The saints

Saint James the Greater

Apostle · Feast day July 25 · First century · Galilee, Spain · Also known as James, son of Zebedee, James the Great

Saint James, the brother of John and one of the inner three, was the first of the apostles to be martyred, put to the sword by Herod. He is honored as the patron of Spain, and his shrine at Santiago de Compostela has drawn pilgrims for a thousand years.

But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.Matthew 20:22 (KJV)

A son of thunder

James and his younger brother John were fishermen, sons of Zebedee, mending their nets when Jesus called them, and they left the boat and their father at once. Jesus named the two of them Boanerges, the sons of thunder, for their fierce zeal; it was they who once wished to call down fire on a village that would not receive Jesus.

With Peter and John, James belonged to the three closest to Jesus, present at the Transfiguration, at the raising of Jairus's daughter, and in the garden of Gethsemane. He and his brother once asked to sit at Jesus's right and left in his kingdom, and Jesus answered that they would indeed drink his cup, a word that came true first in James.

The first apostle to die

In the Book of Acts, King Herod Agrippa, to please the crowd, killed James the brother of John with the sword. He was the first of the twelve to be martyred, drinking the cup his Lord had promised, and the only apostle whose death is recorded in the New Testament itself.

Santiago and the pilgrim road

By later tradition James had preached in Spain, and his relics were carried there and enshrined at what became Santiago de Compostela, one of the greatest pilgrimage sites in the Christian world. For over a thousand years pilgrims have walked the Camino, the Way of Saint James, across Spain to his shrine, and still do today.

Why James still matters

James shows that the zeal Jesus kindles is not for show but for sacrifice. The son of thunder who wanted the place of honor received instead the honor of being the first of the twelve to lay down his life for the name of Christ.

A note for all traditions: the saints are honored across the church as examples of faith and, in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, as friends who pray with us, never worshiped, for worship belongs to God alone. What Scripture records and what later tradition holds are distinguished above. In every tradition there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, and every believer, not only the saints, is called to follow him.

Related: Saint John · Saint James the Less · Saints for July 25 · Saint of the day