Happy Feast Day, St. James and Jamie!

St. James the Greater, brother of St. John

I love St. James! Both St. Jameses in fact. Having visited Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain when my daughter was teaching at the university, I grew to really appreciate St. James the Greater, the brother of John. And then there is "St. James the Lesser" (I wonder if he was physically smaller or was he just quieter than the "Son of Thunder?") who told us in his epistle that "faith without works is dead." (HT to Janet for catching my error. Maybe this will keep me straight in the future about the two Jameses. )

Anyway, you gotta love a man who knows the score and articulates it so clearly! So thanks, St. James the Lesser

When our youngest child, a daughter, was born on August 2nd, the feast of St. Eusebius, we considered name possibilities. Much as I like the historian saint, I even have his history on my saints bookshelf, we couldn't think of a name variation our daughter wouldn't roll her eyes and groan about when she was older. ("Eusie? Mom, you've got to be kidding! What were you thinking?")

St. James the Lesser, uncle of James and John

So we looked at nearby dates for a more girl-friendly patron.  And there was my friend St. James
the Greater only a week earlier on July 25th. (St. James the Lesser's feast is May 3rd) So Jamie she became. The only questions we got were, "What's her real name? Isn't Jamie a nickname?"

Nope, Jamie she is, check out her birth certificate.

So Happy Feast Day to St. James the Greater and his namesake Jamie who can claim the other St. James for a patron as well. And thanks for the great epistle, St. James the Less.

St. James the Greater and St. James the Lesser, Pray for us!