_Lat._ S. Jacobus Frater Domini. _Gr._ Adelphotheos. _Ital._ San
Jacopo or Giacomo Minore. _Fr._ St. Jacques Mineur. (May 1.)
The ninth is St. James Minor, or the Less, called also the Just: he
was a near relative of Christ, being the son of Mary, the wife of
Cleophas, who was the sister of the Virgin Mary; hence he is styled
‘the Lord’s brother.’ Nothing particular is related of him till after
the ascension. He is regarded as first Christian bishop of Jerusalem,
and venerated for his self-denial, his piety, his wisdom, and his
charity. These characteristics are conspicuous in the beautiful Epistle
which bears his name. Having excited, by the fervour of his teaching,
the fury of the Scribes and Pharisees, and particularly the enmity of
the high-priest Ananus, they flung him down from a terrace or parapet
of the Temple, and one of the infuriated populace below beat out his
brains with a _fuller’s club_.
In single figures and devotional pictures, St. James is generally
leaning on this club, the instrument of his martyrdom. According to
an early tradition, he so nearly resembled our Lord in person, in
features, and deportment, that it was difficult to distinguish them.
‘The Holy Virgin herself,’ says the legend, ‘had she been _capable_
of error, might have mistaken one for the other:’ and this exact
resemblance rendered necessary the kiss of the traitor Judas, in order
to point out his victim to the soldiers.
This characteristic resemblance is attended to in the earliest and
best representations of St. James, and by this he may usually be
distinguished when he does not bear his club, which is often a thick
stick or staff. With the exception of those Scripture scenes in which
the apostles are present, I have met with few pictures in which St.
James Minor is introduced: he does not appear to have been popular as
a patron saint. The event of his martyrdom occurs very seldom, and
is very literally rendered: the scene is a court of the Temple, with
terraces and balconies; he is falling, or has fallen, to the ground,
and one of the crowd lifts up the club to smite him.
Ignorant artists have in some instances confounded St. James Major and
St. James Minor. The Cappella dei Belludi at Padua, already mentioned,
dedicated to St. Philip and St. James, contains a series of frescoes
from the life of St. James Minor, in which are some of the miraculous
incidents attributed in the Legenda Aurea to St. James Major.
[Illustration: 82 St. James Minor]
1. The Council of the Apostles held at Jerusalem, in which St. James
was nominated chief or bishop of the infant Church. 2. Our Saviour
after his resurrection appears to St. James, who had vowed not to eat
till he should see Christ.[228] 3. St. James thrown down from the
pulpit in the court of the Temple. 4. He is slain by the fuller. 5.
A certain merchant is stript of all his goods by a tyrant, and cast
into prison. He implores the protection of St. James, who, leading
him to the summit of the tower, commands the tower to bow itself to
the ground, and the merchant steps from it and escapes; or, according
to the version followed in the fresco, the apostle lifts the tower on
one side from its foundation, and the prisoner escapes from under it,
like a mouse out of a trap. 6. A poor pilgrim, having neither money nor
food, fell asleep by the way-side, and, on waking, found that St. James
had placed beside him a loaf of bread, which miraculously supplied his
wants to the end of his journey. These two last stories are told also
of St. James of Galicia, but I have never met with any pictures of his
life in which they are included. Here they undoubtedly refer to St.
James Minor, the chapel being consecrated to his honour.
ST. SIMON ZELOTES (or THE ZEALOT). ST. JUDE (THADDEUS, or LEBBEUS).
_Ital._ San Simone; San Taddeo. _Fr._ St. Simon le Zélé. St. Thaddée.
_Ger._ Judas Thaddäus. (Oct. 28.)
The uncertainty, contradiction, and confusion which I find in all
the ecclesiastical biographies relative to these apostles, make it
impossible to give any clear account of them; and as subjects of Art
they are so unimportant, and so uninteresting, that it is the less
necessary. According to one tradition, they were the same mentioned by
Matthew as our Lord’s brethren or kinsmen. But, according to another
tradition, they were not the same, but two brothers who were among
the shepherds to whom the angel and the heavenly host revealed the
birth of the Saviour. Those painters who followed the first tradition
represent Simon and Jude as young, or at least in the prime of life.
Those who adopt the second represent them as very old, taking it for
granted that at the birth of Christ they must have been full-grown men;
and this, I think, is the legend usually followed. It seems, however,
generally agreed, that they preached the Gospel together in Syria and
Mesopotamia, and together suffered martyrdom in Persia: in what manner
they suffered is unknown; but it is supposed that St. Simon was sawn
asunder, and St. Thaddeus killed with a halberd.
In a series of apostles, St. Simon bears the saw, and St. Thaddeus a
halberd. In Greek Art, Jude and Thaddeus are two different persons.
Jude is represented young, Thaddeus old. St. Simon in extreme old age,
with a bald head, and long white beard. In the Greek representation
of his martyrdom, he is affixed to a cross exactly like that of our
Saviour, so that, but for the superscription Ο CΙΜΩΝ, he might be
mistaken for Christ. I do not know of any separate picture of these
apostles.
There is, however, one manner of treating them, with reference to
their supposed relationship to our Saviour, which is peculiarly
beautiful. Assuming that the three last-named apostles, James, the
son of Mary Cleophas; Simon and Jude; Joseph or Joses the Just, also
named by Matthew among the brethren of Christ; together with James
and John, the sons of Mary Salome,—were all nearly related to the
Saviour; it was surely a charming idea to group as children around
him in his infancy those who were afterwards called to be the chosen
ministers of his Word. Christianity, which has glorified womanhood and
childhood, never suggested to the Christian artist a more beautiful
subject, nor one which it would be more easy, by an unworthy or too
picturesque treatment, to render merely pretty and commonplace. This
version, however, of the _Sacra Famiglia_ is rarely met with. There is
an example in the Louvre, signed ‘Laurentius’ (Lorenzo di Pavia, A.D.
1513), which is remarkable as a religious representation; but the most
beautiful instance of this treatment is a _chef-d’œuvre_ of Perugino,
in the Musée at Marseilles. In the centre is the Virgin, seated on a
throne; she holds the Infant Christ in her arms. Behind her is St.
Anna, her two hands resting affectionately on the shoulders of the
Virgin. In front, at the foot of the throne, are two lovely children,
undraped, with glories round their heads, on which are inscribed their
names, Simon and Thaddeus. To the right is Mary Salome, a beautiful
young woman, holding a child in her arms—St. John, afterwards the
evangelist. Near her is Joachim, the father of the Virgin. At his feet
another child, James Major. To the left of the Virgin, Mary the wife of
Cleophas, standing, holds by the hand James Minor: behind her, Joseph,
the husband of the Virgin, and at his feet another child, Joseph (or
Joses) Justus. I have also seen this subject in illuminated MSS., and,
however treated, it is surely very poetical and suggestive.[229]