Apostle and Evangelist
Feast day May 3rd

St. James was born in the little village of Paneas. His father was Cleophas (also known as Alpheus) and his mother, Mary of Cleophas, was an older sister or a close relative of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

James and his younger brother Jude Thaddeus (who also became a saint) were first cousins of Christ and apparently the two closest blood relatives to later become His Apostles.

After the Ascension of Christ into Heaven, James would become the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and spend so much time kneeling in prayer that his knees would develop very thick callouses.

He was called "the Less" or "the Just" in order to distinguish him from the other Saint James, (the brother of Saint John, and the son of the fisherman, Zebedee) who was called Saint James "the Greater".

Legend says that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Pharisees at the age of 96, about the year 62 AD. Near death, he rose to ask forgiveness for his enemies, and then was killed by the blow of a fuller's club. His body was cut apart with a saw.

The club and the saw are shown in our window, along with a tower of the Temple (which can be seen over his right shoulder).

James is the patron of the dying due to his deathbed forgiveness of his murderers.