Saint James the Greater

Our glorious Apostle then took part in all the actions of his master's life, and even in those he wished to perform only in the presence of a small number of people. Thus, when he wished to restore life to the daughter of Jairus, one of the leaders of the synagogue, he took with him Peter, James, and John, and left the other disciples outside; and in the choice he made of twelve of them to be his Apostles, he placed S aint James third and calle saint Jacques le troisième Elder brother of Saint John, apostle. d him with his brother, by a great privilege, Boanerges, that is to say, Sons of Thunder; so that he is also one of the three to whom he gave new names to mark their preeminence and their particular merit. Moreover, he named them Sons of Thunder, that is to say, according to the manner of speaking of the Holy Scriptures, true thunders, because Saint James was to be a thunder by the strength, brilliance, and promptness of his preaching, and Saint John, by the vigor and light of his Gospel and his Apocalypse, which he composed only in the midst of thunderbolts and lightning. Furthermore, when the Son of God wished to perform the miracle of the Transfiguration, he chose Saint James as one of the three witnesses of this prodigy; and having led him, with Saint Peter and Saint John, onto Mount Tabor, he was transfigured in his presence. He thus saw the face of his Master shining like the sun and his clothes white as snow, and he heard the voice of the eternal Father, who said: 'This is my beloved Son: listen to him.' He also had the consolation of seeing Moses and Elijah, those two great Prophets of the ancient law, who were speaking with the Savior about the sufferings he was to endure in Jerusalem. This wonder occurred at the end of September in the year 33 of salvation.

Shortly thereafter, our Saint manifested his faith and zeal for the glory of his Master, for, seeing that the inhabitants of a city in the province of Samaria had refused him their gates, he asked Him for permission, with John, his brother, to call down fire from heaven upon it; and, indeed, they were no less guilty than those two companies of soldiers whose captains spoke insolently to the prophet Elijah, and upon whom he called down a celestial fire that reduced them to ashes. But Our Lord checked this impetuosity and, without accusing them of cruelty or injustice, warned them that such was no longer the season, because His law was not a law of rigor and severity, but a law of grace, indulgence, and mercy. In the thirty-fourth year, some time before His Passion, as He was going to Jerusalem to consummate, by His death, the work of our Redemption, Salome, mother of our blessed Apostles, threw herself at His feet and begged Him on behalf of her children, at their instigation, that He might seat one at His right hand and the other at His left in His kingdom. There was undoubtedly ambition in this request, and the two brothers showed that they did not yet possess the true spirit of the Gospel, which leads one to love contempt and abjection and to flee from glory, preeminence, and all that the world holds as brilliant and magnificent. But, at the same time, they gave great testimony of their courage and of the disposition they held to suffer all things for the honor of their Master; for, as He said to them: 'You do not know what you are asking; can you drink the chalice that is prepared for me?' they answered without hesitation: 'Yes, Lord, we can,' that is to say, 'we are quite ready to drink it, whenever it shall please You.' Our Lord did not rebuke them; but, on the contrary, He told them that they would indeed drink it; however, that it was not in His disposition to seat them one at His right hand and the other at His left, because He had to follow in this the eternal order of His Father's predestination.

Saint James was also one of the four Apostles who asked Our Lord, in the very week of His Passion, when those great predictions of the ruin of the city of Jerusalem, of His second coming, and of the end of the ages would be fulfilled; so that it is in part to him that we owe the important insights that the Savior gave us regarding those terrible days. Finally, when, after the first Supper, Jesus Christ withdrew into the garden of Gethsemane to pray and prepare for the bloody sacrifice He was to offer on Calvary, He left the other Apostles outside and took with Him only Saint Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. We do not wish to excuse here the cowardice they committed on this occasion and throughout the time of the Passion of their divine Master. They fell asleep while He prayed with His face to the ground and sweated blood and water from the violence of His agony. They fled when He was bound and taken prisoner to be the victim of the envy and fury of the Jews. They hid when He was dragged to the tribunals and the sentence of death was pronounced against Him. But God only permitted this pusillanimity in those who were to be the lights of the world and the pillars of His Church to make the power of His grace and the strength of the blood of His Son appear with greater brilliance, since those who fled at that time out of fear of a troop of soldiers later resisted magistrates, kings, and emperors, and endured torture and death with invincible constancy. It would be useless to say that Saint James was present, after the Resurrection, at all the apparitions of the Savior, at His glorious Ascension, at the descent of the Holy Spirit, and that he received the fullness thereof by which his mind was enlightened with the highest truths of Christianity and his heart set ablaze with such great love for God that he burned continually with the desire to make Him known throughout the world and to shed his blood for the glory of his divine Master.

