Beginning Wednesday, October 19, 2011, Faith of the Fathers blogs will be joining "Pray More Novena's" and 5,000 Catholics from around the world in praying a Saint Jude Novena.
For those of you who may not know, Saint Jude is my Patron Saint, and I am extremely happy to be participating in this novena (nine days of prayer) to such a wonderful Apostle, martyr, and powerful intercessor.
Saint Jude (also known as Jude of James and Judas Thaddeus) was a blood relative of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and one of the Twelve Apostles. He was the brother of Saint James the Lesser, and a nephew of Mary and Joseph.
Saint Jude is the patron of lost or impossible causes, desperate situations, forgotten causes, hospitals, hospital workers, and the diocese of Saint Petersburg, Florida.
His patronage of lost or impossible causes derives from the confusion by many early Christians between the names of Jude and the traitor Judas Iscariot. Failing to grasp the difference between the names they never prayed for Saint Jude's help, so devotion to him became something of a lost cause.
So, we invite you to join us, as well as thousands of others in praying the Saint Jude Novena beginning October 19. I will be posting daily reminders here to join the novena in concert with "Pray More Novena's".
