Be sure to wear your floppy pilgrimage hat with a
scalloped shell today as you go walking on the Way of St. James in Spain . . .
July 25: Feast of St. James
From CatholicCulture.org
In Spain, he is called El Senor Santiago, the
patron saint of horsemen and soldiers, and his great shrine at Santiago de
Compostela in that country has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries. He
is one of those that Jesus called Boanerges,
"son of thunder," the older brother of John the Evangelist and the son of Zebedee the fisherman from Galilee.
St. James the Greater and his brother John were apparently
partners with those other two brothers, Peter and Andrew, and lived in
Bethsaida, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. How and where James first
met Jesus, we do not know; but there is an old legend that makes Salome, his
mother, a sister of Mary, and if this were the case, he would have known Jesus
from childhood.
Along with Peter and his brother John, James was part of the inner
circle of Jesus, who witnessed the Transfiguration, were witnesses to certain
of His miracles, like the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and accompanied
Him to the Garden of Gethsemani. Like his brother, he was active in the work of
evangelization after the death of Jesus, and one legend, very unlikely, even
has him going to Spain after Jesus' resurrection.
His prominence and his presence in Jerusalem must have been well
known, for scarcely a dozen years after the Resurrection, he became involved in
the political maneuverings of the day and was arrested and executed by King
Herod Agrippa. This was followed by the arrest of Peter also, so his death must
have been part of a purge of Christian leaders by Agrippa, who saw the new
Christian movement as a threat to Judaism.
Jesus had foretold this kind of fate when He prophesied that James
and his brother John would "drink of the same chalice" of
suffering as Himself. The two brothers had asked to be seated at the right of
Jesus and at His left in His kingdom, and Jesus told them that they would be
with Him in a far different way than they expected.
James's death is the only biblical record we have of the death of
one of the Apostles, and he was the first of that chosen band to give his life
for his Master.
Excerpted from The
One Year Book of Saints by
Rev. Clifford Stevens
Patron: Against
arthritis; against rheumatism; Antigua, Guatemala; apothecaries; blacksmiths;
Chile; Compostela, Spain; druggists; equestrians; furriers; Galicia, Spain;
Guatemala; horsemen; knights; laborers; Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina;
Nicaragua; pharmacists; pilgrims; Pistoia, Italy; rheumatoid sufferers; riders;
soldiers; Spain; Spanish conquistadors; tanners; veterinarians.
Symbols: Cockle
shell; dark-bearded man holding a book; dark-bearded man holding a scroll;
dark-bearded man holding a sword; dark-bearded man with a floppy pilgrim's hat,
long staff, water bottle, and scallop shell; elderly, bearded man wearing a hat
with a scallop shell; key; man with shells around him; mounted on horseback, trampling
a Moor; pilgrim with wallet and staff; pilgrim's hat; pilgrim's staff; scallop
shell; sword.
Things to Do on the Feast of St. James:
- Learn
more about St. James.
- It
is traditional in Spain to make a yearly pilgrimage to St. James of
Compostela on July 24. Read more about
this custom. From Catholic Culture's Library: Pilgrimage
To The Stars and Cycling
through time on the Camino de Santiago.
- Read
about Santiago de
Compostela, the third largest shrine in all of Christendom.
- Learn
more about the pilgrimage to St. James.
- Santiago
de Compostela, the capital of Galicia and final destination of the famous
pilgimage way is certainly among Spain's most beautiful cities. You can
take a virtual tour and learn all about this area of the world here.
- Watch
this Spanish news broadcast of the
faithful bringing flowers for Our Lady of the Pillar on October 12 during
the celebration of the feast at the cathedral, notice the open devotion
and enthusiasm offered to Our Lady. Tradition says that Mary appeared to
St. James before her Assumption. Read more about the apparition here.
- Plan
your own pilgrimage to a nearby shrine. Pope John Paul II said, "To
go in a spirit of prayer from one place to another, from one city to
another, in the area marked especially by God's intervention, helps us not
only to live our life as a journey, but also gives us a vivid sense of a
God who has gone before us and leads us on, who himself set out on man's
path, a God who does not look down on us from on high, but who became our
traveling companion." Read this
letter and try to incorporate its spirit into your
pilgrimage.
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