Saint James the Greater
Apostle
- Feast Day
- July 25
- Life
- d. 44
- Born
- Bethsaida, Galilee
Saint James the Greater (so called to distinguish him from James, son of Alphaeus) was the elder son of Zebedee and Salome and the brother of Saint John the Evangelist. A Galilean fisherman of Bethsaida and Capernaum, he was called by Jesus together with John as they were mending their nets with their father (Matthew 4:21-22, Mark 1:19-20). With Peter and John he formed the inner group of three apostles privileged to witness the raising of Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:37), the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor (Matthew 17:1-8), and the agony in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37). The Lord gave the brothers the name Boanerges, sons of thunder (Mark 3:17), perhaps for their fiery zeal.
James and John, with their mother, asked for places at Christ's right and left in his kingdom and received the prophecy that they would drink the cup that he was to drink (Matthew 20:20-23, Mark 10:35-40). The Acts of the Apostles records the fulfillment in James: Now about that time Herod the king laid hands upon some of the church to afflict them. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword (Acts 12:1-2). The killing took place at Jerusalem about A.D. 44 under King Herod Agrippa I, making James the first of the Twelve to be martyred and the only New Testament apostolic martyrdom directly recorded in the canonical Scriptures.
The tradition that James preached in Spain before returning to Jerusalem for his martyrdom and that his relics were translated to Compostela in Galicia is attested in the seventh-century De ortu et obitu Patrum, in liturgical sources of Visigothic Spain, and in the rediscovery of his tomb at Compostela about 813 under Bishop Theodemir of Iria Flavia. The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was built over his shrine, and the pilgrim road, the Camino de Santiago, became one of the three great Catholic pilgrimages of the Middle Ages, alongside Rome and Jerusalem; it has been revived enormously since 1982 when Saint John Paul II made his pilgrimage there. The cathedral remains a Holy Year basilica.
The Feast of Saint James, observed in red as for a martyr, honors the first apostle to drink the chalice of the Lord. Pope Benedict XVI, in his General Audience of June 21, 2006, called James a vivid example of generous adherence to Christ. The Camino de Santiago has become in our own time a privileged path of evangelization for thousands of Catholic pilgrims annually, recovering the medieval European unity of faith.
Patronages
Spain · pilgrims · Santiago de Compostela · Chile · Guatemala · Nicaragua · veterinarians · equestrians · laborers
Catholic Churches Named After Saint James the Greater
20 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint James the Greater's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:
- St. James the Greater Parish — Libon, ALBAY
- St. James the Greater Cathedral — Libmanan, CAMARINES SUR
- St. James the Greater Parish — Bulusan, SORSOGON
- St. James the Greater Parish — Tanjay City, NEGROS ORIENTAL
- St. James the Greater Parish — Talisay City, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL
- St. James the Greater Parish — Ibaan, BATANGAS
- St. James the Greater Parish — Santiago, ILOCOS SUR
- St. James the Greater Parish — Pasuquin, ILOCOS NORTE
- St. James the Greater Parish — SAMAR
- St. James the Greater Parish — Allen, NORTHERN SAMAR
- St. James the Greater Church (St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish) — Baileyville, ME
- St. James the Greater — Blind River, ON
- Saint James the Greater Church — Cincinnati, OH
- St. James the Greater — Oklahoma City, OK
- Mater Dei Parish - St. James the Greater — Island Pond, VT
- St. James the Greater — Tupelo, MS
- St. James the Greater — Eau Claire, WI
- All Souls Parish-St. James the Greater — Sauk Village, IL
- Saint James The Greater — Haubstadt, IN
- Saint James the Greater Parish Church — Ibaan
Sources