Liber Sancti Jacobi, Book III, Translatio of Saint James

HERE BEGINS THE PROLOGUE OF POPE SAINT CALIXTUS TO THE TRANSLATIO OF SAINT JAMES THE GREATER

I did not want to leave out the Translatio of Saint James from our codex, as such wonders and treasures are written down in it to the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the apostle, and these thin in no way differ from the letter that bears the title of Saint Leo. However, it should be noted that, while Saint James had many disciples, he had twelve special ones. One reads that he chose three in the region of Jerusalem, and Hermogenes was made their bishop, and Philetus was made their archdeacon. After Hermogenes’s martyrdom at Antioch, and after they were favored with many miracles, they took rest in the Lord from a holy life. Blessed Josias, the servant of Herod, together with the apostle, was also crowned with martyrdom. The apostle is said to have chosen nine disciples in Galicia while he still lived there. Of these disciples, seven went with him to Jerusalem and carried his body over the sea to Galicia after his martyrdom, while the other two remained in Galicia for the purpose of preaching. Saint Jerome wrote about them in his Martyrology, just as he had learned from Saint Chromatius: after the body of James was buried in Galicia, they were ordained by the apostles Peter and Paul with episcopal vestments in Rome, and they were sent to Spain, which was still shrouded in pagan error.¹ Finally, however, countless people were instructed by their preaching, and Torquatus in Guadix, Tissephons in Vera, Secundus in Avila, Endalecius in Urci, Cecilius in Heliberri, Esicius in Carcese and Eufrasius in Eliturgi entered into rest, undoubtedly on the Ides of May. A very great miracle occurs even today as a witness to their worthy death. For it is said that every year on the previously mentioned feast, namely on the vigil, in the city of Guadix at the sepulcher of Saint Torquatus,² the olive tree behind the church by divine power flowers and is adorned with mature fruits from which oil is made right away. With this oil, the lamps are lit before his venerable altar. However, two other disciples, namely Athanasius and Theodorus, as is written in the Letter of Pope Saint Leo, are buried next to the apostle’s body, one on the right and the other on the left. And it should not appear to anyone that Athanasius might be Esicius, as Esicius is one person and Athanasius is another. But it remains for us to say something about the small book of this Translatio. It is related to a certain pilgrim and happens in our time. A certain cleric, who is known to me and who is devoted to and a pilgrim of Saint James, wanted to bring this Translatio and certain other miracles of the apostle back with him to his own country. He had a certain writer named Fernando in the apostle’s city copy it, and he paid him twenty Rouen coins³ as the price. When he had received the small book at the given price and when he was reading alone secretly in a certain corner of the apostle’s basilica, he found in his lap the same number of coins as he had given to the writer, and he believed they had not been placed there by any mortal but rather by the apostle through divine power. Because of this, the blessed apostle, who very quickly paid back his servant with earthly gifts, is believed to be a most generous disburser of heavenly gifts.

HERE BEGINS THE TRANSLATlO OF SAINT JAMES THE APOSTLE AND BROTHER OF SAINT JOHN THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST

THIS TRANSLATIO IS CELEBRATED ON THE THIRD CALENDS OF JANUARY.⁴

CONCERNING HOW HE WAS BROUGHT FROM JERUSALEM TO GALICIA.

After the Passion of our Savior and after the most glorious triumph of His Resurrection and after His miraculous Ascension, in which He ascended to the seat of His Father, and also after the Holy Spirit’s outpouring in bursts of flame over the apostles whom He had chosen, they were enlightened by the ray of wisdom and illuminated by heavenly grace, and they disclosed the name of Christ with their preaching far and wide to peoples and to nations. Of these apostles, there stood out from the esteemed group of wondrous virtue, Saint James–blessed in life, admirable in virtue, bright in genius and splendid in speech–whose brother John is held as an evangelist and apostle. So much grace was given to James by divine power that the Lord of inestimable glory Himself did not fail to be transfigured with incomparable brightness before his eyes on Mount Tabor, as Peter and John stood with him as true witnesses. While the others went to different regions ofthe world, James, by the will of God, traveled on to the shores of the West and there he eloquently and dauntlessly sowed the word of God among the people living there and dwelling in their native land. There he remained a short time, while a wheat field that he wanted to have cultivated became fruitful among the thorns. He was supported by Christ and is reported to have chosen seven followers, whose names are the following: Torquatus, Secundus, Endalccius, Tissephons, Eufrasius, Cecilius, and Yscius. This group of men would wipe out the rye, pulling it up by the roots,⁵ and would willingly commit the seeds of the Word to this persistently long-sterile ground. And when his final day was imminent, James, from whose comrade-like solace not a single one of the followers is ever turned away, went quickly to Jerusalem. The wicked band of Sadducee and Pharisee surrounded him and posed questions to him about Christ with the unimaginable and unlawful craftiness of the serpent, but he was filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and his eloquence was truly surpassed by no one. Because of this, their roaring wrath was incited. and raged more bitterly against him, and this wrath was ignited and grew wild, and the zeal of envy goaded them on so much so that he was seized and assaulted with savage brutality by these violent people and was handed over to the fierce sentence of death before Herod.⁶

