OUR PATRON SAINT

ST. JAMES THE GREATER

     Plans are underway to celebrate our parish patron, St. James the Greater on Sunday, July 24  with an outdoor  morning Mass, a parish social, and a visit from Bishop Frank Dewane, a son of St. James Church. More details will be posted once they have been finalized.
      To view photos from the first feast day celebration in 2021, 
click here.

Feast Day:  July 25

 Patron Saint of: Spain, rheumatoid and arthritis sufferers, blacksmiths, equestrians, furriers, laborers, pharmacists; pilgrims; veterinarians

     
     Two of Jesus’ apostles had the same name, James. They were referred to as James the Greater, and James the Lesser to keep them apart. St. James the Greater is the patron of our parish in Cooperstown.
     St James the Greater is thought to be the cousin of Jesus himself. There is an old legend that makes Salome, his mother, a sister of Mary, and if this were the case, the two cousins would have known each other from childhood.
     James worked as a fisherman with his brother John, his father Zebedee, and his partner Simon in the village of Bethsaida. John and James were followers of John the Baptist and later, Jesus.
      The Galilean origin of St. James could explain the temper and vehemence of character which earned him and his brother St. John the name "Sons of Thunder.” The Galilean race was religious, hardy, industrious, brave, and the strongest defender of the Jewish nation. Several stories in the Bible show a temper and fire in the two brothers that may have contributed to their nickname.   
     Along with Peter and his brother John, James was part of the inner circle of Jesus. These three witnessed the Transfiguration, they were witnesses to certain of His miracles, like the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and they accompanied Him to the Garden of Gethsemane.
      The night Jesus was arrested, James fled like all the other apostles. Although Peter found the courage to follow the Lord at a distance to Caiaphas' house, and John appeared the next day with the Blessed Mother to keep watch as Jesus hung on the cross, James never came out of his hiding place.
      He was with the other apostles in the Upper Room when the risen Christ appeared to them on that first Easter. A few days after the Resurrection, James, John, Peter, and several other apostles encountered Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee where the Lord granted the fishermen a miraculous catch, served them a meal of roasted fish and commanded Peter, "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep." Finally, James witnessed Christ's ascension into heaven and was present in the Upper Room on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Blessed Mother in tongues of fire.
     Tradition holds that James preached the Gospel in Spain after Jesus' Resurrection, but his prominence and his presence in Jerusalem must have been well known. He became involved in the political maneuverings of the day and was arrested by King Herod Agrippa.
      At Herod's command James was beheaded. A legend says that as James was being led by a rope to execution, he passed a man crippled by arthritis or rheumatism who begged the apostle to cure him. James stopped and said, "In the name of Jesus Christ, for whom I am being led to execution, stand up and bless your Creator." The man stood up, completely cured, and gave thanks to God. James' death in the year 44AD is the only death of an apostle that is recorded in the bible.
      It is possible that at some early date Christians took the relics of St. James to Spain. There, St. James is called El Senor Santiago, the patron saint of horsemen and soldiers, and his great shrine at Santiago de Compostela in that country has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries.