Saint James

The Parish Church of St James
St. James's Road, Hampton Hill, TW12 1DQ (Parish Office 020 8941 6003)

SAINT JAMES

Patron saints are saints who were chosen as special protectors or guardians over certain things like occupations, illnesses, churches, countries, causes, in fact, anything that is important to us. The earliest records show that people and churches were named after apostles and martyrs as early as the fourth century.

Our patron saint is Saint James who was son of Zebedee and Salome, brother of Saint John the Apostle, and may have been Jesus' cousin. He is actually called Saint James the Greater because he became an Apostle before Saint James the Lesser. He was a disciple of Saint John the Baptist and a fisherman by trade.

James is described as one of the first disciples to join Jesus. He left everything when Christ called him to be a fisher of men, on the shores of the River Jordan.

James was one of the three Apostles, along with Peter and John, privileged to witness three miraculous events:
the Healing of Peter's mother-in-law (Matthew 1:29-31),
the raising of Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:37-43),
the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 9:2-8).

James was also present in the Garden of Gethsemane as one of the few apostles who accompanied Jesus there. He fell asleep as Jesus prayed before he was arrested on the orders of Pontius Pilate.

St. James

Jesus called James a 'son of thunder'. St. Luke's Gospel tells us that James impetuously called down fire from Heaven on the Samaritans because of their lack of faith. here is a well-known story in St. Mark's Gospel where the two brothers ask Jesus for the privilege of sitting at His right and left side in Heaven.

The Shell of St. James

After Pentecost, James went on to preach the Gospel in Samaria and Judea, and then legend says he travelled a great distance to Spain to spread the good news there. It is said that Jesus's mother Mary appeared in a vision to James in Spain around 40 A.D. standing on a pillar supported by angels. She summoned him back to Jerusalem.

The shell over the vicarage door

The Acts of the Apostles records that he was martyred by beheading at the hands of Herod Agrippa around 43 AD. He was the first of the Apostles to be martyred. He was buried in Jerusalem but it is claimed that his relics were transferred to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, in 830 A.D. where they remain today.

In the later middle ages his shrine at Compostela was one of the greatest centres of pilgrimage in Christendom and remains so today.

There are cockle shells on the beaches of Galacia in Northern Spain where his relics were brought on the way to Compostela and these were adopted as symbols of St. James from Medieval times up until the present day. Pilgrims who travel the same way are given a cockle shell at the end of their journey.

There are fiver cockle shells, representing Saint James, in the pictures on this page - have you spotted them all?

Further Information
	Contact the Parish Office 020 8941 6003
	Associated pages on this website: St James' Day Festival \| Spire Leader (2002 July) \| Spire Leader (2005 July)

Home | The Parish Church of St James - Hampton Hill | Site Map