Today is the Feast of Saint James the Greater

Sanctify Thy people, O Lord, and keep them: so that, strengthened by the help of James Thy Apostle, They may become pleasing to Thee in the conduct of Their lives and may serve thee without fear.

Oremus /Let us pray. Be Thou, O Lord, the Sanctifier, and the Guardian of Thy people, so that, being defended by the protection of Thine apostle James, they may both please Thee by their conduct and serve Thee with mind all untroubled. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, forever and ever.Amen.


Let us now read the lines consecrated by the Church to his honour: James, the son of Zebedee, and own brother of John the Apostle, was a Galilaean. He was one of the first to be called to the Apostolate together with his brother, and, leaving his father and his nets, he followed the Lord. Jesus called them both Boanerges, that is to say, sons of Thunder. He was one of the three Apostles whom our Saviour loved the most, and whom He chose as witnesses of His Transfiguration, and of the miracle by which He raised to life the daughter of the ruler of the Synagogue, and whom He wished to be present when he retired to the Mount of Olives, to pray to his Father, before being taken prisoner by the Jews.

After the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven, James preached His Divinity in Judea and Samaria, and led many to the Christian faith. Soon, however, he set out for Spain, and there made some converts to Christianity; among these were the seven men, who were afterwards consecrated bishops by St. Peter, and were the first sent by him into Spain. James returned to Jerusalem, and, among others, instructed Hermogenes, the magician, in the truths of faith. Herod Agrippa, who had been raised to the throne under the Emperor Claudius, wished to curry favour with the Jews, he, therefore, condemned the Apostle to death for openly proclaiming Jesus Christ to be God. When the man who had brought him to the tribunal saw the courage with which he went to martyrdom he declared that he, too, was a Christian.

As they were being hurried to execution, he implored James' forgiveness. The Apostle kissed him, saying: "Peace be with you." Thus both of them were James having a little before cured a paralytic. His body was afterwards translated to Compostella, where it is honoured with the highest veneration; pilgrims flock thither from every part of the world, to satisfy their devotion or pay their vows. The memory of his natalis is celebrated by the Church to-day, which is the day of his translation. But it was near the feast of the Pasch that, first of all the Apostles, he shed his blood, at Jerusalem, as a witness to Jesus Christ.