1st century
Saint James the Apostle, son of Zebedee
One of the Twelve Apostles, brother of John the Theologian.
Biography
James was the son of Zebedee and Salome and the elder brother of John the Evangelist. A fisherman in Galilee, he left his trade to follow Jesus.
Together with John and Peter, he belonged to Jesus' innermost circle of disciples, present at the Transfiguration, the raising of Jairus' daughter and the prayer at Gethsemane. Jesus called the two brothers "sons of thunder".
After Pentecost he preached in Palestine, and in AD 44 he was beheaded on the order of Herod Agrippa, the first of the Twelve to be martyred. In Western tradition, his relics are kept at Santiago de Compostela in Spain.