Catholic nerd pilgrimage: National Shrine of St Jude (Our Lady of Guadalupe Church)

For the feast of St Jude, I really had no choice but to go to the National Shrine of St Jude since it plays a central role in my story, “St Jude’s Medallion.”

Of course, I’d never actually been there and relied on photos online for that story.

The church is smaller than I had imagined, located on a corner on the south side of Chicago.

The exterior of the church. A vendor of religious goods is set up on the sidewalk next to the church and anotehr vendor selling flavored waters is across from that vendor. The building itself is made of red brick and granite with a domed bell tower over the main entrance,

The interior is almost perfectly square with a side altar dedicated to Saint Jude at the right side of the church and a small alcove for people to place lit candles for their prayer intentions.

The interior of the church showing the square main area of thechurch with the sanctuary under an arch at the front of the church. The side altar to St Jude with numerous flowers before it. The glass case below the statue of St Jude normally holds a reliquary with a piece of bone attributed to the saint, but it was removed for the procession through the nighborhood streets that took place after the Mass. The side alcove with candles lit for various petitioners’ intentions

A number of people brought paintings and statues of St Jude to be blessed after the Mass. The guy sitting a couple rows ahead of me still had the price tag on his statue

A closeup of the back of a statue with a price tag still affixed to it. There were a number of such statues of St Jude throughout the pews, looking sort of like little plaster parishioners

The Mass had the full staff of the parish on hand, five priests and a deacon, along with a bishop who presided at the Mass and gave a homily in which he rather forcefully spoke out against the violence that ICE is inflicting on Chicago and calling on those present to show compassion and kindness to those afflicted by the actions of the government.

After Mass, there was a procession with statues of St Jude and Our Lady of Guadalupe carried through the neighborhood along with a banner of St Jude, a reliquary containing a bone attributed to the saint and the clergy. Outside, they were joined by a small brass band as they proceeded through the streets of the neighborhood.

The tale end of the procession as it lined up in the church, A priest holding a reliquary is visible along with the bishop and the banner of St Jude.

Catholic nerd pilgrimage: National Shrine of St Jude (Our Lady of Guadalupe Church)

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