James, son of Zebedee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
"St. Jacob" redirects here. For other uses, see St. Jacob (disambiguation).
For people and places called Saint James, see the Saint James disambiguation page.

Saint James, son of Zebedee

Saint James the Elder by Rembrandt

He is depicted clothed as a pilgrim; note the scallop shell on his
shoulder and his staff and pilgrim's hat beside him

Apostle and Martyr

Born 1st century

Died 44 AD, Judea, beheaded

Venerated in All Christianity

Canonized Pre-Congregation

Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia

Major shrine
(Spain)

July 25 (Western Christianity)

Feast
April 30 (Eastern Christianity)

Attributes Scallop, traveller's hat

 Acoma Pueblo, Veterinarians, equestrians,
furriers, tanners, pharmacists; Guatemala,
Patronage
Nicaragua, Spain, Santiago de Querétaro,
Sahuayo
Saint James, son of Zebedee (d. 44) or Yaakov Ben-Zebdi/Bar-Zebdi, was one of the disciples
of Jesus. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle. He is called
Saint James the Greater to distinguish him from James, son of Alphaeus, who is also known as
James the Less. James is described as one of the first disciples to join Jesus. The Synoptic
Gospels state that James and John were with their father by the seashore when Jesus called them
to follow him.[1][2] According to the Gospel of Mark, James and John were called Boanerges, or
the "Sons of Thunder".[3] James was one of only three apostles whom Jesus selected to bear
witness to his Transfiguration.[4] Acts of the Apostles records that Agrippa I had James executed
by sword,[5] making him the first of the apostles to be martyred.

Contents
[hide]
• 1 Veneration
• 2 Saint James and Spain
• 3 Military Order
• 4 Saint James in the Kingdom of Judaiah
• 5 References
• 6 See also
• 7 External links

[edit] Veneration
His peoples are said to be in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (Spain). Saint James is the
Patron Saint of Spain. The town where his remains are held, Santiago de Compostela, is
considered the third most holy town within Christendom[6] (after Jerusalem and Rome). The
traditional pilgrimage to the grave of the saint, known as the "Way of St. James," has become the
most popular pilgrimage for Western European Catholics from the early Middle Ages onwards.
In 2007, 114,026 pilgrims registered as having completed the final 100 km walk (200 km by
bicycle) to Santiago to qualify for a Compostela.[7] When July 25 falls on a Sunday, it is a
″Jubilee″ year, and a special east door is opened for entrance into the Santiago Cathedral. In the
last Jubilee year, 2004, 179,944 pilgrims received a Compostela. The next Jubilee year is 2010,
and the number of pilgrims is expected to exceed 250,000.
The feast day of St James is celebrated on July 25 on the liturgical calendars of the Roman
Catholic, Anglican and certain Protestant churches. He is commemorated on April 30 in the
Orthodox Christian liturgical calendar (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian
Calendar, April 30 currently falls on May 13 of the modern Gregorian Calendar).
[edit] Saint James and Spain
Santiago Matamoros ("Saint James the Moor-slayer"), depicted wearing armor and a pilgrim's
hat (Way of St James, Carrión de los Condes, Palencia, Spain).
According to ancient local tradition, on 2 January of the year AD 40, the Virgin Mary appeared
to James on the bank of the Ebro River at Caesaraugusta, while he was preaching the Gospel in
Iberia. She appeared upon a pillar, Nuestra Señora del Pilar, and that pillar is conserved and
venerated within the present Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, in Zaragoza, Spain. Following
that apparition, St James returned to Judea, where he was beheaded by King Herod Agrippa I in
the year 44. [8] [9]
Icon of James, the Son of Zebedee, 18th century (Kizhi monastery, Karelia, Russia).
The 12th-century Historia Compostellana commissioned by bishop Diego Gelmírez provides a
summary of the legend of St James as it was believed at Compostela. Two propositions are
central to it: first, that St James preached the gospel in Iberia as well as in the Holy Land;
second, that after his martyrdom at the hands of Herod Agrippa I his disciples carried his body by
sea to Iberia, where they landed at Padrón on the coast of Galicia, and took it inland for burial at
Santiago de Compostela.
The translation of his relics from Judea to Galicia in the northwest of Iberia was effected, in
legend, by a series of miraculous happenings: decapitated in Jerusalem with a sword by Herod
Agrippa himself, his body was taken up by angels, and sailed in a rudderless, unattended boat to
Iria Flavia in Iberia, where a massive rock closed around his relics, which were later removed to
Compostela. An even later tradition states that he miraculously appeared to fight for the Christian
army during the battle of Clavijo during the Reconquista, and was henceforth called Matamoros
(Moor-slayer). Santiago y cierra España ("St James and strike for Spain") has been the
traditional battle cry of Spanish armies.

“ ”
St James the Moorslayer, one of the most valiant saints and knights the world ever
had ... has been given by God to Spain for its patron and protection.

