FEAST DAY - May 3

St. James the Less was a brother of St. Jude and came from Cana a city of Galilee. After the Apostles dispersed he became the bishop of Jerusalem. He wrote the letters of James in the New Testament. When he refused to deny Christ the Jews viciously killed him. His title of the less was to distinguish him from James the Great the brother of St. John, sons of Zebedee. Relics of James and Philip are found in the Holy XII Apostles Church in Rome.

‍            St. Phillip was one of Jesus’ first Apostles, being a disciple of John the Baptist he witnessed Christ’s baptism an immediately followed him from there. He was from Bethsaida, the town of Simon and Andrew. Phillip found his friend Nathaniel and said, we have found the him whom Moses and the Prophets wrote. Nathaniel then became the Apostle we know as Bartholomew. At the Last Supper Phillip says, to Jesus, “Lord show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “He who has seen me has seen the Father…… I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Phillip is eighth in Apostolic list in the Roman Canon. He is named after the groups of brothers Peter and Andrew and James and John. He is the patron saint of Luxembourg and Uruguay.