East Lansing church to host arm of St. Jude for veneration, Mass
EAST LANSING — A Catholic relic dating to ancient Rome is coming to East Lansing as part of a U.S. tour.
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 955 Alton Road, will host the arm of St. Jude Thaddeus from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 12. Church officials said in a press release that they expect more than 3,000 people to visit to view the relic or take part in a Mass planned at 7 p.m. that day.
"Everybody loves St. Jude, patron of the impossible, because we all have impossible challenges in our lives!” the Rev. Gordon Reigle, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas, said. “St. Thomas Aquinas Parish is very grateful to host this holy relic for an evening of devotion.”
The relic is scheduled to be at St. Patrick Catholic Parish, 711 Rickett Road in Brighton Tuesday, starting at 1 p.m. Stops also are planning in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Lapeer, Rochester, Detroit, Dearborn and Southfield before the relic moves on to other states.
The most reliable records identify the place of Saint Jude’s martyrdom in about 65 A.D. and burial to be the city of Beirut, Lebanon, the website The Apostle of the Impossible and Catholic Review explain. The website devoted to the U.S. tour of the relic says that sometime later, Jude's body was transferred to Rome and placed in a crypt within the original Saint Peter’s Basilica, completed by the Emperor Constantine in 333 A.D.
"Today, his remains are in the left transept of the current Basilica, completed in 1626, below the main altar of Saint Joseph, within a tomb also holding the remains of the Apostle Simon," the website explains. "This resting place has become a popular destination for pilgrims who have a devotion to the 'Apostle of the Impossible.'"
The arm of the Catholic saint, which is the focus of the U.S. tour, was separated from the greater portion of his remains several centuries ago and placed in a simple wooden reliquary carved in the shape of an upright arm in the gesture of imparting a blessing, the website says.
The reliquary holding the arm was last opened during the time of Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani, who served as Vicar General of His Holiness (Vicar General for the Archdiocese of Rome) from 1931-51, the website says.
The relic is scheduled to travel to 100 cities throughout the U.S. by May 2024. Treasures of the Church, a ministry of the Catholic Church, is coordinating the tour. The tour represents the first time the relic has left Italy, the Lansing Catholic diocese said in a press release.
“All are welcome to come seek the intercession of St. Jude. May God abundantly bless our community as we honor an apostle sent by Jesus Christ," Gordon said in the release.
To learn more about St. Jude’s visit to East Lansing visit elcatholics.org/relic.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: East Lansing church to host arm of St. Jude for veneration, Mass
