James the Greater
James of Zebedee also known as James the Greater (in ancient Greek: Ἰάκωβος, Ἰákobos) was, according to various New Testament texts (Synoptic Gospels, Acts of the Apostles), one of the most prominent apostles of Jesus of Nazareth. He is known in Christian tradition as James the Greater to distinguish him from another member of the group of twelve, James the Less. Probably born in Betsaida (Galilee), he was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John. James of Zebedee belonged to the so-called "circle of loved ones" of Jesus who was with him on special occasions: at the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus, at the transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus withdrew to pray in agony before the perspective of his passion and death. He was also a privileged witness to the apparitions of the risen Jesus and the miraculous fishing in the Sea of Tiberias. According to the book of the Acts of the Apostles, Pentecost found Santiago in prayerful waiting, always as one of the highest references of the first Christian community, along with Simon Peter and John. He died at the hands of Herod Agrippa I in Jerusalem between the years 41 and 44 of our era. He is the patron of Spain.
Life story
Bible Facts
He was the son of Zebedee (cf. Mt 4:21) and had a brother named John, who would also be a disciple of Jesus (cf. ibid). Probably his mother Salome also followed Jesus (cf. Mt 20:20 ). Their teacher Jesus gave them the nickname "Boanerges" (Mk 3:17), which, according to the same evangelist, meant "sons of the thunder” for its impetuous character; the episode narrated by Luke, in which James and his brother John wish to invoke God to burn a city of Samaritans with fire ( Lk 9:54 ), honors this name. James was one of the first to receive the call of Jesus, when he was fishing in the lake of Gennesaret with his brother ( Mc 1:19 ). He will later be called to be part of the more restricted group of the Twelve (cf. Mt 10: 3 ). Along with his brother John and Simon Peter, he has a privileged relationship with Jesus: he is an eyewitness of the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus (Mc 5:21-43), from the transfiguration of Jesus (Lk 9) and the prayer in the Garden of Olives (Mk 14:33). Likewise, he was part of the restricted group of disciples who witnessed the last sign performed by the risen Jesus: his appearance on the shores of Lake Tiberias and the miraculous fishing ( Jn 21: 1-8 ). The Acts of the Apostles records his presence in the Upper Room prayerfully awaiting the descent of the Holy Spirit ( Acts 1:13 ). James is sentenced to death and beheaded by order of King Herod Agrippa I of Judea (Acts 12:2). By this data, the death of Santiago can be dated between the years 41 and 44, since they were the years in which Agrippa I was king of Judea.
Data from medieval tradition
According to a medieval tradition, after Pentecost (circa 33 AD), when the apostles are sent to preach, Saint James would have crossed the Mediterranean Sea and disembarked to preach the Gospel in Hispania (present-day Spain and Portugal).. According to some stories, his preaching would have begun in Gallaecia, which he would have reached after passing the Pillars of Hercules. According to the Cádiz writer Fray Gerónimo de la Concepción, Santiago was the one who consecrated the Temple of Hercules to Saint Peter (on the Sancti Petri islet). He continued skirting the Bética and the uninhabited coast of Portugal; other traditions affirm his arrival in Tarraco and his journey through the Ebro valley, until it connected with the Roman road that ran through the foothills of the Cantabrian Mountains and ended in present-day La Coruña. A third version postulates his arrival in Carthago Nova (present-day Cartagena, through the Santa Lucía neighborhood), from where he would leave for the north. This tradition makes Santiago the patron saint of Spain.
In any case, the tradition of evangelization by the Apostle Santiago indicates that he made some disciples, and seven of them were the ones who continued the evangelizing task once Santiago returned to Jerusalem. For this they went to Rome and were ordained bishops by Saint Peter. They are the seven apostolic Men. The tradition of the Apostolic Men places them next to Santiago in Zaragoza when the Virgin Mary appeared on a pillar.
According to Christian tradition, around the year 40, on January 2, the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint James the Greater at Caesaraugusta. María arrived in Zaragoza “in mortal flesh” —long before her assumption of power—, and as a testimony of her visit, she would have left a jasper column popularly known as “el Pilar”. It is said that Santiago and the first seven converts in the city built a primitive adobe chapel on the banks of the Ebro.
