A Mysterious Good Samaritan
A Mysterious Good Samaritan
By Desi Martinez
During the Coronavirus lockdown, one person with whom I had the chance to grow closer was my mother. She related to me the story of how our family found our patron saint.
My mother is now 72. She was the youngest of nine children, and her father was older than her mother. This is a story about her father, my grandfather. It happened before my mother was born when my grandfather was a young man in the very early part of the 20th century.
He was a police officer in Mexico at that time. One day he was on patrol, going from one town to another on horseback, as was still the practice in those days. Apparently, he had made enemies of a group of men. While traveling between towns, he was attacked by three of these men and beaten severely. They left him for dead on the side of the road with no one around.
The Author’s Grandfather and Mother
In a daze, he could only recall that someone had picked him up, carried him home, and left him on his bed. He could also remember this person tending his wounds, and a feeling that everything was going to be fine.
No one in the house saw this person carry my grandfather home and no one knew how my grandfather got there. However, as this good Samaritan was leaving, my grandfather caught a glimpse of the man’s face. It was Saint Jude. He recognized it from seeing Saint Jude’s image in church and on religious artifacts.
My grandfather recovered fully from his wounds and lived a long life, marrying and having nine children and numerous grandchildren. Saint Jude has been the patron saint of our family ever since.