"Anything but high profile by nature, Jude's persona, his essence, occupies the quiet end of a saintly spectrum that includes Paul, the dynamic and even over bearing preacher; Peter, the swashbuckling sailor who lost his nerve at the crucial moment; and St. Teresa of Avila, the mystical yet outspoken intellectual. Jude is the workmanlike spiritual mechanic, the one who does his job and moves on. Approaching him takes no energy and is as secret as shouting in a cave for help."

The patron of desperate cases, Saint Jude is known as much for his miraculous powers of healing and rescue as for the obscurity of his history. A most beloved and enigmatic apostle, Jude remains -- even more now than in his own time -- the ecumenical figure of hope.

In this riveting investigation of faith and legend, award-winning journalist Liz Trotta follows the footsteps of the New Testament's most elusive saint through Italy, Turkey, the lands of Old Armenia, and the United States in search of the shadowy origins, history, and sacred sites of Jude Thaddeus. A modern-day pilgrimage, Jude is filled with rich historical lore, insightful reportage, poignant anecdotes, and personal reflections.

As though guided by Jude himself, Trotta encounters an extraordinary number of meaningful coincidences -- synchronicities which are the very heart of the Jude experience. In every city, at every turn, her sleuthing seems led by an invisible hand, drawing her down narrow alleyways, towards rarely seen relics, to conversations with miracle-seeking people with AIDS. Each experience an added tile, this portrait of Jude emerges as a beautifully rendered mosaic, filled with colorful history, strange artifacts, and stories of the miraculous powers of faith.

"Jude is on call, right down to the softest prayer, the smallest hope. Once lost himself -- on the map and in history -- he is found among those lost who, accepting their solitariness, take refuge in his invisible presence. From East to West, from the first century to the brink of the twenty-first, his message vibrates in the hallow reaches of the unanchored modern world."