Traditionally, it has been affirmed that the remains found in Santiago de Compostela at the beginning of the 9th century corresponded to the Apostle Santiago, but the lack of a direct analysis of these remains allows us to assume that they may be the remains of Bishop Prisciliano, or of another important person of the Roman period. However, Pope Leo XIII reaffirmed in 1884, in the form of a Papal Bull, the belonging of the remains to the apostle, after ordering to analyze the remains preserved inside the tomb.
The tradition that places Saint James the Greater outside Jerusalem, shortly before his martyrdom, is recorded by various New Testament apocrypha (The Book of the Dormition of Mary, etc.), all of them prior to the "discovery" of the Tomb of the Apostle. According to these accounts, when Mary sees her death near, she receives a visit from the risen Jesus Christ. She asks him to be surrounded by the apostles on the day of her death, but they are all scattered around the world. Jesus Christ grants her wish and allows it to be Mary herself, through a miraculous appearance, who warns her disciples. The apparition of Mary to Santiago would have occurred on a pillar in Caesaraugusta (present-day Zaragoza), a column that is still venerated in the Basilica of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, in the Aragonese capital.
James would have traveled all the way back from Spain to Jerusalem to find Mary, mother of Jesus of Nazareth (since she was still alive there, in the Judean capital) before her dormition, finding her death before Herod Agrippa in martyrdom. The legend closes with the fact that two of his disciples, Athanasius and Theodore, would have taken his body (preserved in some way) across the Mediterranean Sea in a mythical stone boat and would have coasted the Atlantic again to Galicia, where they would have buried it precisely in Iria Flavia, where Bishop Teodomiro found it in the IX century.
The tomb of the Apostle
Around the year 813, or 820 according to other sources, in the times of King Alfonso II the Chaste of Asturias, a Christian hermit named Paio (Pelayo) told the Galician bishop Teodomiro, from Iria Flavia (Spain), that he had seen some lights shining on an uninhabited mountain. In it they found a tomb, probably of Roman origin, where a decapitated body was found with its head under its arm. The king ordered the construction of a church on top of the cemetery, origin of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, an epithet that comes from campus stellae: “field of stars”, due to the lights that appeared over the cemetery, or from compositum tellus, that is to say: "Well laid ground".
In May 1589, Francis Drake threatened Compostela after landing in La Coruña. The Archbishop, Juan de Sanclemente, agreed with the Cathedral Chapter to hide what was important in it. Therefore, the remains were deposited in a hiding place inside the apse of the main chapel, behind the altar. Such remains were found thirty meters below the ground in the excavations carried out in the Cathedral in 1878 and 1879 by Antonio López Ferreiro. The current configuration of the crypt under the altar comes from excavations carried out at the end of the XIX century. The remains were deposited in a silver urn made in 1886 by the Rey Martínez goldsmiths, inside a wooden chest lined with red velvet and with three compartments, for Santiago, Atanasio and Teodoro.
In such excavations, it was possible to find, among the remains of a Roman mausoleum, a sepulchral inscription in Greek, Athanasios martyr and the remains of three different people: two of middle age and one in the last third of life, which led them to be identified with the traditional Santiago and his disciples Athanasius and Theodore. However, Pope Leo XIII appointed an extraordinary Congregation for the study of these remains. The documents sent to Rome, however, did not satisfy him, sending Monsignor Agostino Caprara, Promoter of the Faith in the process, to Santiago to examine the remains on the ground and take a statement from those who intervened. Caprara, however, first ordered the analysis of the presumed remains of Santiago venerated in Pistoia, a task that was carried out by Doctor Chiapelli, who ruled that it was a right mastoid process with traces of coagulated blood, a piece that would have been separated as a result of a beheading.
On June 8, 1884, he arrived in Santiago, and on examination it was found that one of the three skulls lacked a right mastoid process. The resolution of the Congregation was published on July 25 of the same year, the feast of Santiago. Leo XIII published the Bull Deus Omnipotens on November 1 of the same year, in which he reviewed the history of the Sanctuary and called for new pilgrimages to Santiago.
However, the chronological dating of the remains remained to be verified, which led to the mid-XX century critics. Thus, Claudio Sánchez Albornoz:
...in spite of all the efforts of the audition of yesterday and today, it is not possible, however, to claim in favor of the presence of Santiago in Spain and its transfer to it, a single remote, clear and authoritative news. A silence of more than six centuries surrounds the conjectural and inverossible arrival of the apostle to the West, and from one to eight centuries the no less conjectural and inverossimilar traslatio. Only in the sixth century came the legend of the preaching of Santiago in Spain between western Christianity; but she did not reach the peninsula until the end of the seventh century.C. Sanchez Albornoz: "At the dawn of the Jacobean cult", in Compostellanum 16 (1971) pp. 37-71.
