Feast Day of St. James

Guinness St. James Gate

Since mediaeval times, Dubliners held an annual drinking festival in the Saint’s honor. Fittingly, Guinness chose St. James’ Gate as the site for their brewery

Saint James the Greater

Saint James the Greater is one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ and one of the worlds most popular saints. Saint James, or Sant Iago as he is known in the Galician language, is also the patron saint of Galicia. July 25th, St. James Day, is Galicias National Day.

Fishermen Brothers St. James and his brother St. John made their living as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. Both apostles were among the first disciples to join Jesus. James is believed to have been martyred on AD 44 by king Herod Agrippa I, grandson of king Herod the Great. Tradition has it that after James death his relics were taken to Spain and laid secretly in Galicia, where they were eventually forgotten.

During the 9th century AD his burial place was re-discovered and his shrine became one of the three most important Christian pilgrimage destinations in the world, together with Jerusalem and Rome.