St. James the Apostle

Their story

James and his younger brother John were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, working with their father, Zebedee. When Jesus called them, they immediately left their boat and their father and followed Him. Jesus gave the two brothers the nickname "Sons of Thunder," perhaps because of their fiery temperaments. James, Peter and John formed an inner circle among the apostles. Only they were with Jesus when He raised the daughter of Jairus, when He was transfigured on the mountain, and when He prayed in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. James was not perfect. Once he and John asked Jesus for the places of honor at His right and left in His kingdom. Jesus asked them whether they could drink the cup He was going to drink, and they answered, "We can." Jesus told them that they would indeed share His cup. James was the first of the apostles to give his life for Christ. Around the year 44, King Herod Agrippa had him put to death by the sword in Jerusalem, as the Acts of the Apostles records. An ancient tradition says that James had preached the Gospel in Spain and that his relics were later brought to Santiago de Compostela. For more than a thousand years, pilgrims have walked the Camino, the Way of St. James, to his shrine there. He is often called St. James the Greater to distinguish him from the other apostle named James.