On the one hand, the previous existence of a dolmen necropolis has been archeologically documented, and then a cemetery used in Roman and Swabian times. These discoveries prove that Compostela was a pre-Christian necropolis, but they do not resolve the question regarding the tomb of Santiago, whose remains could belong either to the apostle himself (trafficking in relics began to develop in that period), or to any other Christian martyr. It has even been proposed that it is the remains of Prisciliano. In 1955, Teodomiro's burial cover was found near the tomb, confirming that he wanted to bury himself in the place where he was found.
In 1988, two academics from the Royal Academy of History, the philologist Isidoro Millán González-Pardo and the archaeologist Antonio Blanco Freijeiro claimed to have found the inscription martyr and a reference to Athanasius on a stone dated at the end of the s. I or early s. II, which, they argue, indirectly confirms the presence of the remains of the Apostle at the site.
Archaeological studies show that in the current Compostela sanctuary there existed, from the I century, a small (no more than one hectare) Hispano-Roman settlement next to which there was a cemetery, some of whose tombstones have been found and read. Among them is that of a family, called Modesta. One of them, in marble, was found in the old crypt and corresponds to a lady of the century II, named Atia Modesta.
A study carried out by Enrique Alarcón, professor of Philosophy at the University of Navarra, published on June 24, 2011, in the context of the closure of the "Cátedra Camino de Santiago", expanded on a 2013 study and republished in a volume in collaboration with Piotr Roszak, it is based on an epigraphic study on photographic reproductions of the aforementioned inscriptions, due to not having access to the originals. The professor, whose studies have not been published in archeology journals, considers that they evidence a particular funerary cult of Santiago, at least already in the century. II, in the crypt, part of a funerary complex of the Roman lady Atia Modesta whom Alarcón considers a Christian and not a pagan like other scholars.
In addition, he claims to have found the inscription Ya'akov (James, in Hebrew), with symbols typical of the Judeo-Christian sepulchral aesthetics of the s. I., similar to those found in the Dominus Flevit ossuaries. He adds that one of the inscriptions contains references to the Jewish festival of Shavu'ot with representation of ritual breads and indicates that these breads stopped being used around 70 AD due to the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans, which would make it possible to locate the tomb chronologically.
Relics
The Monastery of Cañas possesses a relic that is supposed to contain the horseshoes of Santiago's horse, which Diego López II de Haro would collect in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa and would give to his daughter Urraca Díaz de Haro, fourth abbess of the monastery.
Santiago against Islam
In the XII century, the so-called Privilege of Vows was written in Santiago de Compostela, which attributes to King Ramiro I a victory against the Moors in Clavijo in 844, a victory obtained thanks to an appearance by Santiago. Grateful, the king would have made a vow that all the inhabitants pay the Apostle, that is, his sanctuary, an annual amount. According to this same document, the victory at Clavijo put an end to the annual delivery to the enemies of a shameful tribute of one hundred Christian virgins. The first representation of Santiago on horseback, from the early XIII century in the Compostela cathedral, shows the maidens kneeling before the horse of Santiago.
The medieval miles Christi, a rare image, became from the second half of the 15th century and throughout the XVI century in Santiago Matamoros, defender of Catholicism against all his enemies: the Turks, the heretics and the pagans, whose bodies or heads roll between the legs of his horse.
The Camino de Santiago
The discovery of the tomb of the Apostle meant a series of benefits for the King of Asturias: the agglutination of their territories as a single kingdom, under the special protection of the Apostle, and the Christianization of the old "Vía del Finisterre", a route traditionally followed by many peoples of the Celtic religion, to the alleged end of the world. In fact, the Gallic pilgrimages to the northwest of Spain have been archaeologically proven, and it can be affirmed that the Celts - in the first millennium BC - traveled all over Europe to go to these sites, where they celebrated their marriages and other rites. This pre-Christian path thus becomes the Camino de Santiago or Jacobean Route, and Compostela the third center of medieval pilgrimage, after Rome and Jerusalem.
