St. Jude (also known as St. Jude Thaddeus) is the patron saint of the
desperate and hopeless. Prayers to St. Jude take many forms. Here is a
typical expression of the prayer:
"PRAYER: to St. Jude. Say this prayer nine times a day. By the eighth
day your prayer will be answered. It has never been known to fail.
Publication must be promised. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be adored,
glorified, loved and preserved throughout the world. O Sacred Heart of
Jesus, pray for us, St. Jude worker of miracles, pray for us. St. Jude
helper of the helpless, pray for us, and promise to publish this
dialogue as soon as the favor is granted."
Evangelical Taiwan Church in Metro Chicago
http://www.stormloader.com/etcchicago/wwwboard/420.html
A tradition has arisen involving the necessity of including a promise
to publish prayers and thanks to St. Jude, but this tradition is not
an official teaching of the Catholic church.
"Please note: The 'requirement' of publishing of 'thanks' for a period
of days after a petition or novena has been said as a condition of
granting your prayers is a pious superstition and is discouraged by
the Church. Prayer is never contingent on anything more than the faith
in your heart, and the will of God."
Immaculate Heart
http://www.immaculateheart.com/Ave%20Maria/novena_to_St_Jude.htm
Although the Church does not officially sanction it, the tradition
thrives. Here's a good explanation of the spiritual meaning of the
publication promise:
"Why must I publish my message?
The St. Jude novena is unique in that traditionally when you pray to
St. Jude you are told you must 'promise to publish your request or
thanks and encourage devotion to St. Jude'. What does this mean? By
publishing your message, you demonstrate your faith and commitment to
letting God through St. Jude help bring change to your life. This
faith is an important step in showing our openness to receiving God's
response to our prayers. Without such conviction, all of our prayers
are doomed to fail.
In addition, by publishing, you record a testimony of your own
experience and faith, which will inspire others to turn to God through
St. Jude during their own times of greatest need."
St. Jude Novena Site
http://www.stjudenovena.org/howtopublish.html
The site linked above actually provides a novel method of publication:
you can post your prayers and messages of thanks on the Internet! Here
you can read some of the heartfelt messages that have been sent in by
the faithful:
St. Jude Novena Site
http://www.stjudenovena.org/testimonies/index.html
The most common form of publication is for the supplicant to post a
small classified advertisement. Almost every newspaper has many of
these each week; sometimes a special section in the classified ads is
set up for the publication of prayers to St. Jude.
Here's an interesting article about the St. Jude movement. For reasons
of copyright, I'm posting just an excerpt here, but you may want to
read the article in its entirety:
"Tucked between ads for call girls and notices for garage sales, in
almost every classified section of every newspaper in America, a
single line of type puts a public face on a very private tradition...
St. Jude... first appeared on America's religious landscape in the
late 1920s. A prayer card carrying his image, found by a Chicago
priest, was the genesis of the enormous devotional movement to St.
Jude in America...
'St. Jude is the most vulnerable and needy of the saints,' said Robert
Orsi, a professor at Harvard Divinity School and the author of 'Thank
You St. Jude: Women's Devotion to the Patron Saint of Hopeless
Causes.'
'Because he is the hidden saint, he was especially in need of
promotion,' said Orsi. 'The custom of publishing a thank-you note was
both a way to thank him and get the word out about what he could do.'
Father Tort, the priest who had found the St. Jude prayer card, built
a shrine to St. Jude in Chicago. Then, he began encouraging his
congregation to pray to the saint and send their petitions and
thank-yous into the church newsletter. From there, the tradition took
off."
Columbia News Service
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2003-05-23/280.asp
Here you can purchase the book mentioned above, "Thank You, St. Jude:
Women's Devotion to the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes":
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/offer-listing/0300076592//103-8705472-4408639?condition=all
Google search strategy:
Google Web Search: "st jude" prayer OR novena publish OR publication
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22st+jude%22+prayer+OR+novena+publish+OR+publication
I hope this information is helpful. If anything is unclear, or if a
link doesn't work for you, please request clarification; I'll be glad
to offer further assistance before you rate my answer.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
