Saint Jude
The feast day of Saint Jude is 28 October, shared with the apostle Simon. He is the saint of desperate cases, and he is not Judas Iscariot.
Remembered on 28 October
28/10
Liturgical rank: Feast · Liturgical colour: red
Patron of: desperate cases and lost causes
Who they were
Jude, also called Thaddaeus, is one of the twelve apostles. The gospels call him Jude of James or Thaddaeus precisely to keep him apart from Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. Tradition attributes to him the short letter of Jude.
Simon, called the Zealot or the Cananaean, is another of the twelve. Nothing firm is known of either man after Pentecost; early accounts place them preaching in Persia and Syria, which is where the shared date comes from.
Why they are remembered
The reputation as patron of hopeless causes is modern and grew in the twentieth century, especially in the United States, where shrines to Saint Jude draw crowds on the 28th of each month.
One common explanation is practical: because of the name, devotion to him was neglected for centuries, so he came to be seen as the saint who answers those who have already tried everything.
In the liturgy
Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles, is a feast, in red, on 28 October, and it takes precedence over memorials.
| Period | first century; apostle |
| Name | Jude of James or Thaddaeus, to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot |
How to read the rank and colour
"Feast" and the colour red come from the General Roman Calendar: the rank decides the celebration's weight and whether it drops out in a year it falls on a Sunday or strong season; the colour sets the vestments worn at that day's Mass.
Where this page comes from
Date, rank and colour come from the LitCal API (Apache-2.0 code, a community project, not an official publication of the Holy See). The biographical facts come from Wikidata (CC0). Checked on 7 October 2026.
What this page is not
This page is not an official publication of the Holy See and does not reproduce the Roman Martyrology: every descriptive line is written by us, from open facts. For the official liturgy of the day, check your diocese or parish.
What canonization means
Canonization is the act by which the Church officially declares someone a saint who may be publicly venerated anywhere. It is the final step of a longer process, which usually passes through beatification and requires a recognised miracle.
Understanding Saint Jude's place in the calendar
What does the rank "Feast" change in practice for Saint Jude?
Feast is the rank given to the apostles and a few other major saints: Saint Jude has its own liturgy, but gives way when it falls on an Ordinary Time Sunday or inside a strong season. The day's liturgical colour is red.
Is Saint Jude in the General Roman Calendar or just tradition?
Saint Jude has a fixed date in the General Roman Calendar, the calendar that applies to the whole Catholic Church — so the date and rank shown here do not depend on where someone lives. Local calendars (a diocese, country or religious order) can raise the rank, but the base is the same everywhere.
Where does Saint Jude's reputation as a patron come from?
Saint Jude is invoked as patron of desperate cases and lost causes. This kind of patronage almost never comes from a single document: it is the sum of popular tradition, the saint's life story and, sometimes, a formal decree from a diocese or a trade, built up over centuries.
Words on this page
Patron saint
A saint chosen as the protector of a place, profession, cause or person, usually by popular tradition or formal church decree. The same saint can patronise several things at once, through a link to their life or to the legend that grew up around it.
Canonization
The act by which the Catholic Church officially declares that a deceased person is a saint and may be publicly venerated anywhere. It is the final step of a longer process, which usually passes through beatification and requires a recognised miracle.
Standard definition by Código de Direito Canônico, cân. 1186–1190 · Canonization
Feast
A rank below solemnity: it has its own liturgy but does not begin the evening before, and gives way when it falls on an Ordinary Time Sunday or inside a strong season (Advent, Lent). It is the rank given to the apostles and a few other major saints of the universal calendar.
Liturgical colour
The colour of the vestments worn at Mass, marking the character of the celebration: white for feasts and joy, red for martyrs and the Holy Spirit, green for Ordinary Time, purple for penance (Advent and Lent), and rose on two specific Sundays of the year.
Liturgical season
Each period of the church year (Advent, Christmastide, Lent, the Easter Triduum, Eastertide, Ordinary Time) has its own tone and colour, and that season can suppress a saint's memorial that falls within it. That is why the same civil-calendar date can, in different years, fall inside or outside a strong season.
Martyrology
The official book that lists, day by day, every saint and blessed recognised by the Catholic Church, with biographical facts and an account of their death or life. The text of the Roman Martyrology (2004 edition) belongs to the Libreria Editrice Vaticana and is not reproduced on this site; the facts used here come from open sources.
Sources
Saints with their own page
This page follows the General Roman Calendar. It is not an official publication of the Holy See. The dates, the liturgical rank and the colour come from LitCal, an open community project (Apache-2.0 licence), and the text is ours, written from open sources. For your diocese or parish calendar, ask your diocese.
- LitCal API (Liturgical Calendar API) · Apache-2.0 · v5.7 · Rev. John R. D'Orazio
- Wikidata · CC0 1.0
- Checked on 7 October 2026