St. Jude, AKA Judas Thaddaeus, is considered the patron saint of lost or desperate causes. St. Jude is believed to be the author of the Epistle of Jude in the New Testament. While preaching the gospel with St. Simon, St. Jude was beat with a club and suffered martyrdom (St. Simon also suffered martyrdom by being sawed into pieces). They share October 28th as their feast day. Tradition holds that in the middle ages St. Jude was often confused with Judas Iscariot, so devotion to him was scarce. The few who did invoke St. Jude’s help found his help (prayers to our Lord) to be impossibly effective. Hence, he’s known to be the patron of impossible causes.