FAQs

Saint Jude Shrine offers what is known as the Tridentine Latin Liturgy, also known as the Ancient Roman Rite of the Mass according to Pope Saint Pius V.

Q: Are face masks required at Saint Jude Shrine?

No.

Q: Are there Spanish Masses offered at the shrine?

No.

Q: What are the steps to becoming a Traditional Catholic?

See the webpage How to Join the Church.

Q: Is Saint Jude Shrine open during the week (Monday through Friday)?

Currently, the church is only open on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.

We hope to be open during the week in the future!

Q: Does Saint Jude Shrine recognize Francis as pope?

No, and nor does it recognize the last six antipopes as being true popes. The last irrefutably visible functioning pope was Pius XII. Read more on the Papacy page.

Q: Is Saint Jude Shrine Sedevacantist?*

Father Campbell does not pray in union with the notoriously heretical antipope Jorge Bergoglio but in union with the true pope, wherever he may be. The Chair of Peter has been usurped since 1958 and the status of the true pope is currently unknown. For more information, please visit the Papacy page and/or review the note on the bottom of this webpage.

Q: What do I do if I am not living near a Mass center or am unable to attend Mass due to some other reason?

A reasonable driving distance is up to the laity's discretion but is generally, at most, an hour or an hour and a half. Any distance beyond that, if it imposes a serious inconvenience and provided that all other options have been exhausted, one may presume a dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass. However, due to the rise of the internet, one may view a Mass livestream or read the Missal at home as well as make a good spiritual communion.**

Q: Can I receive Sacraments from Novus Ordo priests when no other priest is available?

Due to the changes made to the Rites of Episcopal Consecration and Priestly Ordination in 1968 by Antipope Paul VI, many "bishops" and "priests," are not actually validly consecrated or ordained. However, there still remain some true priests who are valid, even if they say the Novus Ordo "Mass." Usually these priests are in their 80s and 90s, and hence very difficult to find. In these instances where a validly-ordained priest is nearby, you may approach him for Confession and Extreme Unction in danger of death. However, do not accept what is commonly called “anointing of the sick” by the Novus Ordo. Instead, insist upon Sacraments whose formulas are found in the old ritual books used prior to Vatican II. Additionally, if you have access to the traditional Latin Mass, make certain that it is offered by an undoubtedly valid priest who is in his 80s or 90s.

Q: Do I have to make a renunciation of errors (abjuration) and/or Profession of Faith if I am coming from the Novus Ordo into the true Catholic Faith?

Because no two people who are escaping the Novus Ordo sect are alike in their faith, there is no way to enforce a litmus test of a person’s belief system before admittance to Holy Communion at Saint Jude’s. As long as someone is validly Baptized, intends to learn and grow in the true Catholic Faith, and follows the Laws of the Church, that individual should feel consoled knowing their ignorance to the crisis facing the Church today was likely not willful and should be viewed as having been the result of a massive deception, rather than an intentional participation in error--rendering a person’s moral culpability as having been diminished to the extent of the individual’s ignorance of the crisis impacting the Church.

However, if one wishes to make a renunciation of errors in the Confessional, they may do so, as this is not prohibited by any means.

Once the errors of the Vatican II sect are made known to a person, he or she should not presume that God will be merciful if they persist in knowingly following the erroneous teachings of the last six antipopes, given the notoriously heretical beliefs espoused by those papal pretenders.

For more information on how to receive a Conditional Baptism and make an abjuration of heresy and profession of Faith, visit the Baptism page of our website.

Q: What is Saint Jude's position on groups that recognize the postconciliar claimants to the Papacy as true popes?

It is a church dogma that one may not pray in common with heretics. A true pope cannot err when speaking to the whole Church on matters of faith and morals. Several of the Vatican II documents, but most notably Nostra Aetate, Dignitatis Humanae, and Gaudium et spes contain explicit heresies.

