St. James the Less

Who was St. James the Less?

James the son of Alphaeus was one of the Twelve Apostles. Every list of the apostles names him at the head of the third group of four (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15, Acts 1:13). Beyond that, the Gospels say nothing about him as an individual.

He is called "the Less" to tell him apart from St. James the Greater, the son of Zebedee and brother of John. The title comes from Mark 15:40, which mentions a "James the less" (in Greek mikros, "the little" or "the younger"), the son of a Mary who stood near the cross. Pope Benedict XVI noted in 2006 that the titles don't rank the men's holiness.

One James or two?

Most of what Christians say about James hangs on one question. Besides the two apostles, the New Testament names James "the brother of the Lord" (Galatians 1:19, Mark 6:3), who led the Jerusalem church in Acts 12, 15 and 21. Was he the son of Alphaeus?

The Catholic tradition: one man

Western tradition, following St. Jerome in the 4th century, holds that the son of Alphaeus, "James the less" of Mark 15:40 and the brother of the Lord are one and the same. The main argument is Galatians 1:19, where Paul says he saw no other apostle "saving James the brother of the Lord." On this reading, "brother" means a close relative, most likely a cousin; Jerome argued this against Helvidius, who taught that Mary had other children.

The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 calls the identification "by far the most probable" while granting that "there is no full evidence" for it. Pope Benedict XVI was more cautious in 2006: the question, he said, "is disputed" among experts.

The Orthodox tradition: two men

The Orthodox Church keeps the Apostle James son of Alphaeus on October 9 and calls him the brother of St. Matthew, since Mark 2:14 calls Levi the tax collector "the son of Alphaeus" too. Its tradition says he preached in Judea and Gaza and was crucified in Egypt. James the brother of the Lord it keeps on October 23 and describes as a son of St. Joseph by an earlier marriage, a view held by most Greek Fathers.

Other views

Most Protestant scholars, as the Catholic Encyclopedia itself noted, read the "brothers of the Lord" as later sons of Joseph and Mary, and so separate the brother of the Lord from the apostle. This encyclopedia doesn't settle the question.

The brother of the Lord in Jerusalem

Paul says the risen Christ appeared to James (1 Corinthians 15:7) and names him with Peter and John as one of the "pillars" of the Jerusalem church (Galatians 2:9). When Peter escaped from prison, he asked that word be sent "to James" (Acts 12:17).

At the Council of Jerusalem, around the year 50, James spoke after Peter and proposed that Gentile converts should not be bound to circumcision, asking only that they abstain from a few things, such as meat offered to idols (Acts 15:13–21).

The Letter of James, the first of the "Catholic" or general letters, is traditionally credited to this James. It is the source of the line "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). Eusebius, writing in the early 4th century, already noted that its authorship was "disputed" in his day.

The death of St. James

The Jewish historian Josephus, writing in Rome in the 90s, says the high priest Ananus brought "the brother of Jesus, the so-called Christ, James by name" before the Sanhedrin and had him stoned. This happened in 62, between the death of the Roman governor Festus and the arrival of his successor.

Hegesippus, a 2nd-century Christian writer quoted by Eusebius, gives a fuller account. He says James was called "the Just" and prayed so often in the Temple that his knees grew hard "like those of a camel." When he refused to deny Christ, the scribes and Pharisees threw him from the pinnacle of the Temple. He survived the fall, knelt and prayed, "I entreat you, Lord God our Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." A fuller then "took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just man on the head." Hegesippus's details are traditional; Josephus's short report is the historical core.

Miracles and legends

The New Testament records no miracles by James, and none has been formally examined. The stories about him, from Hegesippus and from the Orthodox lives, are traditional.

Why St. James the Less is a patron saint

Catholic Culture lists him as patron of apothecaries and pharmacists, fullers, hatters and milliners, the dying, and Uruguay, which he shares with St. Philip. The fullers take him from the club of his martyrdom, a tool of their trade. The reasons for the others aren't recorded. See more on our patron saints page.

Symbols of St. James the Less in art

Look for these attributes:

• A fuller's club: a thick wooden bat, his most common sign in Western art. Pompeo Batoni and Georges de La Tour both put one in his hands.
• A book: for the Letter of James, as in Rubens's painting at the top of this page.
• A saw: listed among his attributes by Catholic Culture and found in some series of the apostles, though less often than the club.
• Bishop's vestments: Eastern icons of James the brother of the Lord show him as a bishop in a white stole marked with crosses, as in the Novgorod icon above.

Feast day and relics

The Catholic Church keeps May 3 as the feast of Sts. Philip and James. Pope John III dedicated the Basilica of the Holy Twelve Apostles in Rome in the 560s, especially to these two, and their relics still lie together in its crypt. Find the rest of the calendar on our feast days page.

Prayer to St. James the Less

There is no well-known traditional prayer to St. James the Less alone. Catholics honor him in the Roman Canon and the Litany of the Saints. Many also pray with the Letter of James, especially its counsel for the sick, which the Catholic Church reads as the basis of the anointing of the sick: "Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord" (James 5:14, Douay-Rheims).