St. Jude Thaddeus was one the apostles of
Jesus whose apostolic work after the resurrection is not mentioned explicitly in Scripture. But thanks to
tradition, there are some interesting information that one can discover about St. Jude. Since the
feast of St. Jude is on Monday (October 28th), I thought it most
appropriate to write about something I recently read connecting the apostle to
the Shroud of Turin.
For those of you who may not know, the Shroud
of Turin is considered to be the linen cloth in which Christ was wrapped after
his body was taken down from the cross. This is the same linen cloth found by
St. Peter and St. John on Easter Sunday in the empty tomb. The Shroud is kept
in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy.
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| Shroud of Turin |
Now there is an interesting tradition that
links St. Jude Thaddeus to the Shroud.
It is said that the King Abgar from the city
of Edessa had sent message to Jesus while he was still carrying out his
teaching among the Jews, asking for him to cure his Leprosy. Jesus is known to
have replied to the King saying that his mission was in Palestine but after his
return to the Father, he will send a disciple to him.
The story continues that after the Ascension
of our Lord and during the dispersion of the Apostles under the Jewish persecution
in Jerusalem, St. Jude Thaddeus (according to St. Jerome) visited the King of
Edessa before continuing to his evangelizing activity in Iran. He is known to
have taken an image of Christ with him (which is given further credibility by the very early icons of St.
Jude depicting him holding an image of Christ).
One such tradition indicates that this image
was indeed the Holy Shroud (that had made its way now to Turin). A study of the
Shroud in Turin had revealed some pollen grains on it that were identified
to be from a plant that grows local to Edessa which seems to further confirm
this tradition. The Shroud had not been of much use among Jewish converts since
the Jewish law considered articles that had come into contact with a dead body
to be unclean. The Jews also had an aversion against images of persons due to
Mosaic Law. So the early Church had decided it was appropriate to send this as
a gift to the pagan king where it would be revered. The image was folded such
that only the face of Jesus was featured and sent with St. Jude on his mission to Edessa.
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| St Jude Thaddeus with the image of Christ |
King Abgar is said to have been miraculously
cured by St. Jude, and the image of Christ was received with much joy. It
became known commonly in Edessa as the image “not made by hands”.
The relics of this great Apostle were brought
to Rome after his martyrdom together with those of the Apostle Simon the Zealot.
Both their relics today are kept under the St. Joseph’s altar at the St. Peter’s
Basilica in Rome.
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