That being the case, members of the Body of Christ who wish to save their souls should refrain from attending Masses held by “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” who irrationally hold to the absurd position that the last six (notoriously heretical) antipopes have all been true popes.

Q: Under the current circumstances, how can a true pope be provided to the Church?

This question has been addressed on the Papacy page.

Q: What happens if Saint Jude's cannot get a priest, as the number of true priests are rapidly diminishing?

The faithful must practice the Faith in their own homes, praying and following the practices of the Church prior to the Apostasy in the Church, and trusting in Our Lord and Lady to provide Saint Jude’s with a new priest, as They have so generously done many times in the history of Saint Jude Shrine.

Q: I am unable to follow the Church's laws for fasting due to a health reason. How may I receive a dispensation?

One who genuinely cannot fast due to a grave risk to health may request a dispensation from a priest, who may suggest that individual substitute another act of penance instead, although this is at the discretion of the priest. However, if no priest is available, the faithful are not required to observe any fasting or abstinence laws that they know would be injurious to their health. For, after all, each of the faithful are duty-bound to safeguard the safety of the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is his own physical body.

Q: Does the Easter duty still apply if I live far from valid and lawful Sacraments? (Receiving Communion during the Easter season).

An in-depth reply to this question has been posted here.

Q: How do I fulfill my First Friday and Saturday devotions, if both days fall during Holy Week?

Quite often, First Friday will also land on Good Friday. Since no one except the priest receives Communion on Good Friday, the faithful cannot fulfill their First Friday devotion on this day, as First Friday and First Saturday devotions require one to receive Holy Communion on those given days.

However, since it is impossible for the faithful to receive Holy Communion on Good Friday, and in keeping in line with the tradition, the faithful may “skip” Good Friday as one of the Fridays and resume the following month.

For example, if Good Friday would have been your THIRD “First Friday,” you may simply skip that month, and the following month's first Friday would be your ACTUAL third “First Friday.”

The same would apply when a First Saturday lands on Holy Saturday, but only if the Paschal Vigil observances are started later than sundown (which is the custom at some parish churches) so that Communion is not administered until after Midnight.

Q: What is Saint Jude Shrine's Position on Baptism of Desire and Blood?

For a complete answer, click the drop down menu (the arrow to the right). You can download the complete PDF here.

Saint Jude Shrine

Statement Regarding Baptism of Desire and Blood

From the Teachings of the Church

The custodians of Saint Jude Shrine often receive inquiries about their position on “Baptism of Desire and Blood.” This topic has become controversial for no plausible reason, since various pontiffs, theologians, and Doctors of the Church have definitively settled the questions regarding this issue on multiple occasions, and over several centuries. The directors of Saint Jude Shrine make no pretensions to speak for the Magisterium, and therefore will not speculate on how “Baptism of Desire and Blood” is to be understood or applied. Rather, it seems preferable and reasonable to follow the safest course by directing those who are still uncertain about this subject to what the Church has already taught. Finally, Saint Jude’s directors strongly urge the faithful to avoid trying to be “More Catholic than the Church” in this matter or any other matter upon which the Church has authoritatively spoken.

The Council of Trent (1545-1563)

Canons on the Sacraments in General (Canon 4):

"If anyone shall say that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation, but are superfluous, and that although all are not necessary for every individual, without them or without the desire of them (sine eis aut eorum voto), through faith alone men obtain from God the grace of justification; let him be anathema."

Decree on Justification (Session 6, Chapter 4):

"In these words a description of the justification of a sinner is given as being a translation from that state in which man is born a child of the first Adam to the state of grace and of the 'adoption of the sons' (Rom. 8:15) of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Savior and this translation after the promulgation of the Gospel cannot be effected, except through the laver of regeneration or a desire for it, (sine lavacro regenerationis aut eius voto) as it is written: Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter in the kingdom of God' (John 3:5)."

The 1917 Code of Canon Law

1917 CODE OF CANON LAW

On Ecclesiastical Burial (Canon 1239. 2)

"Catechumens who, through no fault of their own, die without Baptism, are to be treated as baptized."