What must be sought now is what he did on earth to fulfill the duties of his apostolate, until the time when he was beheaded by the command of Herod, surnamed Agrippa, that is to say, in the space of Hérode, surnommé Agrippa King of Judea who ordered the execution of Saint James. nine or ten years. The tradition of the Churches of Spain holds that after the death of Saint Stephen, he preached the faith for some time in Judea, Samaria, Syria, and the neighboring provinces; just as Saint Peter and the other Apostles did, although at that time they spoke only to the Jews, and that afterwards, by divine permission, he crossed the entire Mediterranean Sea and came to Spain, where he announced the coming of the Messiah. God permitted, however, through a holy conduct of His providence, that he made few conversions there and that the seed of faith he cast into hearts bore no fruit at that time, but only after his death, through the means of his Disciples. This tradition is reported and defended by so many ancient and modern authors, not only from the kingdoms of Spain but also from other countries, that one may rely upon it securely, especially since the Roman Church has inserted it into the lessons recited at Matins on the feast of our Apostle; which was undoubtedly done only after a very serious examination. This is not the place to answer the objections made to destroy it, since we are not writing a critique or a controversy, but a holy history; we will only say that it has nothing contrary to what the Acts of the Apostles testify regarding the martyrdom of Saint James in Jerusalem before the dispersion of these holy preachers of the Gospel; since seven years had elapsed from the martyrdom of Saint Stephen until this dispersion, Saint James had time in this interval to come to Spain, to preach the Gospel there, and to return to Judea; and besides, if the door of faith was not yet open to the Gentiles, he could have, in Spain itself, preached only to the Jews, since that nation was already spread throughout the principal parts of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, the preaching of Saint James in Galicia does not prevent Saint Peter and Saint Paul from being called the founders of the Churches of Spain, as Saint Gregory VII speaks in his 64th epistle, since Saint James, having converted only a few people there, left room for Saint Paul to work there himself, and for Saint Peter to send the seven missionaries mentioned in the martyrology of May 15th; moreover, this kingdom having such a great extent and being difficult to traverse, it may well be that Saint Paul and the missionaries sent by Saint Peter preached there in provinces where Saint James had not preached.

One of the memorable things that happened to him, according to another tradition of that country, was the apparition of the Blessed Virgin: although still living on earth, she showed herself to him to console him and encourage him to continue the great work of preaching the Gospel. The story is reported by almost all authors, especially by Diego Murillo, of the Order of Saint Francis, in a special book on this subject, and by Juan Tamayo Salazar, in his Notes on his Martyrology. This great Apostle was in that part of Spain which was called Celtiberia, in the city of Zara goza, on the river ville de Saragosse Birthplace and episcopal see of Valerius. Ebro. As he was praying one night outside the city, on the bank of the water, with his disciples, he heard the angels saying alternately: Ave, Maria, gratia plena; and, at the same time, he perceived, in the midst of this troop of celestial spirits, their glorious icon, which they had brought, mounted on a pillar of white marble; she spoke to him with much love and kindness, and ordered him to build an oratory in that place in her name, assuring him that this part of Spain would be very devoted to her until the end of time, and that she herself would favor it with her special protection. Saint James obeyed this order and had a temple built in honor of the Mother of God, where a great number of miracles have occurred in the following centuries. It is this famous church that is called Our Lady of the Pillar, where the pillar on which Our Lady appe Notre-Dame del Pilar Famous church in Zaragoza built on the site of the Marian apparition. ared is still shown today, with an image of this glorious Virgin above it, before which there are nearly a hundred silver lamps that burn continually.

