Holy relic of St. Jude the Apostle to visit Victorville

Considered a holy relic, a bone from St. Jude the Apostle has left Italy for the first time and will appear this week in the High Desert.

St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church of Victorville will host the relic of St. Jude the Apostle from 2 to 10 p.m. on Friday, May 24, church officials told the Daily Press

Public veneration of the relic begins at 2 p.m. A special mass is scheduled at 7 p.m. at St. Joan at 15512 Sixth Street.

The relic of St. Jude, normally kept at a Roman parish near Vatican City, is part of a national tour of more than 100 cities from September 2023 to June 2024.

After appearing in Victorville, the relic will finish its tour by making several stops in Southern California.

The bone is inside a wooden reliquary carved in the shape of an upright arm that gives the gesture of imparting a blessing. The reliquary also bears the seals of Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani, who was vicar general of Rome from 1931 to 1951.

Church officials declared that many blessings have been reported by those who have venerated the relic, including healings and people returning to the Catholic Church.

St. Jude the Apostle

St. Jude Thaddeus was a first cousin of Jesus Christ — the son of Mary of Clopas, a relation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, according to the Catholic Review.

St. Jude was one of Christ’s most intimate collaborators, being part of a group of 12 men called apostles, a Greek term meaning “one who is sent.”

Along with St. Bartholomew, St. Jude is one of the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The last Jewish bishop of Jerusalem, Judah Kyriakos, was the great-grandson of St. Jude, according to the Catholic Church.

Around AD 65, St. Jude was killed with an ax and his body was buried in Beirut, Lebanon, the Catholic Review stated.

St. Jude’s remains were transferred to Rome during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine, and his tomb rests directly below the main altar of the left transept of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The New Testament Epistle of Jude is named after him, although biblical scholars disagree on whether he was the author.

Some Catholics pray to St. Jude when they are in desperate situations mainly because the Epistle of Jude stresses that the faithful should persevere even when facing harsh or difficult circumstances.

Pilgrims of the relic will be able to receive an extraordinary plenary indulgence issued by Pope Francis and published by the Vatican’s apostolic penitentiary, according to Treasures of the Church’s press release.

An indulgence is either a partial or full remission of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.

A plenary indulgence is obtained by a person in a state of grace with the condition he or she must show detachment from sin, go to confession, receive the Eucharist, and pray for the intentions of the pope.

Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Holy relic of St. Jude the Apostle to visit Victorville