The Sacred Canons by Rev. John A. Abbo. S.T.L. J.C.D., and Rev. Jerome D. Hannan, A.M., LL.B., S.T.D., J.C.D.

Commentary on the Code: "The reason for this rule is that they are justly supposed to have met death united to Christ through Baptism of Desire."

The Roman Pontiffs

POPE PIUS IX (1846-1878)

Singulari Quadam, 1854:

174. "It must, of course, be held as a matter of faith that outside the apostolic Roman Church no one can be saved, that the Church is the only ark of salvation, and that whoever does not enter it will perish in the flood. On the other hand, it must likewise be held as certain that those who are affected by ignorance of the true religion, if it is invincible ignorance, are not subject to any guilt in this matter before the eyes of the Lord. Now, then, who could presume in himself an ability to set the boundaries of such ignorance, taking into consideration the natural differences of peoples, lands, native talents, and so many other factors? Only when we have been released from the bonds of this body and see God just as He is (see John 3:2) shall we really understand how close and beautiful a bond joins divine mercy with divine justice."

Quanto Conficiamur Moerore (1863):

“. . .We all know that those who are afflicted with invincible ignorance with regard to our holy religion, if they carefully keep the precepts of the natural law that have been written by God in the hearts of men, if they are prepare to obey God, and if they lead a virtuous and dutiful life, can attain eternal life by the power of divine light and grace."

POPE ST. PIUS X

Catechism of Pope Pius X (1908):

“Q 17: Can the absence of Baptism be supplied in any other way?

“A. The absence of Baptism can be supplied by martyrdom, which is called Baptism of Blood, or by an act of perfect love of God, or of contrition, along with the desire, at least implicit, of Baptism, and this is called Baptism of Desire.”

POPE PIUS XII (1939-1958)

Mystici Corporis (June 29, 1943):

"As you know, Venerable Brethren, from the very beginning of Our Pontificate We have committed to the protection and guidance of heaven those who do not belong to the visible organization of the Catholic Church, solemnly declaring that after the example of the Good Shepherd We desire nothing more ardently than that they may have life and have it more abundantly... For even though unsuspectingly they are related to the Mystical Body of the Redeemer in desire and resolution, they still remain deprived of so many precious gifts and helps from heaven, which one can only enjoy in the Catholic Church."

POPE INNOCENT III

Apostolicam:

To your inquiry we respond thus: We assert without hesitation (on the authority of the holy Fathers Augustine and Ambrose) that the priest whom you indicated (in your letter) had died without the water of baptism, because he persevered in the faith of Holy Mother the Church and in the confession of the name of Christ, was freed from original sin and attained the joy of the heavenly fatherland. Read (brother) in the eighth book of Augustine's City of God where among other things it is written, “Baptism is ministered invisibly to one whom not contempt of religion but death excludes." Read again the book also of the blessed Ambrose concerning the death of Valentinian where he says the same thing. Therefore, to questions concerning the dead, you should hold the opinions of the learned Fathers, and in your church you should join in prayers and you should have sacrifices offered to God for the priest mentioned (Denzinger 388).

Debitum pastoralis officii, August 28, 1206:

You have, to be sure, intimated that a certain Jew, when at the point of death, since he lived only among Jews, immersed himself in water while saying: “I baptize myself in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." We respond that, since there should be a distinction between the one baptizing and the one baptized, as is clearly gathered from the words of the Lord, when He says to the Apostles: "Go baptize all nations, in the name, etc." (ef Matt. 28:19), the Jew mentioned must be baptized again by another, that it may be shown that he who is baptized is one person, and he who baptizes another... If, however, such a one had died immediately, he would have rushed off to his heavenly home without delay because of the faith of the sacrament, although not because of the sacrament of faith (Denzinger 413).

