Catholic Fire

Today, July 25, is the feast day of St. James the Greater. St. James, known as the Greater, in order to distinguish him from the other apostle James, our Lord's cousin. St. James the Greater was one of the apostles of Jesus Christ, the son of Zebedee and Salome, the brother of John the Evangelist, and, like him, a fisherman. James and John came to be called "Boanerges" ("Sons of Thunder") -- a name given to them by Jesus Himself -- due to their passionate preaching style and their evangelical zeal. James the Greater and his brother John were mending the nets on their boats on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus called them to follow Him to become "fishers of men." With Peter and John, he witnesses the cure of Peter's mother-in-law, the raising of Jairus' daughter, Jesus' Transfiguration, and Christ's Agony in the garden of Gethsemani. In his own ministry, James spread the gospel message to Samaria, Judea, and Spain. He returned to Je...

Today, in many parts of the world, the Catholic Church commemorates the feast of Our Lady of Ransom, also known as Our Lady of Mercy or Nuestra Señora de la Merced. The Blessed Virgin appeared in 1218 in separate visions to St. Peter Nolasco, St. Raymund of Penafort, and James, king of Aragon, asking them to found a religious order dedicated to freeing Christian captives from the barbarous Saracens or Moors, who at that time held a great part of Spain. On August 10, 1218, King James established the royal, military and religious Order of our Lady of Ransom (first known as the Order of St. Eulalia, now known as the Mercedarian Order ), with the members granted the privilege of wearing his own arms on their breast. Most of the members were knights, and while the clerics recited the divine office in the commanderies, they guarded the coasts and delivered prisoners. This pious work spread everywhere and produced heroes of charity who collected alms for the ransom of Christians, and oft...