Thousands with 'lost causes' flock to honor St. Jude at Mexico City church

MEXICO CITY (CN) — Nancy González was one of the thousand pilgrims congregated around the 16th-century Church of San Hipólito in downtown Mexico City Monday night to mark Tuesday’s feast day of St. Jude, or San Judas Tadeo in Spanish — the saint of lost causes and desperate situations.

González passed out sweets to others who also arrived to pray to and honor St. Jude at the largest church in Latin America specifically dedicated to him.

“I made a vow to San Judas for the health of my son, whose name is also Tadeo,” González said.

Vendors lined the streets selling saint statues, candles, bracelets and T-shirts all emblazoned with St. Jude’s image.

Pilgrims arrived with colorful altars depicting the saint as he is portrayed in Mexico, wearing a green robe. Some dressed as St. Jude or carried large statues of him as they celebrated in the street. Bands played, people set off fireworks that went on into the early morning.

One particularly ornate altar, adorned with green-packaged Mexican snacks, was made by the Rivera family, who have been coming to the celebration for 10 years.

“We are a close family. We pray to the saint and he gives his health and work,” said Jonathan Rivera, whose faith in the saint grew after he had a life-threatening accident when he was younger.

People pray to St. Jude in times of desperation and need; he enjoys massive popularity in Mexico. One reason he became known as the saint for the desperate is because he shares his name with Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus in the Bible.

Only the truly desperate would call upon a saint who shares the same name as Judas, the thinking goes, so he is highly venerated by those in difficult situations.

One of the largest altars was built by Willie, who didn’t give his last name. He has been coming to the church on this day for 25 years.

At least four people had to hold his altar as they walked down the main avenue leading up to the church.

“To him, we are what we are, and everything that we give will be from the heart,” he said in front of his altar. “We don’t claim to give everything, but we give what we can, and he returns what he can.”

The devotees arrive late at night in the hopes of a chance to enter the church by morning, pray and give offerings to their saint.

Many chant and sing specific songs for him upon their arrival. They light hundreds of candles and leave offerings outside the church gates.

As more devotees arrived, González and her son continued passing out sweets to hundreds of strangers who had come from all over the country to pray and give thanks to their venerated saint as the fireworks lit up the night.