I'm not a Christian so I could be wrong...

[CurlewKate]

...but is it a little insensitive to tell someone (not me, and not a very close friend so no need for good wishes for me) who is about to have major surgery, that you are praying to St Jude for them?

When I was at school doing my final exams (long long time ago), the nuns prayed to St. Jude for me. Back then they called him the patron saint of "Hopeless Cases".

It worked, I was brutal at maths and passed. Thank you Jude.

I think offering a prayer is similar to "thoughts", but St. Jude has a rep for being the last resort saint to pray to.

@RufustheFactuaIReindeer "I honestly don’t think that not knowing all the RC saints is indicative of a lack of general knowledge "

No, neither do I. But the more common ones-St Christopher, for example-are definitely general knowledge. And surely St Jude is one of them?

St Christopher has been demoted though.

Unless you have reason to belief that the speaker is ill intentioned, I’d have thought the healing prayer on page 1 was the obvious answer, @OchonAgusOchonOh Why would you assume they were being nasty?

St Jude being the patron saint of hopeless causes isn’t obscure, though.

It’s general knowledge.

Because st jude is known as the patron saint of lost causes.

I said I thought it would be an appalling thing to say, not that they were being nasty. Presumably, unless you are a particular nun in the convent school I attended, most people wouldn't use prayers as a way to put people down.

I would consider it to be very insensitive as they are basically telling the person they are praying for that the surgery is very risky and they are in danger of dying, thus necessitating the intervention of Jude.

No, neither do I. But the more common ones-St Christopher, for example-are definitely general knowledge. And surely St Jude is one of them?

well thats what i just said, i reckon st christopher would be general knowledge and st nick 😉 and St Peter deffo

i just think st jude isn’t as well known 🤷🏻 it is absolutely NOT a hill i am prepared to die on partly because i might be going to hell for calling some saints ‘basic’

Look up "The Litany of the Saints", all the important ones are there. But I don't see Jude, he's obviously a lost cause.

I'm sorry to be light hearted about this, born an baptised Catholic, but while I say the odd prayer now and then, I have abandoned organised religion now.

BTW the litany is a good resource for baby names 😊

www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=254

Thankfully we were never expected to learn that one off by heart!

Another good list of saints can be found at https://www.catholic.org/saints/patron.php or if you want to go by name rather than patronage, https://www.chainzonline.com/saints-patronage.html?srsltid=AfmBOorn6KmLhVH3185gmE35YArXgzreiUWLxuTw7jxtuwoomorWh8IP

There are some quite amusing job combinations there:

St. Mark - Patron saint of lawyers, lions, notaries, prisoners
St. Roch - Patron saint of dogs, dog lovers, epidemics, knee problems, invalids, pestilence

Jude is only listed there as "Patron saint of desperate causes & situations, lost causes". Philomena has impossible causes. I guess Jude calls her in when it's above his pay grade.

Im not a Christian, but I think it's kind when people say stuff like that. I don't object; they usually mean well. Or if they say the same sort of thing in other religions- it doesn't matter which, to me.

@AliceMcK did any of the prayers work and lead you to a more wholesome life?

Yeah. I'm an atheist, but a former hardcore Christian who was massively damaged by my skirmish with the more charismatic end of the church. I'd tell them not to pray for me.

It's the fact that they are praying to St Jude, not the fact that they are praying, that is inappropriate

He is famously lost causes, I would bet that anyone who prays to him knows this

St Anthony is who you pray to find things. St Jude is lost causes. In Ireland anyway.

Why would you be annoyed though if you are an atheist? Surely if you don’t believe in prayer or a God, then people saying prayers for you will have zero effect on your life. I can understand you saying to someone - save your breath - it’s a waste of time. But to be actually cross seems strange to me.

It would piss me off. It’s presumptuous and insensitive. And who the fuck is ‘st’ Jude?

When my parents died, anyone offering prayers or platitudes about them being reunited in heaven, annoyed me a lot. I smiled and nodded, but it was not welcome and I think people should be more careful about presuming people want religious twaddle foisted upon them.

As said multiple times, because St Jude is for lost causes. Hence an insensitive choice in this situation.

Saintly portfolios

Yes I get the lost causes bit but some posters are really against any prayer to any saint.

Not according to this https://www.catholic.org/saints/patron.php

Patron saints of the Sick are
John of God, Camillus de Lellis, Michael the Archangel

St. Dymphna is the patron saint of mental illness

Mary is patron saint of the sick of Poland

Yes, definitely agree.

As a non Christian, def non catholic, no religious upbringing at all, my general knowledge re saints is:

St Christopher carries people over the river and people wear one around their neck, maybe for luck?

Saint Francis is the one who loves animals and birds

On mumsnet people say to say a prayer to St Anthony if they’ve lost something. But I’ve never heard anyone in real life say it.

Then there are loads of other saints I’ve heard of, but have got no idea what they are the patron saints of, apart from St George for England, St Andrew for Scotland etc etc.

I’ve been to quite a few churches and cathedrals to look round, I know a few stories of the saints, recognise a lot of saints names, and can often pick out a few of the famous saint deaths in pictures. I know various bible stories. But that’s as far as it goes. Best not to underestimate the total lack of knowledge of saints if nobody in your family or upbringing ever mentions them!

Oh, and Jude makes me think of Jude’s icecream, and Jude the obscure.

This!

In the early Christian Church Jude Thaddeus preached that you should never give up hope in difficult circumstances.
Hence St Jude is seen as the patron Saint of Hope in desperate or difficult times. I believe he has two feast days one in the RC Church and another in the Orthodox Churches.
Many mixed him up with Judas that may be a reason for the use of both of his names. Because of this confusion in later centuries some thought of him as a sort of last resort or for hopeless cases.
He is the one to give hope in difficult times. Often linked with hospitals and healing the sick or for those in despair.