EAST SANDWICH –  Corpus Christi Parish will host a relic of St. Jude the Apostle on Saturday, November 11.

The events that day will begin with a 1 p.m. Mass to honor the saint who is widely known and venerated as the patron of hopeless and impossible causes.

The relic, which is an arm-shaped reliquary (in photo, right) holding bones from an arm of St. Jude the Apostle, will be displayed for public veneration following the Mass until the regularly scheduled 4 p.m. parish Vigil Mass. Public veneration will resume at the conclusion of that Mass, at approximately 5 p.m., and will continue until 10 p.m.

Corpus Christi Parish is located at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road in East Sandwich.

“Corpus Christi Parish is honored to host the relic of St. Jude the Apostle, which puts us in contact with the earthly remains of a man who walked with Jesus and was an eyewitness to the Resurrection,” said parish pastor Father John M. Schrader. “Come and see!”

According to the nonprofit ministry Treasures of the Church, the current U.S. tour is the first time the relic has left Italy. The Treasures of the Church website states that bones from the saint’s arm are housed inside a “an arm-shaped wooden reliquary in the gesture of giving a blessing.” The tour began in Chicago on Sept. 9.

St. Jude is said to have traveled throughout Mesopotamia, Libya and Persia with St. Simon after Jesus’ death and resurrection. St. Jude was martyred, the means by which vary in different accounts. His body was buried in Beirut, Lebanon, and later moved to a crypt in the original St. Peter’s Basilica. The body is now housed in the current basilica in a tomb also containing the remains of St. Simon.

The word relic is derived from the Latin word reliquiae -meaning “remains.”

From the earliest years of the Church, Christians have revered the physical remains and personal possessions of saints who lived exemplary lives of holiness or suffering and dying for their faith. Over time, the Church categorized relics: first-class: a part of the saint’s body; second-class: something personally used/owned by the saint; third-class: an item touched to a first- or second-class relic.

Relics serve the faithful as vivid reminders of the holiness of the saint and of his or her cooperation with God’s plan. They are a source of inspiration of faith and of reported miraculous healing.

Catholics are invited to venerate relics of saints as a means of asking their intercession before the Lord. To venerate a relic, one may simply spend a few moments in prayer or in quite devotion, standing or kneeling, honoring the relic.

More information about the relic can be found here: apostleoftheimpossible.com/

N.B. There is also an opportunity to venerate the relic of St. Jude the Apostle in Providence, R.I., on Thursday, Nov. 10, at St. Augustine Church, 639 Mount Pleasant St. The church will be open from 1 to 10 p.m. with Mass being celebrated at 7 p.m. 

Diocese of Fall River
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