In the year 1122, Pope Calixto II instituted and proclaimed that from now on they would have the consideration and privileges of the Jacobean Holy Year every year in which the liturgical feast of Santiago, on July 25, coincided with Sunday.
Parties in his honor
Spain
As the Patron of Spain that he is, Santiago el Mayor (better known as Santiago Apóstol) is also Patron of numerous towns and cities that celebrate religious festivals in his honor on July 25. Santiago de Compostela (La Coruña) is the city that organizes the biggest festivities in his honor. The city's cathedral hosts the largest influx of pilgrims of the year on those days.
Coinciding with the patronage of Spain, Santiago el Mayor, is also patron of the Army's Cavalry Weapon. The final phrase of the Hymn of this weapon is one of the best known in Spain in the reconquest:
Santiago and close, Spain
He is also the patron saint of the Spanish autonomous community of Galicia. His festivity is celebrated on Galicia's National Day, every July 25 in the city of Santiago de Compostela (La Coruña). . In addition to Santiago de Compostela (La Coruña), other Spanish towns throughout the national territory have celebrations in honor of Santiago Apóstol. Processions, masses and prayers together with festivals, concerts or children's activities are held, for example, in the town of Albaladejo (Ciudad Real), Navas de Oro (Segovia), Moratones (Zamora) or Santiago de Aravalle (Ávila). He is also a patron in the city of Moncada (Valencia) and in numerous towns in the Sierra de Guadarrama, such as Collado Villalba (Madrid), Colmenarejo (Madrid) or Santa María de Robledo (Segovia). In Ermua (Vizcaya) he is also a patron: the parish church of Santiago Apóstol dates from 1600; It is a beautiful Renaissance building. It is of the type of church with a three-bay nave with tall side chapels between the abutments. In front of the nave there is also a narrower octagonal chancel. It is covered by a ribbed vault and has a choir and two Baroque chapels. The commission to finish the works that Archbishop Andrés de Orbe y Larreátegui carried out on Sebastián de Lecuona, was completed by his brother-in-law, Joseph de Zuaznabar. The furniture reflects the intervention of the rich cardinal. The main altarpiece, the organ and the private chapel of the archbishop and his tomb stand out. The altarpiece is made of walnut wood, in the Baroque style, with Solomonic columns on the sides. In its niches there are a series of polychrome sculptures. The altarpiece is without polychrome, among which stands out Santiago riding on the Moors in the battle of Clavijo. The organ is of the same type as the altarpiece, monumental and without polychromy. There are other small altarpieces in gilded wood in the proto-Rococo and Rococo styles. In the Canary Islands, Santiago is patron of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, capital of the island of Tenerife, as well as of the municipality of Santiago del Teide (Santa Cruz de Tenerife). Likewise, the Villa de Los Realejos (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), to the north of Tenerife, was placed under the protection of the Apostle since the July 25, 1496 phase was concluded, in these lands of the old Menceyato de Taoro. of the war of the conquest of Tenerife, erecting, that same day, the temple of the Matriz del Apóstol Santiago Parish, inside which part of an old brush altarpiece that collected the life of the Apostle is preserved, and of which three tables are preserved today that make up the famous Triptych of Santiago, a work from the brush of the outstanding European workshop of the Master of Delft. On the island of Gran Canaria, Santiago is the patron saint of the municipality of Gáldar (Las Palmas), where the church of the same name is located, which is the first Jacobean headquarters outside the peninsular territory and which has jubilee graces to celebrate the Holy Jacobean Year with the same privileges as the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It has its own official pilgrimage route that connects Santiago de Tunte with Santiago de Gáldar (Las Palmas).
America
Argentine
Santiago Apóstol is the patron saint of the province of Santiago del Estero, of the province of Mendoza and its capital, where his festival is a provincial holiday and important festivities are held in his honor. In this city of Cuyo, it is also considered a protector against seismic movements that frequently occur in the region.
In the province of Salta, he is patron of the municipalities of Campo Quijano and Isla de Cañas.
Bolivia
Santiago el Mayor or Tata Santiago is venerated in the town of Toro Toro, in the province of Charcas, department of Potosí.
