St James (in Aramaic: ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ — in Hebrew: בן זבדי יַעֲקֹב, Yaʿăqōḇ — in Greek: Ἰάκωβος — in Latin: «Iacobus») was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, Our Blessed Lord.
St James goes by many titles, such as ‘St James the Great’, ‘Santiago Matamoros’, ‘Sanctus Iacobus Maior’, ‘Son of Thunder’ and ‘St James the Greater’.
St James the Greater was the first Apostle of Jesus to die of martyrdom. He died in 44 AD According to tradition, his remains are kept in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain.
There are many men named ‘James’ in the Bible.
In the New Testament alone, there are at least four men named ‘James’, so it’s very easy to confuse one ‘James’ for another. Our St James is usually referred to as ‘James, Son of Zebedee’ in Holy Writ.
Our St James is not to be confused with the St James who wrote the Epistle (‘the Letter’) in the New Testament. That Epistle was written by St James the Less (‘the Lesser’) who became the first Bishop of Jerusalem.
St James the Greater was the brother of St John the Divine, who wrote the Book of the Apocalypse (Revelation) and the Gospel that bears his name. Like St John the Divine and St Andrew, the Patron Saint of our parish was witness to Our Lord’s Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.
In our parish, we observe his Solemnity every year on the 25th of July.