Why is Saint James the Less sometimes represented by a windmill in Christian symbology?

Answer 1

According to Emblems of Saints by Frederick Charles Husenbeth (A. H. Goose & Co., 1882), the emblem of a windmill for James the Less stems from his martyrdom, having been beaten to death with a "fuller's club." Pictured in the south parclose screen at St. Helen's church in Ranworth, Norfolk, in England, there is a painting of the child St. James the Less at his mother's feet holding a toy mill meant to represent a fuller's mill. Thus a "fuller's mill" over centuries became a windmill, now a symbol of the saint. --Hilarie Cornwell Chico, Californiaauthor, "Saints, Signs, and Symbols, Third Edition," coming from Morehouse Publishing in 2009.www.CornwellScribeWorks.com

Answer 2

Saint James the Less is sometimes represented by a windmill in Christian symbolism because in traditional iconography, he is often depicted as holding a fuller's club, which was used in the process of fulling cloth. The association with the fuller's club led to the windmill being linked to him due to both being tools used in the processing of textiles.