Brazil
In the city of São Tiago (Minas Gerais), devotion to the saint has existed since the 18th century. In this small town there is an interesting tradition. On July 25, after masses and a procession, the faithful receive the imposition of the hat, which remains throughout the year on the head of the bicentenary image carved in baroque style. It is also in this city that the devotional route "Caminhos de São Tiago" ends, an adaptation of Minas Gerais inspired by the Compostela route. The route begins in the Santa Rita district of Ouro Preto and passes through several cities in the Rio das Mortes region.
Chile
The Apostle Santiago is the patron of the capital city, Santiago de Chile, founded as Santiago de la Nueva Extremadura in 1541, and shares patronage of the country with the Virgen del Carmen. The coats of arms of the city of Santiago, the Archbishopric of Santiago and several communes of the Metropolitan Region have eight gold shells on a blue background, representing the letters of the Apostle's name. Likewise, he is revered in other towns and rural locations in the north and south of the country, where his festival, on July 25, is celebrated with great solemnity. The community of Spanish immigrants from Galicia celebrates its patronal festival with dances and artistic acts in the Spanish Stadium.
Colombia
The apostle Santiago el Mayor is patron saint of the city of Tunja, capital of the department of Boyacá. The cathedral of this city is consecrated to his dedication.
The municipality of Santiago de Tolú, department of Sucre, has Santiago el Mayor as its patron saint, celebrating novenas and festivals in his honor every year.
The capital of the department of Valle del Cauca is called Santiago de Cali, in honor of Santiago de Compostela, and its foundation date is July 25, 1536.
The city of Rionegro (Antioquia), founded on December 6, 1542, received the title of city in 1786 by King Carlos III, naming it the City of Santiago de Arma de Rionegro, and transferred to it an old painting of the Apostle in the battle of Clavijo, which today is preserved in the museum of the cathedral of San Nicolás. Santiago is one of the patron saints of Rionegro, and in his honor the cathedral is decorated with scallop shells in the niches of its main altar.
Costa Rica
Santiago Apóstol is the patron saint of the city of Cartago, capital of the Province of Nueva Cartago and Costa Rica within the Spanish Empire, and currently capital of the province of the same name. In this city are the ruins of Santiago Apóstol, an old church dedicated to the saint destroyed in the Santa Mónica Earthquake in 1910. In addition, the annexation of the Nicoya party to Costa Rica is celebrated on this date, which was a very convenient date for effects of religious and political celebration.
Also in Costa Rica there are three temples built for devotion to the Apostle Santiago. The first is located in the province of Cartago, the second in the city of Puriscal (fourth canton of San José Capital) and the third in Río Segundo in the province of Alajuela (ninth district of the canton of Alajuela). As a curious anecdote, it can be noted that the first two structures are currently in ruins, due to various earthquakes. The Rio Segundo temple was also destroyed by an earthquake in the 1990s and rebuilt by the community.
Cuba
This country is home to the city of Santiago de Cuba, capital of the province of the same name. It was founded on July 25, 1515, and served as the island's capital for some time. Likewise, there is the city of Santiago de Compostela de Las Vegas, founded in the year 1683.
Ecuador
The saint is the official patron of Guayaquil, capital of the Guayas province, since it was named Santiago de Guayaquil in honor of him. His festivities are celebrated on July 25. It should be noted that, since the founding of said city was a mystery, it was officially celebrated on the date of its patron. The celebration of the saint was clouded and overshadowed for many years, but now the mystery of its foundation has been clarified. The festivities of the Patron Saint have gained an enormous boom with large albiceleste flags adorning the balconies of the city. Many consider that the Guayaquil festivities begin on July 25 and end on August 15, the official date of its foundation.
To celebrate the holy year Xacobeo 2021, on May 10, 2019, a bronze statue of Santiago Apóstol, created by Nixon Córdoba, was discovered in Guayaquil. The monument highlights the iconography of Santiago as a pilgrim, the importance of the Camino de Santiago and the relations between Ecuador and Spain, where thousands of Ecuadorians have emigrated since the late 1990s. The statue was located in the Plaza España, on the Cerro de Santa Ana, the primitive origin of the city.
There are also festivals in honor of Santiago the Apostle. One of the most significant is the one celebrated in a canton of the province of Azuay called Santiago de Gualaceo. Here, as in countless parts around the world, masses, processions, vigils and prayers are held. In this place they have two images of Patron Santiago (so called by the locals), which are visited by locals and strangers in the month of July. This celebration is known nationwide and brings together thousands of people who come with devotion to visit Patron Santiago.
