Who was Saint James the Greater?
James and his brother John were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, like their father, Zebedee. One day they were in their boat mending their nets when Jesus walked along the shore and called them. At once they left their father in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus.
Jesus gave the two brothers a nickname, Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder.” The Gospels show how eager they were: once they wanted to call down fire on a village that would not welcome Jesus, and Jesus scolded them. Another time they asked to sit at his right and his left in his glory, and Jesus taught them that whoever wants to be great must serve the others.
With Peter and John, James was one of Jesus’ three closest friends. Of the apostles, only they saw Jesus bring Jairus’s little daughter back to life, and only they climbed the high mountain where Jesus’ face shone and his clothes became dazzling white, and a voice from the cloud said that he is God’s beloved Son. After Jesus rose and went back to heaven, James preached the Good News, until King Herod had him put to death in Jerusalem. He was the first of the twelve apostles to give his life for Jesus.
The Bible tells us no more. An old tradition says that James had preached in Spain and that his friends carried his body there. In the 800s his tomb was found in Galicia, in the northwest of Spain, and the city of Santiago de Compostela grew around it. For more than a thousand years, pilgrims have walked the Camino de Santiago to pray there, with a scallop shell as their sign.
In the Bible: Mark 1:19-20; 3:17; 5:37-43; 9:2-8; 10:35-45; 14:33; Luke 9:51-56; Acts 12:1-2
When is Saint James the Greater’s feast day?
Saint James the Greater’s feast day is July 25. In Spain it’s a solemnity. When July 25 falls on a Sunday, as it does in 2027, Compostela celebrates a Holy Year, and even more pilgrims walk the Camino de Santiago.
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