Shrine of St. Jude.
-- Submitted by Gerelyn Hollingsworth