United States
In the state of Texas there is what was the port of Los Brazos de Santiago, which is the mouth of the navigation channel of the port of Brownsville today. This natural deep-water harbor was once the port of Matamoros, Mexico, and a major Mexican naval base. It is located at the southern point of Padre Island, Texas, about 12 km north of the Rio Grande (Rio Grande). It was named at the time of the conquest of Mexico, but no one knows who named it.
Guatemala
He is patron saint of the archdiocese and of the city of Antigua Guatemala, currently the capital of the department of Sacatepéquez. The original name of this city is Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, its fair being held the week corresponding to July 25 of each year. The coat of arms of Guatemala City includes the Apostle Santiago.
Honduras
The city of Yoro, capital of the department of the same name, has Santiago Apóstol as its patron saint, with his festival on July 25 of each year, and is housed in the city's cathedral. The image of Santiago Apóstol that is venerated in this city was found in a municipality in this department called Jocón, where they decided to take it in procession throughout the department of Yoro to raise funds to build a church for it. But upon reaching Yoro and taking it to the cathedral, it was impossible to remove it, as it became heavy and larger. So they decided to leave him as patron of the city. This city is blessed for that.
As in Lepaterique, in the department of Francisco Morazán, the festivity of its patronal fair is celebrated in honor of the Apostle Santiago de Lepaterique, who was brought from Spain in the past, filling the entire municipality with curiosity, which It is full of legends and myths. In his commemoration, the Institute of Lepaterique is named the Santiago Polyvalent Government Institute.
On July 25, the Apostle Santiago is also celebrated in another part of Honduras in the municipality of Santiago de Puringla, in the department of La Paz.
Mexico
In the place that was one of the great viceregal centers, it is celebrated in various parts. One of them in the municipality of Ayapango, in the state of Mexico, in the old convent of Santiago Apóstol and the parish that bears the same name. This festival is celebrated with the representation of the twelve pairs of France and the dance of the chinelos, and a procession through the town.
It is also celebrated in the town of Santiago Tepopula, in the municipality of Tenango del Aire, state of Mexico, as well as in the town of Quechultenango, head of the municipality of the same name, in the state of Guerrero. In this place he is represented with a dance called las Cueras , where, followed by a huge procession, four of the dancers carry the image in his honor on their shoulders. The festivity begins on July 23, thus following the celebration of the ocoxúchiltl dance on the first Sunday of August, where all the pilgrims dance around the image of Santiago to pay their bills.
In the town of Santiago Tilapa, within the municipality of Santiago Tianguistenco, State of Mexico, the traditional dance of muleteers is performed, which represents the activity carried out within the large haciendas from the viceroyalty until the arrival of the railroad to Mexico, on July 24 and 25, the muleteers appear in the parish to dance, for approximately two weeks later the muleteers appear to dance at the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus, the Sunday closest to August 6, where, like They carry their patron saint Santiago Apóstol as their banner, on May 22 and 23 there are celebrations in his honor such as the burning of the castle and the traditional bulls.
It is celebrated in Jesús María, head of the municipality of the same name, in the state of Aguascalientes, with the Chicahuales Fair, the second most important in the state, during the second fortnight of July.
Santiago el Mayor is patron of the city of Santiago de Querétaro, capital of the municipality and of the state of Querétaro. According to legend, the city was founded in 1531 after a battle between Christianized natives and those who were not, having an eclipse during the battle, in which the figure of Santiago Matamoros appeared in the sky. In the place where this miracle happened, the temple and the convent of the Holy Cross rise.
He is also honored in the city of Sahuayo, in the state of Michoacán, where he is venerated with his followers disguised as tlahualiles (defeated warrior, in Nahuatl) dancing through the streets and fighting in a symbolic representation of the Spanish conquest.
Another place where he is venerated is Santiago, the head of the municipality of his name, located in the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo León.
He is honored in Santiago de Anaya, head of the homonymous municipality, in the state of Hidalgo; as in Tecozautla, head of the municipality of the same name located in the same state. In this last municipal seat, the Fruit Fair is commemorated in his honor.
In some southern regions of the state of Zacatecas, such as Moyahua, Juchipila and Apozol, and part of the state of Jalisco, such as Tonalá, a municipality located in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, he is venerated on his feast day on July 25, in the tradition of the tastoanes that has been celebrated since the times after the Conquest of the territories of Nueva Galicia, the kingdom of which he was patron.
