James the greater was one of the original twelve disciples chosen by Christ to preach his gospel and it was Jesus who named James and his brother john the sons of thunder because they both struggled to control their tempers.
He and his
brother were born the Son’s of Zebedee and Salome and with john he was a
fisherman until Jesus called him to be a fisher of men.
Before he
was called by the lord James was a disciple of Saint John the Baptist and it is widely believed that
Jesus and James were in fact cousins.
He is known
as James the Greater not out of conceit he was so called simply because he was
the first of the James’ to become an apostle thus the other is known as James
the lesser.
During his
time as a disciple he was present during most of the recorded miracles of
Christ and after the crucifixion James went on to preach the gospels in
Samaria, Judea, and Spain
In one tale
of James travels he is said to have brought back to life a boy who had been
unjustly hanged, and had been dead for several weeks.
When news of
the boy's resurrection reached his father he was eating his supper and
pronounced the story to be worthy of ridicule.
In fact he
thought it nonsense and he said that his son was no more alive than the roasted
fowl on the supper table and laughed uproariously and at this the roasted bird
sat up sprouted feathers and flew out of the window.
James became
the First of the Apostles to be martyred when he was beheaded in Jerusalem by
King Herod Agrippa I.
The legend
has it that upon his death his body was taken from Jerusalem by angels, and
sailed in an unmanned and rudderless boat to Spain, where it was enveloped by a massive rock.
St James’
relics are held at Compostella in Spain and the pilgrimage to the shrine of
Santiago de Compostella became so popular that he became the patron saint of pilgrims.
His time
spent spreading the gospels in Spain and the placing of his relics in a shrine
there led to James being adopted as patron saint of Spain and all things
Spanish.
Santiago the
Spanish for of saint James became the battle cry of the Spanish army.
The legend
has it that Upon the cry of Santiago in Galicia the saint appeared upon a steed
of brilliant white St James the greater was transformed from a fisher of men
for his lord to Santiago Matamoros, or St. James the Moor slayer single handed-ly
killing up to 60,000 Arabs in one battle as a result the Spanish won the day
and drove the Moors out of Spain.
Such is the
pressure from the liberal elite to be seen to be doing the right thing and in
the name of political correctness the statue of St James the moor slayer, which
depicts the saint beheading a number of the Saracens in battle, is being
removed from his cathedral, Santiago de Compostella, in case a Muslim might be
offended.
Why a Muslim
would enter a Catholic cathedral in the first place is beyond me.
