Far from religious fervor and if we stop to study history as science, removing the decorations and going back to the original events, data that can be verified through writings, engravings, paintings, etc. If we stick to folk traditionwe will realize that there is no self-respecting church in Spain that does not have a relic of some saint or the hackneyed nail of Christ, without forgetting the amount of splinters of the crossdistributed by all the churches of a certain entity throughout Christendom.
Legends, myths, miracles, what is true and false. One of the perhaps least known stories, despite everything, is the relationship between Santiago Apostle with Spain. Why is a day dedicated to this saint, becoming the Patron Saint of Spain, what was his true story or what is real about it, let’s reveal Why Santiago Apóstol is celebrated in Spain.
Why Santiago Apóstol is celebrated in Spain | Who was Santiago Apostle
James of Zebedee or also known as Santiago Matamoros, called in the new testament Santiago el Mayor or old, was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. He was nicknamed the Elder, to distinguish him from James the Less, brother of Judas.
There is not much information about his birth or his childhood, but it seems possible that he was born in Galileemore specifically in Bethsaida. His family was reduced to his parents Zebedee and Salome and a brother Juan better known as John the Apostle, author of the Gospel according to Saint John.
James the Elder died in Jerusalem around the years 41 and 44 AD From here we could expand on the life of Santiago the Elder, but the purpose of this article is to know why Santiago Apóstol is celebrated in Spain and with what we have seen, there is no relationship of any kind with Spain so far.
Why Santiago Apóstol is celebrated in Spain | medieval tradition
According to tradition going back to the medieval times, When Christ died on the cross and after his resurrection, the Holy Spirit came in the form of tongues of flame, before the disciples, this happened 50 days after his resurrection, what we know today Pentecost. The message was to spread the word of God.
From this moment on, the Apostles dedicated themselves to evangelizing, dividing up the different regions of the Roman Empire. It may be that to Santiago el Mayor had to preach in Hispania.
From here the different theories:
There is a theory that Santiago would have crossed through the Mediterraneanarriving at the Island of Sancti Petri, where he consecrated the temple of hercules up there, to San Pedro. Later he managed to reach the Betic coast, a coast that bordered reaching present-day Portugal, a practically uninhabited place. He went up bordering the portuguese sea coast until you reach the Roman region of Gallaecia.
Other traditions or legends, They talk about the arrival of Santiago in the Mediterranean Region of Tarracocurrent Tarragona, from there it continued through the Ebro Valley until reaching the link with the Roman road of the North, which was helped to go through the Cantabrian Mountains and end in Gallaecia.
Another version tells usand the arrival of Santiago the Elder to Carthago Nova (The new Cartago or the current Cartagena), disembarking near the Santa Lucia neighborhood, from there I would tour the peninsula up to Gallaecia.
Why Santiago Apóstol is celebrated in Spain | The history
What is known is that the evangelization of the Apostle was not very fruitful. Hispania was a Roman province and in the beginning the story that Santiago told did not penetrate the population, more concerned with surviving.
Santiago throughout his evangelizing tour of the peninsula got only a handful of followersamong these there were only 7 those who continued their evangelizing work in the Roman province of Hispania.
Santiago finally returned to Jerusalem around the year 44, when he was arrested, tortured and later beheaded by order of Herod Agrippaas a last humiliation, burial was prohibited.
It was during the night, when his disciples secretly, they took his body and the deposited in a boat that previously had been prepared to sail, but it would have to go without a crew, we cannot forget that Christianity was severely persecuted.
The body was deposited in a box made of marble.the boat with the body of the Apostle guided by the tides reached the shores of Gallaecia, went up the ulla river and ended up in the capital of the Roman province, in Iria Flavia.
Who found the boat and the body, they decided to bury him in a nearby compostum, in the forest of Liberum Donumright there and an altar was built on the marble ark.
Little by little and after different prohibitions, oblivion took over the place. It was not until almost 8 centuries later, when Pelayoa hermit who lived in that area, was surprised a glow and some songs that came from the forest.
