SAINT JAMES DAY - CELEBRATING A MAN, A LEGEND, AND A WAY

.

.

From Wikipedia

.

James, son of Zebedee (died 44 AD) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle. He is also called James the Greater to distinguish him from James, son of Alphaeus, who is also known as James the Lesser.

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.  James was one of only three apostles whom Jesus selected to bear witness to his Transfiguration. The Acts of the Apostles records that Agrippa I had James executed by sword. He is the only apostle whose martyrdom is recorded in the New Testament. He is, thus, traditionally believed to be the first of the 12 apostles martyred for his faith.  Nixon suggests that this may have been caused by James' fiery temper, for which he and his brother earned the nickname Boanerges or "Sons of Thunder".  F. F. Bruce contrasts this story to that of the Liberation of Peter, and notes that "James should die while Peter should escape" is a "mystery of divine providence."

.

Saint James is the Patron Saint of Spain and according to legend, his remains are held in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (Spain). The traditional pilgrimage to the grave of the saint, known as the "Way of St. James", has been the most popular pilgrimage for Western European Catholics from the early Middle Ages onwards.

.

  .

.

.

.

.

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.
.

.

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, and was henceforth called Matamoros (Moorslayer).
 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
.

.

The feast day of St James is celebrated on 25 July on the liturgical calendars of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and certain Protestant churches. He is commemorated on 29 April in the Orthodox Christian liturgical calendar (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, 30 April currently falls on 13 May of the modern Gregorian Calendar).
.

.
Here's a musical video poem of sorts, about

the country of "the way," and the pilgrims that

journey on that road.

.

 .

.
Prayer For Courage
.
O glorious Apostle, Saint James,
who by reason of thy fervent and generous heart was chosen by Jesus
to be witness of His glory on Mount Tabor, and of His agony in Gethsemane;
thou, whose very name is a symbol of warfare and victory:
obtain for us strength and consolation in the unending warfare of this life,
that, having constantly and generously followed Jesus,
we may be victors in the strife and deserve to receive the victor's crown in heaven.
Amen.
.

.
Here's another YouTube video, this one

a trailer for the 2010 movie "THE WAY," with Martin Sheen. 

 It's a story about the death of a man's son on The Way of Saint James,
 and the father's journey down the same pathway
 in a search for answers.

.

.

.
On Self-Centeredness
.
O Gentle Jesus, Saint James was one of Your first apostles, but he started out as an impulsive, self-centered man. He dared to ask You for a place of honor in Your kingdom, and he wanted You to destroy the villages that had rejected You, but eventually he developed a true understanding of holiness.
.

I ask him to pray that my humility grows stronger than my pride, that I submit my will to Your will, and that when I speak, my words reveal Your gentleness and love. Restrain me when I want to rush ahead, and give me a broader perspective when I'm seeing things through a narrow, limited view.
.Saint James, pray for me.
Amen.

.

(Prayers from www.viarosa.com)

.

. 

 .

.