Patron of Things Despaired Of

The following piece about St. Jude first appeared in the Winter 2020 Hope issue of Evangelization & Culture, the quarterly journal of the Word on Fire Institute. You can learn more and become a member today to read more pieces like this. “The name of the traitor has caused you to be forgotten by many, but the true Church invokes you universally as the patron of things despaired of.” As an altar boy, I would hear our parish priest pray these words, and some combination of the rareness of the recitation, the rhythm of the line, and the vividness of the ideas (“the traitor,” “forgotten,” “universally,” “despaired”) etched them in my memory. “Pray for me, who am so miserable,” our priest would go on. “Pray for me, that finally I may receive the consolations and the succor of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and…