St. James

St. James (born, Galilee, Palestine—died 44 ce, Jerusalem; Roman Catholic feast day July 25; Eastern Orthodox feast day April 30) was one of the Twelve Apostles, distinguished as being in Jesus’ innermost circle and being the only apostle whose martyrdom is recorded in the New Testament (Acts 12:2). In Roman Catholicism, St. James is the patron saint of pilgrims, soldiers, veterinarians, pharmacists, and people with arthritis. He is also the patron saint of Spain, Galicia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Seattle.

James and his younger brother, St. John the Apostle, are designated Boanerges (translated in Mark 3:17 as “Sons of Thunder”), perhaps referring to their characteristic fiery zeal (Mark 9:38 and Luke 9:54), though the etymology and meaning are uncertain. With Saints Peter and Andrew, James and John were the first four disciples whom Jesus called (Mark 1:16–19) and whose question (“Tell us, when will [the destruction of the Temple] be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”) sparks Jesus’ eschatological (pertaining to the end-time) discourse in Mark 13.

As a member of the inner circle, James witnessed the raising of Jairus’s daughter from the dead (Mark 5:37 and Luke 8:51), the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2), and Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33 and Matthew 26:37). James and John asked Jesus to let them sit, one at his right and one at his left, in his future glory (Mark 10:35–40), a favor that Jesus said was not his to grant. James was beheaded by order of King Herod Agrippa I of Judaea.

According to tradition, James traveled to Spain to preach the gospel before returning to Judaea and becoming a martyr. This tradition also claims that his body was taken by boat to Galicia, a region in northwestern Spain, and buried there. In the early 9th century his tomb was purportedly discovered in what is now Santiago de Compostela, and a church was built on the site of his tomb. In the Middle Ages his relics attracted Christian pilgrims from all over Europe.

A common representation of St. James that emerged during the Crusades (1095–1571)—when Spain was a stronghold of Moorish rule—was that of Santiago Matamoros (Spanish: St. James the Moor-Slayer). He was depicted on horseback and brandishing a sword—iconography that served to inspire Christian knights in battle against the Muslim Moors. (Similar depictions of Santiago Matamoros were used during the Spanish conquest of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries.) St. James has also been depicted as a pilgrim.

In 1884 Pope Leo XIII issued a papal bull proclaiming that the relics at Santiago de Compostela were indeed those of St. James. After centuries of decline, beginning in the 14th–16th centuries with the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, the pilgrimage tradition to Santiago de Compostela was revitalized toward the end of the 20th century and became known as the Camino de Santiago (Spanish: Way of St. James). In the 21st century the tradition has continued to grow, and the shrine of St. James has attracted thousands of pilgrims annually from all over the world.