Feast day: May 3
Sts. Philip & James
Two of the Twelve: Philip, who asked Jesus to 'show us the Father,' and James the Less, leader of the Jerusalem church.
Philip and James the Less are two of the twelve apostles, honoured together on the same day because the ancient Roman church built in their memory was dedicated on this date. Each appears in the Gospels in his own quiet way, and tradition fills out the rest of their stories.
Philip came from Bethsaida in Galilee, the town of Peter and Andrew, and was among the first whom Jesus called. The Gospel of John gives him several memorable moments: he brings Nathanael to Jesus; he is tested before the feeding of the five thousand; and at the Last Supper he asks, 'Lord, show us the Father,' drawing from Jesus the great reply, 'Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.' Tradition says he later preached in Asia Minor and died at Hierapolis.
James, called 'the Less' to distinguish him from the other apostle James, was the son of Alphaeus. He is generally identified with the James who led the church of Jerusalem and wrote the New Testament Epistle that bears his name — a letter famous for its insistence that 'faith without works is dead.'
According to tradition James governed the Jerusalem church for decades, revered even by many non-Christians as 'James the Just,' until he was martyred there. The two apostles, so different in their Gospel portraits, share a feast as pillars of the apostolic Church.
Philip's blunt request — 'show us the Father' — earned one of the Gospel's greatest replies: 'Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.'
Image: Peter Paul Rubens (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: newadvent.org/cathen/11799a.htm · newadvent.org/cathen/08280a.htm
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