Doña Ángela, 66, holds a picture of Saint Jude Thaddeus as she recounts: “This saint is very miraculous.” She traveled from Aguascalientes to Xochimilco, south of Mexico City, to visit the apostle’s relic. Together with her sister Isabel, 63, they traveled 500 kilometers by bus hoping that Saint Jude would hear their pleas. Isabel says that COVID-19 left one of her brothers bedridden, unable to speak or move. “They said he wouldn’t live more than three months, but three years have passed and he is still with us. I ask Saint Jude every day to recover him and give him back to us. We have not lost faith,” she assures.
Mexico is a country of multitudes, but devotion to Saint Jude Thaddeus has exceeded all expectations. Millions of people have waited under the sun or rain to see the relic. Father Jesús Alejandro Ortega, vice-rector of the seminary of San José, explains: “Our country experiences complex situations of violence and insecurity, where the most affected are the poor and marginalized sectors. The people identify with Saint Jude because he is the saint of difficult causes; through him, they place their needs in God’s hands and faith recreates hope for them.”
Origin and meaning of the devotion
The cult of Saint Jude Thaddeus began in Chicago, when a Claretian priest instituted him as patron of the local police. In the 1950s, that same priest brought the image of the saint to the Claretians who ran the church of San Hipólito in Mexico City. “Saint Jude has a connection with the humblest people of Mexico. He is a close and simple saint,” adds Ortega. The relic, a fragment of bone from the apostle’s arm, is inside a polychrome wooden carving from the 19th century, shaped like a hand with three fingers pointing upward in a sign of blessing. The piece of bone, attributed to the apostle, can be seen through a glass and is usually in the church of San Salvatore in Lauro, in Rome. Last July it was brought by the Vatican nunciature to Mexico to “restore hope in the faithful after the pandemic,” according to an official statement.
A tour that mobilizes the whole country
The relic is touring Mexico City, State of Mexico, Tlaxcala, and Puebla until the end of the month. At each stop, it is completely full. In one day alone, authorities in Xochimilco expect more than 180,000 visitors. At nine in the morning, the line already wrapped around the church wall and stretched several blocks away. Many faithful have waited since three in the morning in front of the Xochimilco Cathedral. Tomás Olguín, 55, arrived from the Miguel Hidalgo borough with his wife and his mother-in-law in a wheelchair. “My sister just came out of a very delicate surgery and I ask that she recover from the illness and health for everyone. Having the relic here in Xochimilco is a miracle,” he says excitedly. He and his family celebrate the saint’s day on the 28th of each month: “On the 28th we go to mass or light a candle, and on October 28 we usually go to the church of San Hipólito for his big feast.”
The veneration of Saint Jude Thaddeus goes beyond Mexico’s borders. In the United States there are two other relics of the saint’s arm, one of which is simultaneously on pilgrimage and will visit more than 100 cities in states such as Texas, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Arizona. The faithful ask him for difficult miracles: curing diseases, finding work, solving marital crises, or avoiding jail. In a country where human and divine justice seem to have abandoned many, the last resort is to ask for a miracle from Saint Jude.
Original source: Photo: Pablo Clemente on Unsplash
