WEST SPRINGFIELD — From Rome, Italy, bones from an arm of St. Jude the Apostle will tour the United States after 2,000 years — and make stops in Massachusetts.
On Nov. 17, the relic of St. Jude will be displayed at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in West Springfield, at 47 Pine St., for public veneration from 2:30-10 p.m. In addition, a special Mass in St. Jude’s honor will be held at 7 p.m.
Starting Saturday, the relic will be displayed at locations across Massachusetts.
St. Jude was exhumed based on ancient records that identified the place of his martyrdom and burial to be the city of Beirut, Lebanon, according to Kate Day, St. Thomas parishioner and event organizer.
St. Jude’s arm was separated from the greater portion of his remains several centuries ago and placed in a wooden reliquary, Day said.
According to believers, the relic is a vehicle through which the faithful can experience healing. Day said tradition holds that healing is linked to God.
“In other words, relics are not magic. They do not contain a power that is their own, a power separate from God. Like the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’s garment and was healed, any good that comes about through a relic is God’s doing,” she said.
Day said that during the veneration, the public will have a chance to stand or kneel before the relic for a moment to ask St. Jude for intercession. “Which is the same thing as asking him (St. Jude) to pray for us,” Day said.
Day said she organized the event after reading an article about the tour and noticed four other stops in the state.
“There’s already some connection with the parish. We actually have a St. Jude novena every Tuesday,” Day said. “I looked at the website and the schedule and thought, “Oh, it’s going to be in Connecticut and out in Cape Cod, but there’s no stops around here. Then I asked Father (John K.) Sheaffer, my pastor.”
“It was a Sunday night around 8:30 p.m. when I put in an online request form and hit submit,” she said. “Like 10 minutes later, my phone rings.”
Day said Father Carlos Martins, the director of treasures and relic custodian of the church, was charged with bringing the relic to the United States as a part of his mission through The Holy See, Archdiocese of Rome.
As part of a 100-city U.S. tour, St. Thomas the Apostle Parish will be the only parish in Western Massachusetts, as part of the Springfield Diocese, to host the reliquary.
In October, the St. Louis Review reported nearly 4,200 of the Catholic faithful flocked to the relic in the nine hours it was on display at St. Joseph Parish in Manchester, St. Louis.
“We are the only stop in the diocese, so I guess it’s going to depend on how many people find out about it,” Day said of possible attendance.
Sheaffer, pastor of the parish, said he is looking forward to the visit of the relic and welcoming the faithful for what he views as a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Relics are physical objects that have a direct association with the saints or with the Lord, Sheaffer explained in an interview with The Republican.
“Scripture teaches that God acts through relics, especially in terms of healing. In fact, when surveying what Scripture has to say about sacred relics, one is left with the idea that healing is what relics ‘do,’” Sheaffer said.
Different kinds
Relics are broken down into three classes.
The body of a saint or fragments of the body, such as pieces of bone or flesh, are considered first-class relics. Something a saint personally owned is considered to be a second-class relic, like a shirt, book or fragments of items. Third-class relics are items a saint has touched or that have been touched to another class relic of a saint, Sheaffer said.
The reliquary of St. Jude was last opened during the time of Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani, who served as Vicar General for the Archdiocese of Rome from 1931-1951. Selvaggiani’s seal is said to enclose it, to ensure provenance and authenticity, according to The Apostle of the Impossible, the tour’s website, Sheaffer shared.
St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless and impossible causes, is one of the church’s most beloved saints, one to whom people turn when they are desperate and have tried everything else, Sheaffer said.
“When things seem lost or unbearable — when they seem hopeless — Saint Jude is the one to whom people often turn,” Sheaffer said. “It could be anything: health, family, or work problems, dealing with addiction, or any other issues in life in which people have lost hope.”
More information about the tour of The Relic of St. Jude can be found online.
Relic stops in Massachusetts
Nov. 11, Corpus Christi Church: 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich
- Special Mass celebrated in Saint Jude’s honor: 1 p.m.
- Public veneration of Saint Jude relics begins immediately following Mass.
- Public veneration ends: 10 p.m.
Nov. 13, St. Joseph Parish: 173 Albion St., Wakefield
- Public veneration of Saint Jude relics begins: 1 p.m.
- Special Mass celebrated in Saint Jude’s honor: 7 p.m.
- Public veneration ends: 10 p.m.
Nov. 14, St. William of York Church: 1351 Main St., Tewksbury
- Public veneration of Saint Jude relics begins: 2 p.m.
- Special Mass celebrated in Saint Jude’s honor: 7 p.m.
- Public veneration ends:10 p.m.
Nov. 16, Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish: 18 East Main St., Webster
- Public veneration of Saint Jude relics begins: 1 p.m.
- Special Mass celebrated in Saint Jude’s honor: 6 p.m.
- Public veneration ends: 9 p.m.
Nov. 17, St. Thomas the Apostle Parish: 47 Pine St., West Springfield
- Public veneration of Saint Jude Relics begins: 2:30 p.m.
- Special Mass celebrated in Saint Jude’s honor: 7 p.m.
- Public veneration ends: 10 p.m.
