Judas?

  • Thread starter Thread starter fellicia
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

fellicia

Guest
While talking to a friend about Catholics, a question on saints and the appostles came up. Is Judas a saint? and why not if he isnt?
 
First of all, it must be remembered that a declaration of Sainthood is not intended in any way to be exclusive. The Church does not claim to know and proclaim the names of everyone in Heaven so the fact that someone isn’t proclaimed a Saint by the Church does not mean they are consigned to the everlasting fire.

However unlikely it may seem, it is POSSIBLE that, in his final moments before death, Judas Iscariot experienced a perfect contrition for his sins and desired, had he been able, to remove himself from the noose so that he could rejoin the Apostles and proclaim the glory of Christ. We won’t know for sure until we, ourselves, get to heaven. Because we don’t know, he is not declared to be a saint. The Church can only go by what is known of a person and, so, Judas is not considered a Saint. There may be those who will argue against what I’ve written, but they are simply making judgments on what led up to his death; betraying Christ and then committing suicide. We are free to judge the actions of others, but not their hearts.
 
Judas Iscariot is not considered a saint, as his life is not considered to be one of heroic virtue worthy for us to immitate. This is not a judgement on the state of soul after death.

Please keep in mind, though, that Judas is one English variant of a common name in biblical times, Yehuda. Other English variants of this name are Judah, as in the patriarch; and Jude, as in St Jude Thaddeous, the Apostle. Some languages do not make this distinction, and refer to the patriarch Judah, St Jude Thaddeous and Judas Iscariot all by the same name. So yes, Judas is considered a saint, but it depends on which Judas you mean.
 
I am talking of the Judas that betrayed Judas.

But Judas was in God’s plan, if it wasn’t for Judas then Jesus coudn’t have died for our sins, and therefore we wouldn’t be where we are now. Why look so badly on someone that was part of the plan of God?
 
The Bible is pretty clear that Judas killed himself in a deep state of despair, if we believe the Bible then this means he killed himself because he had no hope. I doubt the Word would have been so clear about his deep dispair at the time of suicide otherwise, there was a point to be made. I took a course on the Passion where this was discussed as a stark contrast to Peter’s denial, where he was not in deep remorse.

Given that this is the inspired Word, it is very doubtful it would lead us to believe what is written yet find out Judas was saved. But you are totally correct, we have no way to know for sure as we are just simple humans…
 
Thankyou for all your answers…they are very helpful…any other ideas around?
 
My understanding is that a saint is, above all, someone whose life is worthy of imitation. Since Judas was a thief (he was the treasurer for the disciples, & scripture says he was “skimming”–not that word, but he was), since he betrayed our Lord & Saviour to death by torture–for money yet!–and since he killed himself…What is there to imitate??
Yes, he may have repented while he was hanging there, waiting to die…But, even so, the question remains: What is there about his life to imitate? What example of holy living could he represent?
The late Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “The tragedy of Judas is that he could have been St Judas”…Could have been…
I think that kinda says it…and it is a tragedy. No question.But there it is…
 
40.png
fellicia:
I am talking of the Judas that betrayed Judas.

But Judas was in God’s plan, if it wasn’t for Judas then Jesus coudn’t have died for our sins, and therefore we wouldn’t be where we are now. Why look so badly on someone that was part of the plan of God?
This is true, but Judas’ action was not God’s Will. Evil is never His will. We are not talking predestination here; God knew that Judas would sin just as he knew that Adam would sin. What God did do, was cover the eventuality of it all. I’m sure the Sanhedrin could have found Jesus without Judas tipping them off, but since he did it, God countered with another prophacy: Ps 41:10
 
Judas is not a saint,because he isn’t an example to follow,he betrayed our Lord.He might be forgiven by Christ,but he is not a saint.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top