Saint James the Elder

 

Saint James the Elder

 

Saint James the Elder

James the Elder, called like that to differentiate him from the other homonymous apostle, has prominent role on the Gospels and dies beheaded in Jerusalem. Big part of his relevance comes due to a legend that considers him an evangelist of the Iberian Peninsula and places his sepulchre in Santiago de Compostela, a place that, for that reason, in the Middle Ages became one of the main pilgrimage centers.

 

Related to this story, his image is that of a pilgrim, with a hat a wide brim decorated with the shell (venera jacobea), a pilgrim’s staff and the bag, among others.