After he had poured forth a wave of red blood, he was crowned with triumphant martyrdom, soared away to heaven, and was crowned with an everlasting laurel wreath. His disciples, however, furtively seized their master’s dead body and with great labor and excited haste went off to the shores and found a ship ready for them. They climbed in, set out on the high sea, and on the seventh day they arrived at the port of Iria, which is in Galicia, and they approached their destination using their oars.

They did not hesitate at that time to give copious thanks and worthy praise to the author of these things, as much for such great favor granted to them by God, for they escaped at times the ambushes of pirates, at times collisions with projecting rocks, and at times the dark jaws of gaping whirlpools without harm to anyone. Therefore, supported by such a great a patron, they directed their minds to the remaining things beneficial for their needs, and they tried to determine what place of rest the Lord might have chosen for His martyr. And so, they journeyed to the east, and they carried and then set down his sacred coffin at the estate of a certain woman by the name of Luparia about five miles from the city.

They asked who was the owner of that place, and they found out from the statements of some inhabitants of the province, and these inhabitants eagerly and passionately wanted to become participants in their search. At last, as one might expect, they went to speak to the woman and told, in order, the events that had occurred. They requested a certain temple where she had placed a statue to be adored, which through the mistaken error of paganism was frequently visited as a shrine.

Although she was of most distinguished birth, and through the ultimate intervention of fate, was widowed from her husband, and although she was given over to profane superstition, she did not forget her nobility. She would reject any union with both noble and lowborn men alike, lest she should defile her former marital bond as if she were a harlot. Certainly, before she would give a response of any sort, she would reflect many times on their request and words, and she considered in the depth of her heart in what way she would hand them over to deadly destruction.

Finally she returned with her word, and raging with treachery, she said: “Go and ask the king who is staying in Dugium⁷ and request a place from him where you might prepare a sepulcher for your dead person.

They obeyed her words. One group watched. over the apostolic body in one place, in the ritual way for earthly remains, and the other group went speedily over a rugged mountain path and arrived quickly at the royal palace. There they were led into his presence, surely greeting him in a regal manner, and revealed in their tale who they were, where they were from, and why they had come there.

While in the beginning the king was attentive and benevolent about their plea, he was nevertheless struck by an incredible stupor, and he hesitated about what was to be done. After being stricken by a demoniacal dart, like a savage, he ordered that traps be set out secretly and the Christ-worshipers be killed. However they learned this privately by the will of God, so they departed fleeing hastily away. When, however, their flight was reported to the king, he was aroused by a most bitter ire, and he took on the rage of a rabid lion. Then together with those who were in his court, he steadfastly pursued the tracks of the fleeing God-worshippers. And it had come almost to the point where the disciples were afraid that they would be abandoned to the hands of these cruel pursuers. So they were fearful while the pursuers were confident as they reached the bridge of a certain river at one and the same moment. Then, by the sudden judgment of God Almighty, the stonework of the bridge they were walking on was dissolved and completely destroyed from its top down to its foundation. And so the certain judgment of God, who is Eternal Judge and King, determined that out of the entire crowd of those pursuing, not a single one should survive who could retell in the hall of the king the things that had happened.

At the sound of the falling weapons and stones, the holy men turned their heads and proclaimed the mighty works of God as they gazed upon the bodies and horses and military weapons of the great men that were pathetically whirled about under the water of the river, just as an army had suffered with the people of Canopus.⁸ Therefore, helped by the right hand of God and animated and impassioned by this event, the disciples took a more favorable path to the woman’s house and told her how the savage decision of the king demanded that they be killed and what God had done against him as revenge. Moreover, they stood firm in insisting that she give over the aforementioned house dedicated to demons to be dedicated to God. They urged and insisted that she reject the hand-made idols that can neither benefit her nor damage others nor see with their eyes nor hear a word with their ears nor smell with their noses nor use any of their members at all as functioning limbs.

