Jude Martin

 is a fictional nun and a central character on the FX Network television series American Horror Story. Played by actress Jessica Lange, she was introduced in the premiere episode of season two of the show, "Welcome to Briarcliff".

Biography
Jude Martin was a woman born of an abusive and alcoholic family. This early development shaped her adult lifestyle when she became an irresponsible and frequently drunken lounge singer during the late 1940s. In 1949, a hit-and-run accident, for which Jude was responsible, changed her life forever. To make restitution, she turned towards the chuch and was "saved" by Monsignor Timothy Howard. Jude became a nun and shared the Monsignor's vision for the future of the church. He eventually placed her in charge of Briarcliff Manor, a mental health facility located in Wasaugee, Massachusetts.

As the head of the hospital, Sister Jude Martin was a strict taskmaster who treated her charges with the same rigid morality as she did her patients. She was not above using corporal punishment as a means of therapy and was a strong advocate of electro-shock therapy. Sister Jude's nemesis at the asylum was a state-appointed physician named Arthur Arden. The two butted heads on numerous occasions and consistently conspired to have each other removed from their station. Sister Jude saw her opportunity when she discovered that Arden was a former Nazi SS officer named Hans Gruper.

Unbenknownst to Sister Jude at the time, dark forces were manipulating events at Briarcliff and a young nun named Sister Mary Eunice McKee was possessed by a demon. The possessed McKee vied for Sister Jude's position and framed her for the murder of a security chief named Frank McCann as well as that of a Nazi hunter named Sam Goodman. Not only was Sister Jude stripped of her authority, but she remained at Briarcliff, not as an administrator, but as a patient. Sister Mary Eunice quickly stepped up to take her position. When her actions caused the staff to become uncomfortable, Sister Mary Eunice had Jude undergo severe electro-shock therapy.

Jude Martin spent the next several years at Briarcliff as a patient, constantly doped up on unnecessariy medication and rendered virtually insensate. To escape from the trauma of her life, Sister Jude would often fantasize that she was playing Candyland with some of the other patients, and in one instance, led a song and dance routine to the tune of "The Name Game". Her mental condition continued to worsen however and at times, she begged for death. Death would present herself before in the form of the black-winged angel Shachath, but in each instance Jude rebuked her tender mercies.

Monsignor Howard locked Jude Martin up in solitary confinement and then faked her death. Officially, Sister Jude committed suicide by hanging herself. A new identity was created for her, Betty Drake, and it was Howard's hopes that she would simply become lost in the system.

By the late 1960s, Kit Walker - having been living as a free man for several years, visited Briarcliff and discovered that Jude was still alive. He took it upon himself to get her out and after doing so, brought her back to live with him and his two children. He helped ween her off the medications that she had been fed for the last several years and as time went on, Jude Martin's sanity was restored. She became very close to Kit and a "nanna" to his children.

In 1971, having finally found a sense of peace, Jude Martin was ready to let go. She invited the Angel of Death into her room and assured her that she was at last ready. The Angel bestowed her kiss upon her and Sister Jude Martin died peacefully in bed.

Notes & Trivia



 * Actress Jessica Lange also played the character Constance Langdon in season one of American Horror Story.


 * Gave Lana Winters the nickname Lana Banana.