He is honored in the cities of Compostela and Santiago Ixcuintla, in the state of Nayarit.
In the state of Coahuila, he is patron of the cities of Saltillo (the state capital) and Monclova.
He is patron saint of the city of Santiago Tuxtla, in the state of Veracruz, where he has celebrated for more than 130 years with traditions such as the Dance of the Blacks, mojigangas, fandango and folk dance competitions. Likewise, it is part of the culture and tradition of some municipalities, such as Ixhuatlán del Café, Coscomatepec and Chocaman, with its traditional Danza de Santiagos .
In the state of Durango, one of the localities with the greatest historical-cultural importance is Mapimí, in which the patron is Santiago Apóstol, el Mayor. The main temple of said locality has that invocation, a site founded by the order of iñiguista missionaries.
In the city of Silao, in the historic state of Guanajuato, Santiago Apóstol is venerated and the parish of the municipality bears his name. Similarly, there are the municipalities of Santiago Maravatío, Valle de Santiago and the municipality of Tarandacuao, in the same state.
In the country's capital, Mexico City, three sites stand out that remember the apostle. This is Santiago Tlatelolco, the last focus of indigenous resistance during the conquest of Tenochtitlán, in the vicinity of which the tlatoani Cuauhtémoc was hit; the town of Santiago Zapotitlán, in the Tláhuac mayor's office, where in the middle of the XXI century, rural and urban customs are mixed; and the town of Santiago Acahualtepec, in the Iztapalapa mayor's office, where it has maintained its tradition for more than 350 years celebrating Santiago Apóstol.
In the state of San Luis Potosí, Santiago de los Valles, what is now known as Ciudad Valles, stands an old restored Franciscan church. It became the Custody of Tampico, which controlled a large area in the Huasteca region.
He is one of the patrons of the Franciscan Province of Saints Francis and Santiago in Mexico, which is one of the most important provinces of Franciscans worldwide. He exceeds the 400 friars who are distributed in the northeast and west of Mexico, and in other places such as: Tivoli, Córcega, Belize, Tlatelolco and southern Texas.
Nicaragua
In the city of Jinotepe, head of the department of Carazo, Santiago Apóstol is celebrated. Its festivity begins on June 29 with the departure of the Demanda Mayor, a tour of Santiago through the rural communities of the area, which lasts fifteen days, a kind of Camino de Santiago like the one in Spain, with the only difference that it is Santiago the one who goes out to look for the pilgrims.
The main days are July 24 and 25. On the 24th there is the peak of the saints where Nicaraguan culture, tradition and popular religiosity come together to demonstrate the greatest and most beautiful gesture of union between the peoples. San Sebastián, patron saint of Diriamba, and San Marcos, patron saint of the city that bears the same name, meet Santiago, to celebrate together on July 25 the solemnity of Santiago Apóstol.
On August 1, the Eighth of the festivities is celebrated. The Sunday after the Eighth is the farewell to the saints, thus culminating the festivities in honor of Santiago Apóstol. These are the most important festivities in honor of Santiago Apóstol in all of Nicaragua, where you can appreciate traditional dances such as El Guegüense or Macho Ratón, El Toro Huaco, Las Inditas, De las Húngaras, Los Diablitos, El Gigante, Moors and Christians , El Viejo y la Vieja, La Vaquita and Los Chinegros, among others that fill these traditional festivities with great color, which They last for almost three months.
In the city of Boaco, capital of the homonymous department, its patron saint is Santiago Apóstol, celebrated with great festivities on July 25 of each year housed in the church that bears the same name, where the remains of Father José Nieborowski rest., celebrated with great religious fervor.
Panama
This country is home to the oldest city on the Pacific coast, Natá de los Caballeros, which is home to the national historical heritage, the Basilica of Santiago Apóstol, which has been kept since the XVI as patron to this apostle of Jesus Christ. The saint became a religious bulwark from the first moment he arrived from Santiago de Compostela, in Spain, a city that also has Santiago Apóstol as its patron. In Natá de los Caballeros it is very visited by his faithful since he arrived in the year 1522.
