photo by Jesús Chaírez ©

Every 28th of the month there is a BIG religious ceremony to St. Judas (St. Jude) at his church in Centro Historico across from the Alameda Park.

On December 28, 2008, I happened to be getting out of the Metro, subway, at the Hidalgo stop when I noted all the people carrying St. Jude figures around so I decided check out the pilgrimage.

Getting out of the subway at the church was a very tight fit. The main street in front of the church was even closed to traffic and I could not even get near the church because of all the people. Lots of people carrying St. Jude figures, some figures were small and some very big – some standing taller than the people carrying them. I can only imagine the small statures are from people that have little sins with the larger statures being from people with larger sins. Some statues were so big, you would think someone might have even killed their mother-in-law or their own mother.

Too I would say that 95% of the people in attendance were SCARY!

Daunting because you have to understand that St. Jude is the saint of hopeless causes with many thieves and drug people praying to St. Jude. So most people in attendance around the church were people that looked like Daddy Yankee wannabes and people full of tattoos; some obvious prison art tattoos. The stench of marijuana and glue was at times overwhelming. Yes, people getting high after prayer!

I found this on the Internet:

So many criminals pray to St. Jude that the Archdiocese of Mexico issued a statement in November 2008 clarifying that St. Jude Thaddeus is not the “patron saint” of criminals or drug lords.

The Archdiocese continued to note in their release that “many people who commit crimes believe that St. Jude is their patron saint.” “In no way would this saint be interceding before God in heaven for those who act contrary to the commandments of Christ, violating the precepts of Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

During the recent celebration of the feast of St. Jude, known traditionally as the patron saint of lost causes, the archdiocese said that the Church encourages authentic expressions of devotion to the saint, but that it was obliged to point out that “in some cases there are serious incompatibilities” with the teachings of the Church.

Very interesting religious performance to see and one should see while in México City on any 28th day of the month, most very different.

Click here to see a slide show of what I saw on December 28th.