Her mind was moved at the drowning of the king since she feared for death of her relatives and in-laws. Yet she was deaf of good counsel, as often happens in such matters, and so, just as if they were deemed frauds, she schemed with a frivolous and vain trick. While the disciples were rather strongly urging her with requests that she offer a small part of her estate for burying the remains of the most holy man, she was considering new and unusual battle plans, and she thought she might be able to kill them by some deception, so she began to speak with the following thought and said: “Since I see your purpose is so efficaciously focused on this and that you never want to be foolish about it, I have tame cattle on a certain mountain. Go there and take them and take whatever else might seem very useful to you along with them, and build. If you lack any provision, I will willingly undertake to give these things to you.

When the apostolic men heard this, they did not weigh carefully womanly creatures, and went joyfully until they arrived at the mountain, and they saw something other than what they expected. While they were walking the boundaries of the mountain, unexpectedly a giant dragon, whose frequent attacks of the neighboring dwellings of the villages laid waste all around with the same misfortune, came out of its cave spewing flames and sending fire on the saints of God and sprang out as if in an attack and threatened destruction.

Then they recalled the teachings of the Faith and fearlessly wielded the Cross as a defense and drove him away with their resistance. As he was not worthy to bear the sign of the Lord, he burst open from the middle of his stomach. With the battle finished, they fixed their gaze on heaven and made vows from the depth of their hearts to the highest King. Finally, so that the throng of demons would be driven out of there, they exorcised the place with water that they sprinkled everywhere on the whole mountain. And this mountain, formerly called Illicinus – as if to say “misled,” because many mortals were badly seduced before then and supported rituals for the demons–now was named Mom Sacer, that is, Mount Holy, by these men.⁹

From there they also saw from afar the cattle deceitfully promised to them, which were wandering about, untamed and bellowing, tossing dirt into the air with their horns onto the top of their heads, and pawing the ground forcefully with the hooves of their feet. Immediately, a great gentle docility crept over these cattle who were facing each other across the slope of the mountain and with their dangerous running were threatening one another with the cruelty of death. Now those who were previously rushing headlong with savage ferocity, so as to bring disaster, lowered their necks to the hands of the holy men and pointed their horns away. And the holy bearers of the body actually petted the harsh animals made mild, and without delay quickly placed yokes on them, walked on a straight path, and with the yoked cattle entered the palace of the woman.

The woman was certainly stunned, and she recognized these wondrous miracles, and she was stirred by these three obvious signs, and she complied with their request. From an impudent person she was made into an obedient one. The small building was handed over to them, and she was reborn by the threefold name of faith.¹⁰ She–along with her family–became a believer in the name of Christ. And so, with God inspiring her, after previously being deluded by senseless error, she was imbued with the dogma of faith, and she became humble and was bent rather than upright. She destroyed the idols, and she demolished whatever temples were under her control

With these overthrown and minutely reduced to powder, the ground was excavated, and a great sepulcher was constructed. with wondrous stone work where the apostolic body was buried with artful genius. A church of some size was built above on that spot, and it was adorned with a rich altar and affords a pleasing entrance to a devout people.

In a short time, after the people had been instructed with the knowledge of faith by the disciples of this apostle, from the formerly squalid fields, after being sprinkled with heavenly dew, there was soon an abundant harvest that was increased and offered to God.¹¹ However, out of reverence: for him, two attendants of this teacher constantly watched with the greatest love over this sepulcher. At the certain but unknown limit of life, they paid their debt to nature, breathed out their breath in a happy death, and gave up their souls to heaven rejoicing. Their illustrious teacher did not abandon them on earth or in heaven. On the contrary, he arranged through divine intervention for them to be gathered with him, as he, adorned with a purple stole and wearing a crown, gleamed in the heavenly court, together with his followers, ready to protect the unfortunate who make requests of him with unfaltering voice.

With the help of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, whose kingdom and power remains, for ever and ever. Amen.

The excerpt on the translatio is from The Miracles and Translatio of Saint James, edited by Thomas F. Coffey and Maryjane Dunn, Italica Press, 2019.