Q & A with Fr John Flader. This week’s question: I have always been confused about the two apostles named James. Which is the one that is associated with the Way of St James in Spain, which some of my friends have walked? And what is the historical basis for this pilgrimage, that so many people seem to make?
By Fr John Flader
As you say, there were two Apostles named James. One, traditionally called St James the Greater, was the brother of St John, the “beloved disciple” and evangelist. His feast is celebrated on July 25. James and John were fishermen, the sons of Zebedee, a fisherman of the Sea of Galilee (cf. Mt 4:21-22).
Their mother was Salome, who was with Mary and the other holy women beside the cross of Jesus (cf. Mt 27:56, Mk 15:40, 16:1). There is some possibility that Salome was a sister of Our Lady, in which case James and John would have been cousins of Jesus.
The other James is often referred to as James the Less, or James the Just, as the historian Eusebius called him. He was the son of Alphaeus (cf. Mt 10:3) and is sometimes referred to as James “the brother of the Lord” (cf. Mt 13:55; Gal 1:19). He too might have been a relative of Jesus. His mother Mary was one of the holy women beside the cross of Jesus (cf. Mk 15:40). This James seems to have been the first bishop of Jerusalem (cf. Acts 12:17; Gal 1:19) and is the one who wrote the Letter of St James in the New Testament.
Returning to St James the Greater, there is a strong tradition that he preached the Gospel in Spain.
According to the tradition, soon after Jesus’ resurrection St James was trying to spread the Gospel in Spain, but he became discouraged at his lack of success. In 40 AD he was praying one day on the banks of the Ebro River near what is now Zaragoza, named after Caesar Augustus.
Our Lady appeared to him in the flesh before her assumption into heaven, standing on a pillar of jasper, and gave him a wooden statue of herself. She asked him to build a church in her honour. She is said to have told him: “This place is to be my house, and this image and pillar shall be the title and altar of the temple that you shall build.”
About a year after the apparition, St James arranged to build a small chapel in Mary’s honour, the first church ever dedicated to Our Lady. The present basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza is the scene of great devotion to Our Lady and is visited by millions each year.
After St James returned to Jerusalem, he was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great, in the year 44 AD (cf. Acts 12:2).
He was the first Apostle to be martyred for his faith.
According to the tradition, several of St James’ followers took his body back to Spain for burial, landing at Iria Flavia, now Padron, in Galicia. Two of them, Theodore and Athanasius, were later buried beside him. Over the years the site of the burial was forgotten.
Early in the ninth century a hermit called Pelagius saw unusual lights and heard strange noises near the place where it was thought St James was buried. Thinking it was something supernatural, he informed the bishop and a search was made, uncovering the remains of three people, one of them more prominent than the others.
King Alphonsus II (791-842) instructed that a church be built over the spot where the remains were found.
The present name of the city, Santiago de Compostela, may derive from the Latin “field of stars”, suggested by the lights seen by Pelagius.
Significantly, excavations under the cathedral in the late 19th and 20th centuries uncovered a Roman-period tomb beneath the high altar, and a stone inscribed with the names Athanasius and Theodore. Santiago de Compostela is considered the third most holy city in the Catholic world, after Jerusalem and Rome. Since the ninth century it has been the destination of the most popular pilgrimage in western Europe, the Camino de Santiago, or Way of St James. Hundreds of thousands of people make the pilgrimage each year, walking from points all over Europe.
Fr Flader: director@caec.com.au