The
festival of St. James, the
brother of St. John the
Divine, is not noticed in
the Lectionary of St.
Jerome, but has a Collect
appointed in St. Gregory's
Sacramentary, and is also in
the ancient English
Calendars of Bede and of
King Athelstan's Psalter. In
the Eastern Church it is
kept on April 30th, but in
the Western it has always
been observed on July 25th.
St.
James being a brother of the
beloved disciple, his
relationship to our Lord may
be seen in the table printed
under that Apostle's day [p.
79]. With St. John he
received the appellation of
Boanerges from our Lord, and
has always been surnamed the
Great, or the Greater, by
the Church: but neither of
these designations can be
satisfactorily accounted
for. Some special position
was given to St. James and
St. John, as well as to St.
Peter, by their Divine
Master; and the request of
their mother, probably
Salome, that they might sit
on either hand of our Lord
in His Kingdom, was
doubtless founded on the
choice thus made by Him,
coupled with such a strong
faith in His Person and
Power as was displayed on
another occasion, when the
sons of Zebedee sought
authority from Christ to
destroy the Samaritan city
that had rejected Him. [Luke
ix. 52.] Their Master had
told His servants that they
should eat and drink at His
table in His Kingdom, and
sit on thrones judging the
twelve tribes of Israel; and
since He had given to St.
Peter the Keys of the
Kingdom of Heaven, the other
two favoured Apostles
besought that to them might
be given the two posts of
honour and suffering next to
His Person.
St.
James was the first of the
Apostles who suffered
Martyrdom, and the only one
whose death is recorded in
the New Testament. The fact
of his death is told us in
the modern English Epistle
of the day, but of its
circumstances nothing more
is known than that he
suffered through the hatred
of Herod Agrippa. Tradition
says that his accuser
repented as the Apostle was
on his way to the place of
execution, and that having
received the blessing of the
servant of Christ, he
professed himself a
Christian, and was baptized
in the blood of martyrdom at
the same time with St.
James. The Apostolic mantle
of St. James appears to have
fallen upon St. Paul, and
perhaps we may look upon the
latter as fulfilling the
expectations which must have
been raised by the place
which the elder son of
Zebedee occupied near the
Person of our Lord, and by
the title of Boanerges which
was given to him.
St.
James the Great is the
patron saint of Spain, and
his remains are supposed to
be preserved at Compostella.
"St. Iago of Compostella"
holds the same relation to
the history of that kingdom
which St. George does to
that of England: and both
names have been used as the
battle-cry of Christian
hosts when they went forth
to stem the torrent of that
Mahometan and Moorish
invasion which once
threatened to drive
Christianity from its throne
in Europe as it has driven
it from Asia.
Introit.—Thy friends
are exceeding honourable
unto me, O God: greatly is
their beginning
strengthened. Ps. O Lord,
Thou hast searched me out
and known me: Thou knowest
my downsitting and mine
uprising. Glory be.
