July 25th, is the Feast of St. James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles and the first of the apostles to be martyred. Acts of the Apostles records that he was killed at the command of Herod Agrippa, a descendent of the tyrant king, Herod, who is named in Matthew’s Gospel as the sociopath that orchestrated the massacre of the children of Bethlehem. The scriptures provide us with a few details about St. James, but where they fall silent, popular piety has many tales to tell. St. James is reputed to have been the first Christian missionary to Spain, and after his execution, his remains were brought from Jerusalem to Galicia for safekeeping. A shrine was built to honor his memory, which was destroyed by the Romans during a persecution of the Church. St. James’ relics were lost until they were rediscovered under miraculous circumstances in the year 814 AD. These relics quickly became a focal point of pilgrimage, and in the year 1075 AD, the construction of the grand cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was begun. The shrine was consecrated in the year 1128, though the building that we see today is the result of architectural and artistic embellishment that took place over many centuries. The edifice rises like a great ornate mountain of granite over the city that bears its name. The magnitude of the cathedral is testimony to not only the esteem in which the Galicians hold their Saint, but also serves as a reminder that for hundreds of years, the cultural and economic life of European civilization was powered by a vast network of shrines and pilgrimage destinations. Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela has been a constant since the Middle Ages, and thousands have walked the sacred way to the cathedral, which stretches about 500 miles from Biarritz in France all the way to Compostela. Upon arriving in the church, pilgrims complete their journey by climbing a staircase behind the main altar of the cathedral, where a gilded and bejeweled image of St. James is displayed. Pilgrims embrace the statue as if they are meeting a friend, placing their arms around the saint’s shoulders and delivering prayers that during their long pilgrimage were held as treasures in their hearts. – Fr. Steve Grunow