A relic of St. Jude Thaddeus is on tour through 100 U.S. cities, including several stops in metro Atlanta.
Thousands of faithful have lined up to show respect to and pray to this well-known figure in Christianity and one of the Twelve Apostles.
St. Jude is known as the patron saint of impossible causes , and converted many to Christianity before he was murdered in the first century A.D. for his beliefs. Sometime after his death, St. Jude’s body was brought to Rome and placed in a crypt in St. Peter’s Basilica, according to the Shrine of St. Jude Thaddeus website.
The relic contains part of his right arm bone placed in a wooden arm-shaped case, called a reliquary.
Among those who plan to see the relic is Jetta Hanover.
Growing up, Hanover’s grandmother taught her about the various saints revered in the Roman Catholic Church.
St. Jude was special. Ten years ago, Hanover, the administrative coordinator at Mary Our Queen Catholic Church in Peachtree Corners, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She asked St. Jude to intercede on her behalf. She sent prayer requests to the National Shrine of St. Jude in Chicago.
Today, she’s cancer free and believes the revered saint interceded on her behalf.
“He is a saint that I will definitely go to for any kind of situation that you feel is impossible,” she said.
This is the first time that the St. Jude relic has been on a tour in the United States, said Fr. Carlos Martins, a Companions of the Cross priest based in Detroit and director of the tour. The tour is being organized by Treasures of the Church. which brings relics to parishes and dioceses across the world.
For Roman Catholics and other orthodox faiths, relics are held in great reverence. Relics can range from bone, blood and bits of skin taken from a saint’s body to items that a saint or Jesus once touched.
Credit: Treasures of the Church
Credit: Treasures of the Church
The veneration of relics has been a tradition in the Roman Catholic faith since the martyrs of the first century. Atlanta Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer said in a previous interview that relics enable the faithful to “feel the closeness to a person who has been declared by the Church to have lived a holy life.”
The St. Jude tour began last year and goes until June.
The relic will be on display at these times and locations:
Monday at St. Catherine of Siena Roman Catholic Church, 1618 Ben King Rd., in Kennesaw. The public veneration of the relic will be held 2-9:30 p.m., with a special mass at 7 p.m.
Tuesday at Mary Our Queen Catholic Church, 6260 The Corners Parkway in Peachtree Corners with a public veneration from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. with , a special mass at 7 p.m. .
Wednesday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 101 Walt Banks Rd. in Peachtree City with a public veneration from 2 p.m., to 10 p.m. with a special mass at 6:30 p.m.
Relics come in three classes. First-class relics can be part of the physical body of a saint, such a tufts of hair, a droplet of blood or piece of skin. Second-class relics are an item that a saint owned. Most relics are extremely small. And some are difficult or impossible to verify. Third class relics are items that a saint or Jesus touched or that have been touched to another relic.
The St. Jude piece of bone is considered a first-class relic.
In St. Louis, more than 4,200 people waited in line to view and pray before the relic of St. Jude during several hours it was on display, according to the St. Louis Review. In South Carolina, over 2,500 people viewed the relic at a church in Greenville.
St. Catherine of Siena has dozens of relics, said Fr. Neil Dhabliwala, pastor of the Kennesaw church.
Those include relics connected to St. Vincent de Paul, St. Angela Merici, St. Monica, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Anthony of Padua.
“This is sort of a concrete act of faith, praying for the intercession of St. Jude, ” he said. “We’re asking the saints to pray for us in a similar way as we might ask other people to pray for us.”
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