James the Less

James the Less (1st century), apostle. The son of Alphaeus is often but not certainly identified with the James whose mother stood by Christ on the Cross, and also with James, the ‘brother of the Lord’, who saw the risen Christ and is often called the first bishop of Jerusalem. He is also sometimes identified with the author of the Epistle of St. James. If none of these identifications is correct, we know practically nothing about James the Less. His traditional iconographic emblem is a fuller's club because he was believed to have been beaten to death with it, after being sentenced by the Sanhedrin in ad 62 to bestoned. In England only twenty-six churches are dedicated to James the Less, often together with Philip. Feast: with the Apostle Philip, 1 May, but 3 May since 1969 in the Roman calendar.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• O.D.C.C., s.v.; W. Patrick, James, the Lord's Brother (1906); R. P. Bedford, St. James the Less: a study in Christian Iconography (1911)