When our Apostle had been in Spain for some time, he returned to Jerusalem for the common affairs of the Church; this was perhaps due to the difficulties that had arisen regarding the conversion of the Gentiles, when the Apostles assembled in council to decide that these new converts were in no way bound to the observance of the law of Moses, and that it was sufficient for them to abstain from blood and from things strangled, as well as from meats sacrificed to idols. Saint Luke, in his Acts, says only that Herod put him to death by the sword, that is to say, beheaded him; but ecclesiastical history has also noted other particulars of his martyrdom. This great Apostle was working in Judea for the establishment of the faith and the Christian religion, with the same zeal he had shown in Spain and in the other places he had traveled. The Jews, furious against him, solicited Hermogenes and Philetus, two notorious m agicians, Hermogène Magician converted by Saint James. to oppose Philète Disciple of the magician Hermogenes, converted by James. his doctrine, and, if they could not confound him by the force of their reasoning, to cause him to perish by their spells. Philetus was the first who dared to attack the holy Apostle; but, seeing that he delivered the possessed, that he enlightened the blind, that he healed the lepers, and even that he raised the dead, and being unable to admire enough the solidity of his doctrine, confirmed by evident passages of the Holy Scriptures, he converted and believed in Jesus Christ. Having returned to Hermogenes, whom he had previously recognized as his master, he tried to persuade him to embrace the Christian religion like him, outside of which, he told him, he could hope for no salvation; but this magician, far from yielding to his remonstrances, bound him so tightly with his enchantments that he rendered him immobile. Philetus had Saint James notified, who sent him his handkerchief, by the virtue of which he was set at liberty. Hermogenes, irritated by this deliverance, invoked the demons against the Saint and his neophyte, and sent them toward them to chain them both and bring them to him. But, by the prayer of the Saint, which was more powerful than all his imprecations, the demons chained him himself and brought him feet and hands bound before the Apostle. This was only to open his eyes to the truth and convert him. Indeed, recognizing thereby the impotence of the evil spirits and the empire that Jesus Christ and his servants have over them, especially when he had been unbound by Philetus, he prostrated himself at the feet of Saint James and asked him for baptism, which was granted to him after he had thrown a part of his books of magic into the fire and the other part into the sea, and after he had worked to determine those he had seduced by his evil artifices. We know that Saint Paul, in his second epistle to Timothy, chap. 1, complains that Phygellus (some authors read Philetus) and Hermogenes turned their backs on him. But, as Baronius says very well in the year 44 of his Annals, perhaps after having been converted by Saint James, they subsequently perverted themselves and became authors of heresy, just as Simon the Magician, who had been baptized by Saint Peter.

However, the first artifice of the Jews against our holy Apostle having succeeded so poorly for them, they conspired with Lysias and Theocritus, captains of the Roman garrison, in exchange for a sum of money they gave them: while Saint James would preach the name of Jesus Christ, and they, for their part, would incite a sedition among the people, the captains were to seize his person to put him on trial. Indeed, one day when this holy Apostle was effectively proving, through the testimonies of the Holy Scriptures, that Jesus Christ was the true Messiah promised by the Law, announced by the Prophets, and awaited by their fathers, a tumult having been stirred up in the assembly, Josia s, one Josias King of Judah during whose reign Jeremiah began to prophesy. of the scribes of the Pharisees, threw himself upon him and put a rope around his neck; at the same time, the soldiers seized him and led him to Herod Agrippa, grandson of the first Herod, who had put the innocents to death, and nephew of the second, who had put Saint John to death. His trial was soon dispatched; this wicked prince, who wished to attract the esteem of the Jews at the expense of the lives of good people, condemned him to be beheaded. As they were leading him to his execution, he healed a paralytic who presented himself before him and implored his help; this made such an impression on the mind of Josias, who had been the first to seize him, that he converted, and, throwing himself at his feet, begged him insistently to forgive him for his death and to receive him into the number of his Master's disciples. The Apostle asked him if he truly believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of the living God: "I believe it," said Josias, "that is my faith, and I wish to die in this confession." Upon this word, he himself was seized and bound, to receive the same punishment as the holy Apostle: the order for this was obtained from Agrippa. When they were at the place of execution, they asked for a glass of water, and it was brought to them: Saint James baptized the Pharisee and gave him the kiss of peace with his blessing, making the sign of the cross on his forehead. Thus, both lost their lives for the confession of the name of the Savior, around the feast of Easter in the year 44. Some authors believe it was March 25; but the Roman Breviary says it was April 1. It must have been before Easter. Some of these circumstances are drawn from Clement of Alexandria, and reported by Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History, Book II, Chapter VIII. The others are drawn from the History of the Passion of the Apostles, to which we believe, following Baronius, one may defer on this point, especially because of the connection it has with what is reported by Eusebius.

According to Saint Epiphanius, as reported by Baronius in his Notes on the Martyrology, Saint James is one of the Apostles who remained a virgin; which should make us regard him with particular respect, since he possesses three excellent aureoles: one as an Apostle and Doctor of the Church by eminence; another as a Martyr and the first martyr among the Apostles; and the third as a Virgin.

