Manchester’s Hispanic community celebrated the feast day of St. Jude on Thursday at the St. Anne- St. Augustin Parish, a day that has both cultural and spiritual significance among the Mexican diaspora.

St.Jude is known as the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes. As the Latino community across the country is seeing increased immigration enforcement, the parish has chosen to celebrate the feast for the first time. During Thursday’s Mass, Rev. Leandro Tavarez blessed a new image of St. Jude he said was donated by a grateful parishioner whose immigration papers finally came through.

Parishioner Juan Silvestre is from Zacatecas, México. He said he helped start the celebration as a way to strengthen parishioners’ faith, remind them of their heritage and have a chance to join together as a community.

His prayer to St. Jude: a change in policy.

“My prayer is for the president of this country,” he said in Spanish. “I pray he has a change of heart and stops harming our community.”

To honor St. Jude’s following among parishioners with Mexican heritage, the music for the special mass was performed by mariachis. Local high schoolers like Anthony Vazquez danced in the central aisle.

He’s a junior at Trinity High School and spoke about the history of the devotion of St. Jude, or San Judas Tadeo as he’s known in Spanish.

“This dance is a cultural and a traditional dance and originated in Mexico,” he said. “We do it for a devotion for San Judas. It’s like a prayer for San Judas.”

After a dinner with Mexican delicacies like mole, pan and champurrado de elote, the church is preparing for their next big cultural celebration: the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe in December.