St Jude oil

How to Use It

Folk Catholicism & Spiritism

• Dress a green or white candle with the oil and pray his novena for nine days for a cause that seems lost.
• Anoint his prayer card or statue and keep a promise to make his help known once it comes.
• Light a dressed candle on the 28th of the month, his traditional day of devotion.

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• Dress a candle for a hard job search, a desperate money situation or a court case you expect to lose.
• Anoint the corners of a petition and place it under his image until the matter turns.

A Simple Working

• Write your impossible situation on a piece of paper.
• Place it under a picture or prayer card of Saint Jude.
• Dress a green chime candle with the oil and stand it on top.
• Light it and pray to Saint Jude, asking for help in this hopeless cause.
• Repeat with a fresh candle for nine days in a row.
• When help comes, thank him publicly, as promised.

Pairs Well With

• A green chime candle: his traditional robe colour.
• A Saint Jude prayer card: for the novena.
• A white household candle: for longer devotions.
• Frankincense: church incense for his altar.

What You Receive

St Jude oil, available in 2 dram, 1 oz and 16 oz.

Origin & Lore

Saint Jude Thaddeus was one of the twelve apostles and is often shown with a flame above his head, for Pentecost, and a medallion of Christ’s face on his chest. Because his name sounded like Judas, the traitor, few people prayed to him, and he came to be seen as the saint of last resort. This oil is a folk preparation used to dress his candles and carry petitions to him.

People who receive help from Saint Jude have long paid their debt by printing a short thank-you to him in the classified ads of the local newspaper.

Saint Jude shares his feast day, 28 October, with Saint Simon. In Mexico City the church of San Hipólito draws huge crowds of San Judas Tadeo devotees on the 28th of every month. In the United States, the entertainer Danny Thomas prayed to Saint Jude early in his career and later founded St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, opened in 1962.