Today is the Feast of St. James the Great, patron of Spain and Defender of Christendom. Earlier this year, I fulfilled a long-held desire to visit the shrine of the great saint at Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. What a joy and honour it was to pay homage to St. James by praying at his tomb.

St. James should be held in high esteem as one of the Apostles chosen by Christ but he should also be esteemed by all Christians as the defender of Christendom against the ongoing threat of Islam. As the people of Spain fought to liberate Europe from the Islamic incursion, St. James was attributed with assisting the armies of Christendom with his miraculous intervention.

More recently, as Spain once again saved Europe from the Infidel, on this occasion by defeating the communist and anarchist hordes during the Civil War of 1936, St. James was again invoked as the champion of Christendom. As such, St. James can be seen as the Defender of Christendom against the rise of secular fundamentalism and atheism, as well as against the ongoing threat of Islam.

On his feast day, let’s pray for the saint’s intercession:

St. James the Great, Defender of Christendom against those who seek to destroy the Faith of our Fathers, intercede for Christians around the world that they might have the courage to withstand the attacks on Christ and His Church by the forces of Secular and Islamic Fundamentalism. We ask this in the name of Christ the King. Amen.