During the week the Church celebrated the feast of St James the first Martyr. The feast celebrates St James, the son of Zebedee, one of the twelve apostles.
This James was one of the first disciples to join Jesus in Capernaum. The Synoptic Gospels describe James and John as fishermen, with their father, when Jesus called them to follow him [Matt. 4:21-22; Mk. 1:19-20]. He was one of the three whom Jesus chose as witnesses to his Transfiguration. The Acts of the apostles tells how Agrippa had James executed by sword [Ac 12:1-2]. We also hear of James’ fiery temper, for which he and his brother earned the nickname “Boanerges” or “Sons of Thunder” [Mark 3:17].
The mortal remains of St James are reputed to be in the shrine of Compostela in Galicia (Spain) and he is the patron saint of Spain. Throughout the medieval centuries, Santiago de Compostela was regarded the third greatest shrine within Roman Catholicism (after Jerusalem and Rome), and the traditional pilgrimage to his tomb, known as the “Camino de Santiago,” has been popular with Europeans from the early Middle Ages onwards. In light of the many thousands who walk the Camino each year, one might even regard St James as patron of hospitality and of environmentally-friendly tourism!
Fr Mark Franklin
