By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic
St. James Church stands more than four stories high.
Statue of the church's patron saint carries his traditional staff with a water bottle, signifying his role as a pilgrim saint.
Life-size statue of Jesus greets worshipers at St. James Church.
The chancel at St. James Church emphasizes clean lines and bright marble.
Angelic statuettes gather prayerfully at the Tabernacle of St. James Church.
A giant seashell, about a yard wide, serves as a baptismal font at St. James Church. A smaller, hand-size shell is used for dipping water from it. Seashells are a common symbol associated with St. James.
Flanking the chancel area are four windows representing the four evangelists. Here's Matthew, represented traditionally as a man . . .
St. Mark as a lion . . .
St. Luke, as an ox or calf . . .
And St. John, as an eagle.
Flaming red hues mark the windows of the main entrance.
Various religious symbols lace the side windows of the main entrance.
Various religious symbols lace the side windows of the main entrance.
A window at a side chapel carries a nativity theme.
Symbols of Christ and Mary dominate this window. The Chi-Rho monogram comprises the first letters in the Greek word Christos.
Christ's death, resurrection and glorification blend in this window. The white lily symbolizes his purity; the cloth, his burial shroud; and the crown, his right to rule.
A vine entwines a chalice in this window, relating the Eucharist to Jesus' teaching that his followers are branches of the True Vine -- himself.
Christ's suffering, from scourges and a whipping post, fill this window at St. James Church.
A miter, a crosier, and a seashell pouring water symbolize the vocation of a bishop.
The resurrected Christ is symbolized by a lighted candle rising from a tomb.
The Holy Spirit descends as a dove, dispensing tongues of fire, in this Pentecost window.
This window reminds viewers of the mockery Jesus endured from Roman soldiers, who pressed a crown of thorns into his head and gave him a stick as a scepter.
Christ's passion is remembered with a cross and Veronica's cloth. Tradition says she wiped his face as he walked toward Calvary, then found an image of his face on her cloth.
A shroud drapes a cross, telling of Christ's sacrificial death. But the cross is empty, as a reminder of his resurrection.
Two wheat stalks and a cluster of grapes illustrate the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
A pelican feeds her young with drops of blood from her breast. The centuries-old belief became a symbol for Christ shedding his blood for humanity's sins.
Bas-relief on one side of the Tabernacle shows wheat and grapes, symbols of the Eucharist.
Bas-relief on the other side of the Tabernacle shows the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist.
Musical notes and a harp mark the choral rehearsal room.
Nearly life-size figures form a crucifixion scene in a chapel at St. James Church.
St. Joseph statuette keeps watch in a chapel at St. James Church. He's identifiable by the tools of his carpentry trade, a hammer and saw.
Photography: Jim Davis
NORTH MIAMI | St. James is honored as one of the three apostles most trusted by Jesus, along with Peter and John. But he evidently had to grow into his role, considering the nickname Jesus gave him: Son of Thunder.
James, whose feast day is July 25, shared the title with his brother John. The Bible doesn't give a reason, but the two once asked Jesus' permission to call down fire on a village that rejected them, earning his rebuke. They also brazenly asked to sit at his left and right in his future kingdom.
James and John fished in the Sea of Galilee along with their partners Peter and Andrew. But when Jesus called them to "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," they all left immediately and became among the first of his disciples.
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Photographer: Jim Davis
Statue of the church's patron saint carries his traditional staff with a water bottle, signifying his role as a pilgrim saint.
James, Peter and John became Jesus' closest apostles. They went with him when he resurrected a little girl. The three also witnessed Jesus' transfiguration on a mountaintop. And they accompanied Jesus to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane — although they nodded off, leaving Jesus to pray in solitude.
A medieval tradition says that James preached for years in Spain, which is why he is often depicted with a walking staff and a small gourd for water. However, he later returned to Jerusalem.
There, he was arrested as part of a crackdown on Christians by King Herod Agrippa. The king then had him executed by sword, according to Acts 12:2 — making James the only one of the original 12 apostles whose martyrdom is recorded in the Bible.
Tradition also holds that James' disciples brought his remains from Jerusalem to Compostela, Spain. The Camino de Santiago, or Way of St. James, became one of the most popular pilgrimages, after Jerusalem and Rome.
James is the patron saint of pilgrims, laborers, Spain, Chile, Nicaragua and Guatemala. He is often called James the Greater to distinguish him from another apostle, known as James, the son of Alphaeus.
St. James Parish in North Miami has roots even longer than the Archdiocese of Miami itself. Parishioners began worshiping in 1952 — six years before the diocese was born — at a structure known as the Red Feathers Farm Building. They moved to Barry College (now Barry University), then to St. Rose of Lima and Holy Family churches. But they had a church, rectory and convent by year's end.
In the early 1950s, the parish opened a 12-classroom school, staffed by lay teachers and Adrian Dominican Sisters. The congregation tripled in size by 1960, and a new church was dedicated in 1963.
St. James has become a multicultural community, with its website and bulletin published in Creole, Spanish and English. Clubs for women and ushers formed in the church's early years. Programs for several age groups, preschoolers through the elderly, were organized in the 1970s.
Other activities at St. James have included picnics, Bible studies, religious education classes, pre Cana conferences, and even blessings for pets.
