Posted by John Strobl on August 21, 2010 under General | 
Pentecost (Season) The season after Pentecost, according to the calendar of the church year (BCP, p. 32). It begins on the Monday following Pentecost, and continues through most of the summer and autumn. It may include as many as twenty-eight Sundays, depending on the date of Easter. This includes Trinity Sunday which is the First Sunday after Pentecost. The BCP provides proper collects and readings for the other Sundays of the season. These propers are numbered and designated for use on the Sundays which are closest to specific days in the monthly calendar, whether before or after. For example, Proper 3 is designated for use, if needed, on the Sunday closest to May 25. Proper 29 is designated for use on the Sunday closest to Nov. 23. Prior to the 1979 BCP, Sundays in this long period of the church year were identified and counted in terms of the number of Sundays after Trinity Sunday instead of the number of Sundays after Pentecost. This period is also understood by some as “ordinary time,” a period of the church year not dedicated to a particular season or observance, as in the Roman Rite adapted after Vatican II.
Posted by John Strobl on May 22, 2010 under From The Rector |
St. James’ patron saint is Saint James the Apostle. Saint James is commemorated on July 25 of every year and St. James’ Day is celebrated,here at St. James’, on the Sunday closest to July 25.
The following is taken from The Proper for the Lesser Feasts and Fasts :
“James, the brother of John, is often known as James the Greater, to distinguish him from the other Apostle of the same name, commemorated in the calendar with Philip, and also from James ‘the brother of our Lord.’ He was the son of a prosperous Galilean fisherman, son of Zebedee, and with his brother John left his home and his trade in obedience to the call of Christ. With Peter and John, he seems to have belonged to an especially privileged group, whom Jesus chose to be witnesses of the Transfiguration, the raising of Jarius’ daughter, and the agony in the garden.
Apparently, James’ shared John’s hot-headed disposition, and Jesus nicknamed the brothers ‘Boanerges’ (Aramaic for ‘Sons of Thunder’). James’ expressed willingness to share the cup of Christ was realized in being the first of the Apostles to die for him. As the Acts of the Apostles records, ‘About that time Herod the King laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the Church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword’ (Acts 12:1-2).
According to an old tradition, the body of James was taken to Compostela, Spain, which has been a shrine for pilgrims for centuries. Among the Spaniards, James is one of the most popular saints. In the Middle Ages, under the title of Santiago (Spanish for ‘St. James’) de Compostela, his aid was especially invoked in battle against the Moors.”
