Saint James the Less

Among the men named James (יעקב "Holder of the heel; supplanter"; Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew ), in the New Testament, whose number may be increased by the variety of epithets and euphemisms applied to them, James son of Alphaeus (or Clopas), is called "James the Less" or the Younger to distinguish him from Saint James the Great and Saint James the Just. He was a brother of the apostle Matthew (Alphaeus being the father of both) and the son of a Mary (whom Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and others maintain must not be confused with Mary, the mother of Jesus).

He appears in the slightly varying lists of the Twelve Apostles, as does James the Great: ; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13. He is also mentioned when his mother appears in Mark 15:40 (where he is labelled "less", "little" or "younger" depending on the translation) and ; her marriage to Clopas is probably mentioned in John 19:25''.

Not much is known about his later ministry. Eusebius of Caesarea reported a tradition identifing him with James the Just, the head of the early Christian Church in Jerusalem. Modern biblical scholars usually distinguish them.

According to tradition, even though James the Less clung strongly to Jewish law, he was sentenced to death for having violated the Torah. It is said that James the Less was martyred by crucifixion at the city of Ostrakine in Lower Egypt, where he was preaching the Gospel. A carpenter's saw is the symbol associated with him in Christian art because it is also noted that his body was later sawed to pieces ^*.

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Catholic Encyclopedia: Saint James the Less

References

James the Less: The Latter Rain Page

Christian martyrs | Saints | Coptic saints | Followers of Jesus | Jews who converted to Christianity

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