Bone fragments believed to be from the arm of Saint Jude, patron saint of the impossible, will be on display Feb. 1 at Saint Gianna Beretta Molla Parish, Northfield.
Encased in a wooden vessel that is carved in the shape of an arm, extending a blessing, the sacred relic’s stop in South Jersey is the latest in its first tour outside Italy. The tour, which began last September and is going until May, will see the relic visit 100 cities.
Northfield is its only scheduled stop in the Diocese of Camden.
Veneration of the relic will take place beginning at 1 p.m. There will be a solemn Mass at 7 p.m., and veneration will end at 10 p.m.
A visit by a relic of one of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles is “a wonderful event for our Diocese,” said Father Anthony Manuppella, pastor of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla Parish.
From ancient Rome to now, many have turned to Saint Jude for help and hope in desperate and seemingly impossible times. Now, South Jersey’s faithful “can be consoled in their own impossible cases – mental, physical and emotional – when they come and seek Saint Jude’s intercession,” Father Manuppella added.
Although visitors will not be able to physically touch the relic, they are encouraged to place a personal item on the glass around the reliquary, which will makes the object a third-class relic.
The tour of the relic is made possible through Treasures of the Church, a ministry out of Michigan that works with the Vatican to make relics accessible to all Catholics.
From Nazareth, the son of Mary of Cleophas, Saint Jude Thaddeus was one of the Twelve Apostles who followed Jesus. After Jesus’ Death, Resurrection and Ascension, Saint Jude spread the Word of Jesus in Judea, Mesopotamia and Persia before martyrdom.
In a letter announcing the relic’s U.S. visit, Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Cardinal Archpriest Emeritus of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, where the remains of Saint Jude lie, remarked, “Today a new evangelization is necessary and even urgent because society has become distant from Jesus and it suffers as a consequence of distance.”
“May the Holy Spirit put in our hearts the same zeal that he lit up in the hearts of the Apostles [and] may Saint Jude Thaddeus welcome the prayers and the invocations that will be addressed to him and obtain from God’s Divine Mercy abundant graces as he always has over the centuries.”
The arm of Saint Jude Thaddeus will be on display at Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, 1421 New Road, Northfield, on Feb. 1 beginning at 1 p.m. A Mass will be celebrated at 7 p.m., and veneration will close at 10 p.m. For more information, visit apostleoftheimpossible.com.
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