Mary, our Lady of the Pillar
James the Greater was one of Jesus’ closest friends, as were Peter and John. Son of Zebedee and Salome, brother of Saint John the Apostle, James may have been Jesus' cousin. He is called "the Greater" simply because he became an Apostle before Saint James the Lesser. Following Good Friday, The Resurrection, Ascension of Jesus into Heaven and that wonderful decent of The Holy Spirit at Pentecost, James commenced his own ministry. He spread the gospel, first over Israel and then over the Roman Empire. Later, he traveled to the Iberian Peninsula, arriving about 40 years after Christ, in the village of Saragossa, in Northeastern Spain. Nine others accompanied him on this journey. The name James is “Sant Iago” in Spanish. The country of his choice did not react very enthusiastically to the Good News. This caused him to be very sad.
One day, whilst he was at prayer, the Blessed Virgin appeared to James in a vision. She was atop a pillar of jaspar carried by the angels and she was holding a small wooden statue of herself. She gave the pillar and statue to James requesting that a church be built on the same spot, in her honor, and the items she gave him were to be used on the altar. He built a small chapel for her, which later was replaced with the Basilica on the same spot. In the vision she also recalled him to Jerusalem. So after the chapel was completed, he returned to Jerusalem where he was martyred by Herod in 44 AD.
Because he was denied burial after his martyrdom, his followers took his remains to Compostela, Spain. There they found a suitable burial ground. Centuries later the Moors forced their way into Ibiza and took over the entire peninsula in 711. Nobody thought about St James’ remains, or his grave. It wasn't until the ninth century that rumours spread that the tomb of James, the Apostle, was in Northern Spain. It was Charles The Great who conquered the grave of the “unbeliever” and demanded large pilgrimages to Compostela. A chapel was built above James' remains. Soon after, this chapel became too small and a new and much larger Church was built. This Church was consecrated in 889 and remained standing for nearly a century when in 997, the Moors burned it down. St James’ tomb had become the centre of the small town, Santiago de Compostela. Flavia, Bishop of Iria, took up his holiday residence there, which provided advantageous to Compostela. It was time to build a new cathedral. Blessed in 1211, the Cathedral of Santiago still stands today.
Mary, our Lady of the Rosary
Pope St. Pius V established this feast in 1573. The purpose was to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto—a victory attributed to the praying of the rosary. Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716.
The development of the rosary has a long history. First, a practice developed of praying 150 Our Fathers in imitation of the 150 Psalms. Then there was a parallel practice of praying 150 Hail Marys. Soon a mystery of Jesus' life was attached to each Hail Mary. Though Mary's giving the rosary to St. Dominic is recognized as a legend, the development of this prayer form owes much to the followers of St. Dominic. One of them, Alan de la Roche, was known as "the apostle of the rosary." He founded the first Confraternity of the Rosary in the 15th century. In the 16th century the rosary was developed to its present form—with the 15 mysteries (joyful, sorrowful and glorious). In 2002, Pope John Paul II added the Mysteries of Light to this devotion.