The Great Doctors of the Church

ST. AUGUSTINE

City of God:

“I do not hesitate to place the Catholic catechumen, who is burning with the love of God, before the baptized heretic... The centurion Cornelius, before Baptism, was better than Simon [Magus], who had been baptized. For Cornelius. even before Baptism, was filled with the Holy Ghost, while Simon, after Baptism, was puffed up with an unclean spirit" (De Bapt. C. Donat., IV 21).

"Baptism is administered invisibly to one whom not contempt of religion but death excludes." (Denzinger 388)

ST. AMBROSE

"I hear you express grief because he [Valentinian] did not receive the Sacrament of Baptism. Tell me, what else is there in us except the will and petition? But he had long desired to be initiated... and expressed his intention to be baptized... Surely, he received [it] because he asked [for it]."

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

Summa, Article 1, Part III, Q. 68:

"I answer that, the sacrament of Baptism may be wanting to someone in two ways. First, both in reality and in desire; as is the case with those who neither are baptized, nor wished to be baptized: which clearly indicates contempt of the sacrament, in regard to those who have the use of the free will. Consequently those to whom Baptism is wanting thus, cannot obtain salvation: since neither sacramentally nor mentally are they incorporated in Christ, through Whom alone can salvation be obtained.

"Secondly, the sacrament of Baptism may be wanting to anyone in reality but not in desire: for instance, when a man wishes to be baptized, but by some ill-chance he is forestalled by death before receiving Baptism. And such a man can obtain salvation without being actually baptized, on account of his desire for Baptism, which desire is the outcome of faith that worketh by charity, whereby God, Whose power is not yet tied to visible sacraments, sanctifies man inwardly. Hence Ambrose says of Valentinian, who died while yet a catechumen: ‘I lost him whom I was to regenerate: but he did not lose the graces he prayed for.’"

ST. ROBERT BELLARMINE, Doctor of the Church (1542-1621)

Liber II, Caput XXX:

“Boni Catehecumeni sunt de Ecclesia, interna unione tantum, non autem externa” (Good catechumens are of the Church, by internal union only, not however, by external union).

ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (1691-1787)

Moral Theology (Bk. 6)

“But Baptism of Desire is perfect conversion to God by contrition or love of God above all things accompanied by an explicit or implicit desire for true Baptism of water, the place of which it takes as to the remission of guilt, but not as to the impression of the [baptismal] character or as to the removal of all debt of punishment. It is called ‘of wind’ [flaminis] because it takes place by the impulse of the Holy Ghost Who is called a wind [flamen]. Now it is de fide that men are also saved by Baptism of desire, by virtue of the Canon ‘Apostolicam De Presbytero Non Baptizato’ and the Council of Trent, (Session 6, Chapter 4), where it is said that no one can be saved ‘without the laver of regeneration or the desire for it.’"

ROMAN MARTYROLOGY

St. Emerentiana

January 23: At Rome, St. Emerentiana, Virgin and Martyr, who was stoned by the heathen while still a catechumen, when she was praying at the tomb of St. Agnes, whose foster-sister she was.

St. Victor

April 12: At Braga, in Portugal, St. Victor, Martyr, who, while still yet a catechumen, refused to worship an idol, and confessed Christ Jesus with great constancy, and so after many torments, he merited to be baptized in his own blood, his head being cut off.

Notes

*The preferred term for the beliefs held by many at Saint Jude Shrine is sede impedita, (“The See being obstructed, the bishop is unable to carry out the duties of his diocese.” Attwater’s Catholic Dictionary). The reason many believe the See to be obstructed rather than vacant pertains to the likely overthrow of the pope by nefarious forces in 1958, and the subsequent coercion enacted against the rightfully elected pope thereafter, leading to a seemingly vacant chair. Regardless, Saint Jude Shrine believes that heretics cannot be popes, and its pastor rejects the false teachings of the currently reigning false Church.

**Viewing the Mass via livestream is not the same as attending Mass in person. However, watching a true Mass via livestream, at least, places the viewer in moral unity with the faithful attending the Mass, albeit at a distance, and is a useful aid in assisting the faithful in making a good spiritual communion.