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The story of St. James lies somewhere
between legend and fact. Yet it has motivated pilgrimages
for over 1,000 years. Apostel James the Greater (Jacobus,
Sant-Iago, Santiago, Diego) and his brother John, sons
of Zebedee, were fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. James
was the fourth person Jesus recruited. The brothers had
such bad tempers that they garnered the nickname Boan-erges
(sons of thunder). James is mentioned only a few times
in the New Testament. James and John asked to be placed
at Jesus's right-hand side in paradise, but the request
was not met with enthusiasm.
The second part of the story has
no biblical basis. Legend holds that Jesus encouraged
his Apostles to get the Word out as widely as possible.
James was assigned the Iberian Peninsula. He traveled
as far as Galicia, preaching as he went, but he attracted
only seven disciples. He decided to return to the Holy
Land. Once back, Santiago was beheaded by Herod Agrippa
in the year 44, and thus became the first of the Apostles
to be martyred; it is the only Apostle's martyrdom mentioned
in the Bible. Friends sneaked his body out of Jerusalem
and put it on a boat that, with no sails, oars, or even
sailors, according to some versions, traveled across the
Mediterranean Sea, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and
north along the Iberian coast. When the boat reached Galicia
it stopped, and Santiago's disciples, somehow alerted
that he was coming, took his body off the boat and buried
St. James on a hill.
The Story of Santiago de Compostela
Sant-Iago the Moor-Slayer
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Eight hundred years
passed before the burial site was rediscovered during
the height of the Christian reconquest of Spain.
Christians, fighting hard against Muslims in the
south, showed their might by building a huge Romanesque
Cathedral replacing the tiny church where Saint
James was buried.
In the early years
of the pilgrimage enthusiastic monks embellished
tales of God blessing Christian warriors and Sant-Iago
riding his horse in the sky over the battlefield,
wielding his sword and beheading Moorish enemies.
St. James was now not only Spain's Apostle, Santiago
Peregrino, drawing pilgrims by the increasing thousands,
he was Santiago Matamoros (Moor-slayer). All the
more reason to visit his tomb and to donate large
sums in his honor to insure his continued protection
of Christian Spain.
Kings, nobles, and
commoners took the hint, and money poured in. Royal
patrons built bridges and roads. Pious nobles donated
beautiful churches and hospitals for pilgrims, and
settlements grew around them. Soon a military road
and promise of a heavenly reward drew a steady traffic
of knights, ordinary people, merchants, peasants
and tradesmen. |
Around the year 1200, almost a million
walked El Camino to fulfill a vow, looking for blessing
and healing. All over Europe people were buried with a
scallop shell, the badge of their pilgrimage.
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