When Pelayo related this event, that place began to be called Campus Stellae, or Field of Stars, by the glare and light that the hermit had described. The name would eventually derive from Campus Stellae to Compostela.
the bishop of Iria Flavia, When Don Teodomiro heard what had happened through Pelayo’s mouth, he headed towards the magical place. Pulling out some weeds Theodomir discovered what looked like human remains encased in a marble box, but that box had an inscription, “Jacob (James, in Hebrew)”.
After this discovery, King Alfonso II was informed, who going to the burial place proclaimed Santiago Apóstol as patron saint of the kingdom. Shortly after in that same place a shrine was erected in honor of the Saint. This Sanctuary would later become the Cathedral.
Since this discovery, miracles and apparitions began to happenalways around the same place, giving rise to a large number of legends and stories, stories that were used to instill the necessary value to the soldiers and warriors that they fought against the Islamic advance that threatened the north of the peninsula.
The spectacular story spread quickly. Saint James the Greater for all Christendom. Christians from all over Europe traveled hundreds of kilometers to reach Iria Flavia and more specifically the Campus Stellae, these roads began to fill pilgrims, Thus, the routes of the Santiago’s road.
Why Santiago Apóstol is celebrated in Spain | Santiago Matamoros
Epic stories that served to raise the morale of the troops, like the one he narrated as Ramiro I, who defeated the armies of Abderraman II, thanks to a horseman mounted on a white horse who fought during the fight at his side, in the battle of clavijothis rider was identified as Santiago Apostol. Being born in this way the legend that would convert Santiago in pattern of the Reconquest.
Another story that is attributed to Santiago, happened in Navas de Tolosawhen Don Diego López II of Haro fighting alongside the spirit of Santiagogot a proof of this phenomenon, nowadays relic located in the Monastery of Cañas, it is about the tracks of the horseshoes of the Horse of Santiagoleft as a mark in the mud of battle.
From now on the veneration of the Saint grew until in the eleventh century, all Christian kings and princes came as pilgrims to the Saint, thus becoming an important source of attraction for Christianity.
Why Santiago Apóstol is celebrated in Spain | the pilgrimage
Over the years and due to the large influx of pilgrims, the first guide for the pilgrim was drafted and writtenwhere the different routes or paths that ensured the arrival to Compostela would be described, that guide was called Codex Calixtinusplacing us in the centuries XII and XIII, date of the codex.
later with him Pope Calixtus II, Compostela Church received the title of Full Jubilee of the Holy Year. Alexander III later declared to Santiago de Compostela as Holy Citygiving it the same status as Jerusalem and Rome.
Why Santiago Apóstol is celebrated in Spain | Currently
Today there is no evidence about what the remains that are in the crypt of the Cathedral of Santiago, now collected in a silver urn, ccorrespond with those of the Apostle James the Elder or the Elder. In the XIX century, a study carried out by the Order of Santiago itself, affirmed that the remains deposited there corresponded to those of the Apostle. But today the church has never given consent to conduct studies directly on these remains.
The remains possibly belong to some important person of the Roman times in Hispaniaand it was even suspected that they could be the remains of the Bishop Priscillian. whatever it was in 1884 and to quell possible doubts, Pope Leo XIIIby means of a Bull, I reaffirm ownership of the remains in favor of the Apostle.
Since then and due to the different traditions and legends that placed the Saint in different cities of Roman Hispania, united to the fundamental help that the Saint gave to the Christians for the expulsion of Islam from the Peninsula, caused him to be a Saint revered throughout the country, becoming for this reason the Spain pattern.
The day of the Saint is celebrated on July 25, if this day falls on a Sunday, that year is considered Holy Year and therefore Jubilee yearwhere Christians receive the indulgence that the Pope of Rome granted to Catholics who come in pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago.
Celebrate Santiago on july 25it dates back to to 1919, After a meeting held in Santiago de Compostela by the Irmandades da Fala, an organization of Spanish origin with an outstanding Galician nationalist idea that developed various political and cultural activities in the region. This Assembly agrees to designate the day 25 as the National Day of Galicia.
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