NORTHFIELD – With tears in her eyes, June Grentz explained her lifelong devotion to Saint Jude, patron saint of the impossible.
“He’s been a part of my whole life and has been a miracle in my family’s life many, many times,” she said.
With her husband, Tom, she approached the first-class relic of Saint Jude, pressed her butterfly pin to the glass surrounding it, and pleaded for another prayer.
“I have metastatic breast cancer that’s now spread to my brain stem and lungs,” she explained. “I’m fighting the fight, and I know Saint Jude is there with me.”
June and Tom Grentz, parishioners of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Galloway, were among the thousands who came from near and far to bring their hopes and struggles to Saint Gianna Beretta Molla Parish on Feb. 1, and ask the saint of the impossible to intercede for themselves and their loved ones.
Beginning at 1 p.m., the relic – arm bone fragments of Saint Jude, encased in a wooden vessel carved into the shape of an arm extending a blessing – became available for veneration in front of the parish’s altar. For the next nine hours, local Knights of Columbus took turns standing aside it as visitors approached.
Before and after veneration, faithful had the opportunity to peruse Saint Jude medals and books, rosaries, and the informative displays scattered around the church that detailed the faithful life, witness and martyrdom of Saint Jude; the Catholic Church’s history of relics, and how one could receive a plenary indulgence after their visit.
Expressing “how alarming” it was to learn how the saint was martyred – clubbed to death and then beheaded – Orlando Ramos of Absecon, noted how it made him “thankful that we [in the United States] have freedom to worship. I know we shouldn’t take that for granted.”
Present with his wife, Lindsay, the two are members of a nearby evangelical faith community but know “that one common denominator we [and the Catholic Church] have is Christ.”
As one of the 12 apostles who followed Jesus for three years, Saint Jude “believed by sight, and now, today, we must believe by faith,” Ramos continued.
From Philadelphia, the Gasiewski family – father Ed, mother Diane, and children Annemarie (10), Joseph (8), Elizabeth (5), Katharine (4), Peter (2) and Paul (6 months) – made a spiritual retreat, Ed Gasiewski said, to receive graces from Saint Jude. After their time in front of the relic, they prayed in the church pews.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catechize my children,” he said, adding that the couple educated their children about how their rosaries were now third-class relics after being placed against the glass.
The family was there to pray “for our friends with sick children, the sanctity of ourselves, and for members of our family who have fallen away from the faith,” Ed Gasiewski said.
Father Anthony Manuppella, parish pastor, estimated that 4,000-plus faithful, including Bishop Dennis Sullivan, made their prayers known in front of the Saint Jude relic. The church was full for the 7 p.m. Mass that included Father Carlos Martins, director of Treasures of the Church, which made the relic’s visit possible.
The relic’s tour throughout the United States, away from its home in Rome, began last September and will continue until May, visiting about 100 cities. The Northfield stop was the only one of its kind in the Diocese of Camden.
In his homily, Father Martins related a story about Saint Jude’s impact during the apostle’s lifetime, Father Manuppella recalled.
“The King of Edessa [the pagan Abgar IV] sent a letter to Jesus asking him to cure Him from disease, but Jesus declined the invitation, writing the king instead that he would receive his wish when His earthly mission was completed. After Jesus’ Death, Resurrection and Ascension, Saint Jude ministered to Edessa and the king, bringing a cloth that the Lord had pressed his face into, imprinting His sacred image on. The king was cured, and converted to Christianity,” Father Manuppella remembered.
Since then, Saint Jude has become familiar to Orthodox Christians.
Reflecting on the day, Father Manuppella said that the relic’s visit “made the faith come alive for so many, moved and encouraged by the man whom Christ called to follow Him.”
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