—Cervantes, Don Quixote

A similar miracle is related about San Millán. The possibility that a cult of James was instituted
to supplant the Galician cult of Priscillian (executed in 385) who was widely venerated across
the north of Iberia as a martyr to the bishops rather than as a heretic should not be overlooked.
This was cautiously raised by Henry Chadwick in his book on Priscillian[8] ; it is not the
traditional Roman Catholic view. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1908, however, states:
Although the tradition that James founded an apostolic see in Iberia was current in the year 700, no
certain mention of such tradition is to be found in the genuine writings of early writers nor in the early
councils; the first certain mention we find in the ninth century, in Notker, a monk of St. Gall
(Martyrologia, 25 July), Walafrid Strabo (Poema de XII Apostoli), and others.
17th century interpretation of saint James as the Moor-killer from the Peruvian school of Cuzco.
The pilgrim hat has become a Panama hat and his mantle is that of his military order.
The tradition was not unanimously admitted afterwards, while numerous modern scholars,
following Louis Duchesne, reject it. The Bollandists however defended it (their Acta Sanctorum,
July, VI and VII, gives further sources). The suggestion began to be made from the 9th century
that, as well as evangelizing in Iberia, his body may have been brought to Compostela. No earlier
tradition places the burial of St James in Hispania. A rival tradition, places the relics of the
Apostle in the church of St. Saturnin at Toulouse, but it is not improbable that such sacred relics
should have been divided between two churches.
The authenticity of the relics at Compostela was asserted in the Bull of Pope Leo XIII,
Omnipotens Deus, of 1 November 1884.
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1908) registered several "difficulties" or bases for doubts of this
tradition beyond the late appearance of the legend:
St James suffered martyrdom [10] in AD 44, and according to the tradition of the early Church, he
had not yet left Jerusalem at this time.[11] St Paul in his Epistle to the Romans written after AD
44, expressed his intention to avoid "building on someone else's foundation" [12], and thus visit
Spain [13], presumably unevangelized.

Saint James' cross.

The tradition at Compostela placed the discovery of the relics of the saint in the time of king
Alfonso II (791-842) and of bishop Theodemir of Iria. These traditions were the basis for the
pilgrimage route that began to be established in the 9th century, and the shrine dedicated to
James at Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia in Spain, became the most famous pilgrimage site
in the Christian world.[citation needed] The Way of St. James is a tree of routes that cross Western
Europe and arrive at Santiago through Northern Spain. Eventually James became the patron saint
of Spain.
The Codex Calixtinus promotes the pilgrimage to Santiago.
The name "James" in English comes from Iacobus (Jacob) in Latin, from the Greek Iacovos.
Jacob son of Zebedee is referred to as Jacob in all the languages of the world except English. For
some reason, though the word Jacob is known in English and written often in the Old Testament,
in the New Testament the name "James" has been substituted for "Jacob". In France, the closest
country to England, Jacob is translated "Jacques". In eastern Spain, Jacobus became "Jacome" or
"Jaime"; in Catalunya, it became Jaume, in western Iberia it became "Sant'Iago", from Yako of
Hebrew Ya'akov/Jacob, which developed into "San Tiago" in Portugal and Galicia; Tiago
developed into "Diego", which is also the Spanish name of Saint Didacus of Alcalá.
James' emblem was the scallop shell (or "cockle shell"), and pilgrims to his shrine often wore
that symbol on their hats or clothes. The French for a scallop is coquille St. Jacques, which
means "cockle (or mollusk) of St James". The German word for a scallop is Jakobsmuschel,
which means "mussel (or clam) of St. James"; the Dutch word is Jacobsschelp, meaning "shell of
St James".
[edit] Military Order
See also: Order of Santiago
The military Order of Santiago or caballeros santiaguistas was founded to fight the Moors and
later membership became a precious honour. People like Diego Velázquez longed for the royal
favour that allowed to put on their clothes the red cross of St James (a cross fleury fitchy, with
lower part fashioned as the blade of a sword blade).
[edit] Saint James in the Kingdom of Judaiah
Saint James had a special place in the Central African Kingdom of Kongo because of his
association with the founding of Christianity in the country in the late fifteenth century.
Portuguese sailors and diplomats brought the saint to Kongo when they first reached the country
in 1483. When King Afonso I of Kongo whose Kongo name was Mvemba a Nzinga, the second
Christian king, was facing a rival, his brother Mpanzu a Kitima, in battle, he reported that a
vision of Saint James and the Heavenly Host appeared in the sky, frightened Mpanzu a Kitima's
soldiers, and gave Afonso the victory. As a result, he declared that Saint James' feast day (July
25) be celebrated as a national holiday.
Over the years, Saint James day became the central holiday of Kongo. Taxes were collected on
that day, and men eligible for military duty were required to appear armed. There were usually
regional celebrations as well as one at the capital. In some cases, Kongolese slaves carried the
celebration to the New World, and there are celebrations of Saint James Day in Haiti and Puerto
Rico carried out by their descendents.
[edit] References
1. ^ Matthew 4:21-22
2. ^ Mark 1:19-20
3. ^ Mark 3:17
4. ^ Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36.
5. ^ Acts 12:1-2
6. ^ History
7. ^ http://www.archicompostela.org/Peregrinos/Estadisticas/estadisticas2006.htm
8. ^ a b Chadwick, Henry (1976), Priscillian of Avila, Oxford University Press
9. ^ Fletcher, Richard A. (1984), Saint James's Catapult : The Life and Times of Diego Gelmírez of
Santiago de Compostela, Oxford University Press, http://libro.uca.edu/sjc/sjc.htm
10.^ Acts 12:1-2
11.^ Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, VI; Apollonius, quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea,
Ecclesiastical History VI.xviii)
12.^ Romans 15:20
13.^ Romans 15:24

