02Knights Templar - Julian Emperor

SAINTS
place at Tarrium in Persia and yet another states that he died
at Tarsuana, located to the east of the Persian Gulf. He is variously
described as having been put to death with a sword or
a spear and he is often depicted in religious art with one of
these emblems. Because of his profession his other main emblem
is a moneybag.
St James the Great
The brother of St John and the son of Zebedee, St James the
Great was the first of the apostles to become a martyr and die
for his faith. He was present at the Transfiguration of Christ
and during the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
He was martyred by King Herod Agrippa who persecuted
Christians as a means of winning favour with the Jews.
Agrippa was the grandson of the King Herod who had set in
motion the slaughter of the innocents when he learned of the
impending birth of a future king in the form of Jesus. St James
was beheaded with a sword and, consequently, this is one of
the symbols associated with him in religious art.The centre of
the cult of St James the Great is Santiago de Compostela in
Spain. It was claimed during the seventh century that he had
preached the gospel there and, in the ninth century, that he
had in fact been buried there. During the Middle Ages, it was
an extremely important centre for pilgrimage and only Rome
and Jerusalem possessed greater spiritual significance to
Christians.
The symbols most commonly associated with St James are
the pilgrim’s hat and staff and the scallop shell.These aspects
of his cult date from the period in the Middle Ages when his
shrine at Santiago de Compostela was such an important site
of pilgrimage and these were the items commonly carried by
pilgrims.The actual purpose of the scallop shell was to allow
•22•