Today we celebrate the feast of St. James the Greater, the brother of St. John the Evangelist. According to the gospels, St. James, his brother John and their father Zebedee were engaged in their occupation of fishing on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus called James and John to become "fishers of men." St. James later became the first bishop of Jerusalem, and according to tradition was the first to evangelize Spain. St. James was also the first of the Apostles to die a martyr's death, when he was beheaded at the order of Herod Agrippa in 44 AD. According to tradition, St. James' relics were miraculously translated to Spain, their location signalled by a star. The site, Santiago de Compostela, became one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in the world. When the Spanish national soccer team won its first World Cup in 2010, they dedicated their achievement to St. James. Many members of the team vowed to make a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. I hope they have kept their vows.
UPDATE: Here's a sample of a little medieval ditty called "The Road to Compostela: Vocavit Jhesus" by The Rose Ensemble.
No comments:
Post a Comment