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Novena to St. Jude
The Novena to St. Jude Thaddeus with the full prayer: patron of hopeless causes and desperate cases. How to pray it over 9 days.
Part of the Novenas prayer collection.
In brief
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Prayer: Novena Prayer to St. Jude
Most holy Apostle St. Jude Thaddeus, faithful relative and friend of Jesus, the Church honors and invokes you everywhere as the patron of hopeless causes and of things despaired of. Pray for me — I am so often in need of your help. Come to my aid in this great need, that I may receive the consolation and assistance of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations and sufferings, particularly (mention your request here). I promise, O blessed Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, to always honor you as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you. Amen.
Source note: Traditional
The nine days — a pattern
Each day: the novena prayer, your intention named aloud, then one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. Many add: "St. Jude, pray for us" ×3 when the anxiety spikes between formal prayers.
Why "hopeless causes"?
The tradition runs through the shrine devotion of the Claretians, spread in 20th-century America, where parishes kept filling with testimonies — jobs found after a year, tumors shrunk, estranged children home after a decade. Jude rarely got chosen in the ancient world (his name was too close to Judas Iscariot's); devotees say being under-invoked made him the eager specialist he is.
Keep praying
Prayer for difficult problems
- The Unfailing Prayer — the "seldom fails" companion
- His feast — Oct 28
Pray a Saint Jude novena without treating hope as a formula
Saint Jude is traditionally invoked as an apostle and patron in difficult or seemingly hopeless situations. Over nine days, bring the need honestly to God, ask Jude's intercession and remain open to wise help, patience and the next faithful action; a novena is prayer, not a guarantee that a particular request will happen.
Different parishes and shrines publish different Saint Jude novena forms and dates. This page identifies the version it uses, keeps the prayer itself first and avoids claims that a required copy, donation or public testimony makes an answer more likely.