Patron Saint of Lost Causes
St. Jude Thaddaeus, feast day 28 October
St. Jude Thaddaeus is the patron saint of lost causes and desperate situations, one of the twelve apostles, with his feast on 28 October. St. Rita of Cascia is invoked for the same need. AngelGuard publishes why the patronage attached to him and how Catholics ask his help.
Quick facts
Why St. Jude Thaddaeus?
The reason is almost comic, and it is one of the better stories in the calendar. Jude was one of the twelve, but his name in Greek is close to Judas, and for centuries people were nervous about invoking him in case they were addressing the wrong man. So almost nobody asked him for anything. Out of that neglect grew the tradition: an apostle with so little work to do would surely take a serious interest in whatever finally came his way. He became the saint you turn to when the ordinary routes have closed, and the patronage stuck so firmly that his devotion is now one of the largest in the Church. There is a real point buried in the anecdote. A lost cause is not a category the Church recognises about people. Jude’s patronage is a standing refusal to accept that any situation is finally beyond help, and the people who pray to him tend to be exactly the ones who have been told otherwise by everyone else. St. Rita of Cascia is invoked for the same thing, usually for impossible family situations specifically, and there is no competition between them.
How to ask their intercession
Ask plainly, and name the situation rather than gesturing at it. Many Catholics pray a novena to St. Jude, nine days ending on or near 28 October. Be cautious of chain-letter versions of his prayer that promise results in exchange for publication or repetition; that is not how the Church understands intercession, and it has attached itself to his devotion more than to most.