The Spanish love to represent Saint James the Greater mounted on a horse and charging at the head of one of their squadrons against the armies of the Moors; they say that in several encounters the Saint was seen rendering this good service to the old Christians. Because of this, they have nicknamed him the Moor-slayer, and they celebrate a special feast of his apparition. Saint James the Greater has as an attribute, like Saint Paul, the sword with which he was beheaded. One also encounters him, during the Middle Ages, in pilgrim's attire, with the staff, the scrip, and the cape adorned with shells; sometimes, as at the Cathedral of Chartres, without clothing and covered in shells. When he is gathered with the other Apostles holding banners with the different articles of the Creed, one reads on the banner of Saint James the Greater: *Qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine*.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS.]

The body of the blessed Apostle was buried by the Christians in Jerusalem, where it remained until the disciples, whom he had brought from Spain, having received orders from the Apostles to return there to work for the ruin of idolatry, took it with them; and, having arrived in Galicia, at a city called Iria Flavia, and, in Spanish, El Padron, they deposited it in a marble sepulcher, where it long received the respects of the new faithful.

Since then, following persecutions, the floods of the Barbarians, and the overflowing of heresies in Spain, this treasure became completely unknown; that is why Venantius Fortunatus, who lived in the 6th century, wrote that it had remained in Jerusalem. But in the time of Pope Leo III, that is to say at the beginning of the 9th century, it was happily found at Iria and transferred to the ci ty of Compostela, wh ville de Compostelle A major pilgrimage site visited by the saint. ich is only two or three leagues away. Pope Leo, at the request of Alf onso the Chaste, K Alphonse le Chaste King of Galicia who facilitated the transfer of the episcopal see to Compostela. ing of Galicia, also changed the bishopric of Iria and moved it to Compostela; and, since that time, the countless miracles performed by these precious remains made the place so famous that, after the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Rome, there is none in the world so renowned, to which Christian princes have contributed extremely, by establishing hospitals on all sides to lodge and feed the pilgrims of Saint James.

One cannot express the graces that the Spaniards have received from the protection of this great Apostle. Tamayo reports to us fifteen different apparitions with which he favored the kings and princes of Spain, and which have always been followed by some particular assistance.

Numerous relics of the holy Apostle were brought to France: the greater part to Toulouse, in the church o Toulouse Episcopal see of Erembert. f Saint-Sernin. One sees there: 1° a glass in which was enclosed a bone from the body of the foot, a tooth, and some fragments of bone in a yellow silk cloth; 2° a part of the jaw in two pieces, with teeth and some fragments of bone; 3° two parts of the skull, one large and one small.

A bone from the arm of Saint James the Greater existed in the abbey church of Saint-Loup (Aube), in the diocese of Troyes. It was enclosed in a silver arm. This precious relic had been brought back from Constantinople at the same time as the body of Saint Helena, virgin, around the year 1289. It disappeared, along with its rich reliquary, during the Revolution of 1793.

The reliquary of the cathedral of Nevers contains a bone of Saint James the Greater, which was saved from the profanation of the impious in 1793. Another bone from the arm of the same Apostle, about five centimeters long, is deposited in the Christ-aux-Reliques of the town of Nolay, in the canton of Pougues (Nièvre).

There are bones of the skull in Arras, in the cathedral church; in Paris, in the church of the Grands-Jacobins; a portion of the jaw in Amiens; a bone of the arm in Troyes, in Champagne. Finally, there are still in France a large number of churches dedicated under the name of this great Apostle, and where he is invoked and served with much devotion, that one must not doubt that he looks upon them with a favorable eye. One saw rise in the city of Paris alone four churches in his honor; namely: the parish church of Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie; that of Saint-Jacques du Haut Pas, which, for being dedicated under the names of Saint James the Less and Saint Philip, does not fail to recognize the great Saint James as patron; the hospital of Saint-Jacques for Pilgrims, and the great convent of the religious of Saint Dominic, which were called Jacobins for this reason throughout France. In the church of the Armenians, in Jerusalem, is shown the place where Herod Agrippa I had Saint James the Greater beheaded.

Acta Sanctorum, Local notes due to the obligation of the Abbé Roger, vicar general of Toulouse. — Cf. Les Saints Lieux, by Mgr Mielin; l'Hagiologie Nivernaise, by Mgr Crounier; Dom Collier; Godes-