But it was not only on such great occasions that the invincible patron of Spain was pleased to exhibit his power: he condescended oftentimes to interfere for the protection of the poor and oppressed, of which I will now give a notable instance, as it is related by Pope Calixtus II.
There was a certain German, who with his wife and son went on a pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella. Having come as far as Torlosa, they lodged at an inn there; and the host had a fair daughter, who, looking on the son of the pilgrim, a handsome and a graceful youth, became deeply enamoured; but he, being virtuous, and, moreover, on his way to a holy shrine, refused to listen to her allurements. Then she thought how she might be avenged for this slight put upon her charms, and hid in his wallet her father’s silver drinking-cup. The next morning, no sooner were they departed, than the host, discovering his loss, pursued them, accused them before the judge, and the cup being found in the young man’s wallet, he was condemned to be hung, and all they possessed was confiscated to the host.
Then the afflicted parents pursued their way lamenting, and made their prayer and their complaint before the altar of the blessed Saint Jago; and thirty-six days afterwards as they returned by the spot where their son hung on the gibbet, they stood beneath it, weeping and lamenting bitterly. Then the son spoke and said, ‘O my mother! O my father! do not lament for me, for I have never been in better cheer; the blessed apostle James is at my side, sustaining me and filling me with celestial comfort and joy!’ The parents, being astonished, hastened to the judge, who at that moment was seated at table, and the mother called out, ‘Our son lives!’ The judge mocked at them: ‘What sayest thou, good woman? thou art beside thyself! If thy son liveth, so do those fowls in my dish.’ And lo! scarcely had he uttered the words, when the fowls (being a cock and a hen) rose up full-feathered in the dish, and the cock began to crow, to the great admiration of the judge and his attendants.[212] Then the judge rose up from table hastily, and called together the priests and the lawyers, and they went in procession to the gibbet, took down the young man, and restored him to his parents; and the miraculous cock and hen were placed under the protection of the Church, where they and their posterity long flourished in testimony of this stupendous miracle.
75 St. James Major (Gio. Santi)
There are many other legends of St. James; the Spanish chroniclers in prose and verse abound in such; but, in general, they are not merely incredible, but puerile and unpoetical; and I have here confined myself to those which I know to have been treated in Art.
Previous to the twelfth century, St. James is only distinguished among the apostles by his place, which is the fourth in the series, the second after St. Peter and St. Paul. In some instances he is portrayed with a family resemblance to Christ, being his kinsman; the thin beard, and the hair parted and flowing down on each side. But from the thirteenth century it became a fashion to characterise St. James as a pilgrim of Compostella: he bears the peculiar long staff, to which the wallet or gourd of water is suspended; the cloak with a long cape, the scallop-shell on his shoulder or on his flapped hat. Where the cape, hat, and scallop-shells are omitted, the staff, borne as the first of the apostles who departed to fulfil his Gospel mission, remains his constant attribute, and by this he may be recognised in the Madonna pictures, and when grouped with other saints.
The single devotional figures of St. James represent him in two distinct characters:—
1. As tutelar saint of Spain, and conqueror of the Moors. In his pilgrim habit, mounted on a white charger, and waving a white banner, with white hair and beard streaming like a meteor, or sometimes armed in complete steel, spurred like a knight, his casque shadowed by white plumes, he tramples over the prostrate Infidels; so completely was the humble, gentle-spirited apostle of Christ merged in the spirit of the religious chivalry of the time. This is a subject frequent in Spanish schools. The figure over the high altar of Santiago is described as very grand when seen in the solemn twilight.