He is venerated in the city of Santiago de Veraguas, capital of the province of Veraguas, diocese of Veraguas, in the cathedral of Santiago Apóstol, inaugurated as a diocese of the province since 1963. Every July 25, his cathedral is surrounded by faithful to take part in the Eucharist and annual procession of their Patron, a religious activity that opens the way to popular celebrations characterized by horseback riding, folkloric presentations and others of a regional nature.
Peru
In what was once the other great viceregal center, Santiago Apóstol is patron saint of Santiago de Ica, also of the city of Pauza, province of Paucar del Sara Sara, department of Ayacucho; from Santiago de Chuco in the department of La Libertad; from the town of Santiago de la Nazca (Nazca) in the department of Ica; and the city of Abancay, capital of the department of Apurímac (initially named as Santiago de Abancay). He celebrates his party in the city of Cabana, in the department of Áncash.
In the Lima district of Santiago de Surco, a decoration with his name, the Order of Santiago Apóstol, is given to people who have a beneficial influence on society. Santiago El Mayor is also the patron of the town of Guzmango, in the province of Contumazá, department of Cajamarca.
In Lunahuaná, tourist and cultural capital of the province of Cañete, department of Lima, Santiago Apóstol has a great patronal festivity on July 25 of every year, where the authorities and the people participate with a lot of merriment, in showy troupes in the Plaza Mayor, with a great Fiesta Mass in the colonial church that bears his name, and which precedes the procession of the saint through the main streets.
In Cusco, the Patron Santiago is celebrated. Since the XVI century, it has participated in the celebration of Corpus Christi, along with other notable images such as Our Lady of Bethlehem or the patron Saint Sebastian. At the Corpus Entrance, Santiago descends from his temple to the cathedral basilica of Cusco, where he will wait until the central day. After the festivity, the Patron goes up to the temple again. He will leave again for his patronal festival in the month of July, and will finally enter his house while waiting for the next Corpus Christi festivities.
In the department of La Libertad, Santiago el Mayor is patron of the city of Santiago de Chuco, capital of the province of the same name, whose festival is celebrated with great renown on July 25 of every year, with great fervor and devotion, very famous in this region.
Puerto Rico
The city of Santiago de Fajardo, to the east of the island, and the municipalities of Guánica and Santa Isabel, both to the south, celebrate festivities in honor of Santiago Apóstol as patron saint. All the celebrations occur every July 25 and with festivities several days before and after the date. The municipality of Aibonito celebrated its patron saint festivities in honor of Santiago el Mayor. Such Hispanic religious heritage, which lasted well into the years of the XXI century, is evidenced by the patent scallop shell that appears in the lower right canton of the municipal shield.
To the northeast of the island, in the municipality of Loíza, the Traditional Festivals of Santiago Apóstol are celebrated. These, which date back to the 17th century, currently attract people from even abroad. The festivities are celebrated every July 25 and there are usually celebrations several days before and after this date. The coat of arms of this municipality shows, as the only figure, that of Santiago Matamoros. Its striking and peculiar processions make three images of the apostle happen over the course of the holidays; each corresponding to the groups of men, women and children who individually carry it. Hence, there they popularly invoke him as Santiago "el de los hombres", "el de las mujeres", or "el de los niños".
Santiago Apóstol is also patron of the diocese of Fajardo-Humacao. Diocese that established the Camino de Santiago de El Yunque as an experience of faith inspired by that of Compostela (Galicia, Spain) and similar to it. Described as a pilgrimage appointment, its starting points are the municipalities of Loíza and Humacao and it reaches its destination and final point in the Sanctuary of Santiago Apóstol, located in the municipality of Luquillo.
Dominican Republic
He is the patron saint of the city of Santiago de los Caballeros, capital of the province of Santiago, a city founded in 1495, seat of the Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros, metropolitan of the homonymous ecclesiastical province. His cathedral is dedicated to the saint.
Venezuelan
He was (since its founding in 1567) the patron saint of the city of Caracas (founded under the name Santiago de León de Caracas) until June 15, 2011, when Pope Benedict XVI, at the request of the Caracas clergy, decreed the Virgin of Coromoto as patron saint of the city, who is also the patron saint of Venezuela.
Onomastics
His name in Hebrew is Jacob (יעקב), but over time it has been deformed into Jacobo, Iago, Yago, San Iago, San Yago, Santiago, Tiago or Thiago, Diego, Jaime, James, Jim, Jimmy, Jackes, Jacques. Saying San Santiago is a mistake.
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