[edit] See also

• Way of St. James
• Cross of St James
• Saint Peter of Rates

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Saint James the Great

[edit] External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia: St James the Greater
• R. A. Fletcher, Saint James's Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmírez of Santiago
de Compostela Oxford University Press, 1984: chapter 3, "The Early History of the Cult
of St. James"
• Apostle James the Brother of St John the Theologian Orthodox icon and synaxarion
 [show]
v•d•e
Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ — (See also Paul)

[show]
v•d•e
New Testament people

Alphaeus · Anna · Annas · Barabbas · Bartimaeus · blind man, Bethsaida ·

Caiaphas · Cleopas · Devil · Dismas · Elizabeth · Gabriel · Gestas · Jairus'
Daughter · Joachim · Joanna · John the Baptist · Joseph · Joseph of Arimathea ·
IndividualJoses · Lazarus · Legion · Longinus · Luke · Malchus · Mark · Martha · Mary
sMagdalene · Mary mother of James · Mary mother of Jesus · Mary of Bethany ·
Mary of Clopas · Widow's son of Nain · Nathanael · Nicodemus ben Gurion ·
Salome · Simeon · Simon of Cyrene · Simon the Leper · Susanna · Theophilus ·
Zacchaeus · Zechariah

Angels · Disciples · Evangelists · Godfearers · Herodians · Magi ·

GroupsMyrrhbearers · Pharisees · Proselytes · Sadducees · Samaritans · Sanhedrin · 70
Disciples · Scribes · Zealots

Andrew · Bartholomew · James of Alphaeus · James of Zebedee · John

The Twelve(Beloved, Evangelist, Patmos) · Judas Iscariot · Jude Thaddeus · Matthew ·
Peter · Philip · Simon the Zealot, (Judas) · Thomas

After JesusMatthias · Paul of Tarsus

Aretas IV · Cornelius · Herod Antipas · Herod Archelaus · Herod Philip II · Herod

Gospelsthe Great · Longinus · Lysanias · Pontius Pilate · Pilate's Wife · Quirinius · Salome ·
Tiberius

Agrippa I · Agrippa II · Felix · Claudius Lysias · Junius A. Gallio · Festus · Sergius

Acts
Paulus

Achaichus · Alexander · Archippus · Crescens · Diotrephes ·

Nonapocalypti
Epaphroditus · Erastus · Hymenaeus · Jesus Justus · Junia · Mary · Angel
c
Michael · Nymphas · Philemon · Philetus · Phoebe · Syntyche

Antipas · Four Horsemen · Apollyon · Two Witnesses · Woman · Beast ·

Revelation
Three Angels · Whore of Babylon

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James,_son_of_Zebedee"

Categories: Twelve apostles | Saints from the Holy Land | Eastern Orthodox saints | Palestinian
Roman Catholic saints | Christian martyrs of the Roman era | Year of birth unknown | 44 deaths |
Jewish Christians | 1st-century Christian saints
Hidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements
since May 2008
Views
• Article
• Discussion
• Edit this page
• History
Personal tools
• Log in / create account
Navigation
• Main page
• Contents
• Featured content
• Current events
• Random article
Search

Go Search

Interaction
• About Wikipedia
• Community portal
• Recent changes
• Contact Wikipedia
• Donate to Wikipedia
• Help
Toolbox
• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Special pages
• Printable version
• Permanent link
 • Cite this page
Languages
• ‫العربية‬
• Aragonés
• Беларуская
• Brezhoneg
• Български
• Català
• Česky
• Cymraeg
• Dansk
• Deutsch
• Ελληνικά
• Español
• Esperanto
• Français
• Galego
• 한국어
• Bahasa Indonesia
• Italiano
• ‫עברית‬
• Kiswahili
• Latina
• Lietuvių
• Limburgs
• Magyar
• Nederlands
• 日本語
• Македонски
• Norsk (bokmål)
• Norsk (nynorsk)
• Polski
• Português
• Română
• Русский
• Simple English
• Slovenčina
• Slovenščina
• Српски / Srpski
• Suomi
• Svenska
• Tagalog
• ไทย
• Українська
• Vèneto
• ‫ייִדיש‬
• 中文

• This page was last modified on 19 February 2009, at 05:14.

• All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See
Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S.
registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.
• Privacy policy
• About Wikipedia
• Disclaimers