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{{short description|Christian saint}}
{{Infobox saint
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=Saint
|name=St. James of the Marches, O.F.M.
|name=James of the Marches
|birth_date=ca. 1391
|birth_date=c. 1392
|death_date=28 November 1476
|death_date=28 November 1476
|feast_day=28 November
|feast_day=28 November
Line 17: Line 19:
|canonized_place=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=[[Pope Benedict XIII]]
|canonized_by=[[Pope Benedict XIII]]
|attributes=Depicted holding in his right hand a [[Chalice (cup)|chalice]], out of which a snake is escaping
|attributes=Depicted holding in his right hand a [[chalice (cup)|chalice]], out of which a snake is escaping
|patronage=Patron of Monteprandone, co-patron of Naples, Italy
|patronage=Patron of Monteprandone, co-patron of Naples, Italy
|major_shrine=Sanctuary of St. James of the Marches<br>Monteprandone, [[Ascoli Piceno]], Italy
|major_shrine=Sanctuary of St. James of the Marches<br>Monteprandone, [[Ascoli Piceno]], Italy
Line 26: Line 28:
}}
}}


'''St. James of the Marches, [[Order of Friars Minor|O.F.M.]]''', (ca. 1391 28 November 1476) ({{lang-it|Giacomo della Marca}})<ref>Also known as Dominic Gangala, Jacopo Gangala, James della Marca, James Gangala.</ref> was an [[Italian people|Italian]] [[Friar Minor]], preacher and writer.<ref name=oliger>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08278b.htm Oliger, Livarius. "St. James of the Marches." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 Feb. 2013]</ref>
'''Jacob de Marchia''' ({{lang-la|Jacobus de Marchia}}, {{lang-it|Giacomo della Marca}}; c. 1391 28 November 1476), commonly known{{Cref2|a}} in English as '''Saint James of the Marches''', was an [[Italian people|Italian]] [[Friar Minor]], preacher and writer.<ref name=oliger>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08278b.htm Oliger, Livarius. "St. James of the Marches." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 Feb. 2013]</ref> He was a Papal legate and [[Inquisitor]].


==Early life==
==Early life==
He was born '''Dominic Gangala''' in the early 1390s to a poor family in [[Monteprandone]], then in the [[March of Ancona]], (now in the Province of [[Ascoli Piceno]]) in central Italy along the Adriatic Sea. As a child, he began his studies at [[Offida]] under the guidance of his uncle, a priest, who soon afterwards sent him to school in the nearby city of [[Ascoli Piceno]]. He later studied at the [[University of Perugia]] where he took the degree of Doctor in Canon and [[Civil law (common law)|Civil Law]]. After a short stay at [[Florence]] as [[tutor]] for a noble family, and as judge of [[Magician (paranormal)|sorcerers]], James was received into the [[Order of Friars Minor]], in the [[chapel]] of the [[Portiuncula]], in [[Assisi]], on 26 July 1416. At that time, he took the religious name of James. Having finished his [[novitiate]] at the [[hermitage (religious retreat)|hermitage]] of the [[Eremo delle Carceri|Carceri]], near Assisi, he studied [[theology]] at [[Fiesole]], near Florence, with St. [[John of Capistrano]],<ref name=foley/> under [[St. Bernardine of Siena]].<ref name=oliger/> He began a very austere life fasting nine months of the year. St. Bernardine told him to moderate his penances.<ref name=foley>[http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1213 Foley O.F.M., Leonard, "St. James of the Marche", ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast'', (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media, ISBN 978-0-86716-887-7]</ref>
He was born '''Dominic Gangala''' ({{lang-it|Domenico Gangala}}) in the early 1390s to a poor family in [[Monteprandone]], then in the [[March of Ancona]] (now in [[Ascoli Piceno]]) in central Italy along the Adriatic Sea. As a child, he began his studies at [[Offida]] under the guidance of his uncle, a priest, who soon afterwards sent him to school in the nearby city of [[Ascoli Piceno]]. He later studied at the [[University of Perugia]] where he took the degree of Doctor in Canon and [[Civil law (common law)|Civil law]]. After a short stay at [[Florence]] as [[tutor]] for a noble family, and as judge of [[Magician (paranormal)|sorcerers]], he was received into the [[Order of Friars Minor]], in the [[chapel]] of the [[Portiuncula]], in [[Assisi]], on 26 July 1416. At that time, he took the monastic name Jacobus (Jacob, Jacopo; rendered James in English). Having finished his [[novitiate]] at the [[hermitage (religious retreat)|hermitage]] of the [[Eremo delle Carceri|Carceri]], near Assisi, he studied [[theology]] at [[Fiesole]], near Florence, with [[John of Capistrano]],<ref name=foley/> under [[Bernardine of Siena]].<ref name=oliger/> He began a very austere life fasting nine months of the year. Bernardine told him to moderate his penances.<ref name=foley>[http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1213 Foley, Leonard, "St. James of the Marche", ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast'', Franciscan Media] {{ISBN|978-0-86716-887-7}}</ref>


== Priest and inquisitor ==
== Priest and inquisitor ==
On 13 June 1420, he was ordained a priest and soon began to preach in [[Tuscany]], in the [[Marches]], and in [[Umbria]]; for half a century he carried on his spiritual labours, remarkable for the miracles he performed and the numerous conversions he wrought. He helped spread devotion to the [[Holy Name of Jesus]].<ref name=foley/> From 1427, James preached penance, combated heretics, and was on [[legation]]s in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and Bosnia. He was also appointed inquisitor against the [[Fraticelli]], a heretic sect that dissented from the Franciscans on the vow of poverty, among other things.<ref name=cna>{{Cite web |url=http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=67 |title="St. James of the Marches", Catholic News Agency |access-date=2013-02-04 |archive-date=2016-01-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130011207/http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=67 |url-status=dead }}</ref>


On 13 June 1420, he was ordained a priest and soon began to preach in [[Tuscany]], in the [[Marches]], and in [[Umbria]]; for half a century he carried on his spiritual labours, remarkable for the miracles he performed and the numerous conversions he wrought. He helped spread devotion to the [[Holy Name of Jesus]].<ref name=foley/> From 1427, James preached penance, combated heretics, and was on [[legation]]s in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and Bosnia. He was also appointed inquisitor against the Fratelli, a heretic sect that dissented from the Franciscans on the vow of poverty, among other things.<ref name=cna>[http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=67 "St. James of the Marches", Catholic News Agency]</ref> In Bosnia, he was also [[commissary]] of the Friars Minor there. As such, he combated the heresies that he found there, which earned him the hostility of its ruler, [[Tvrtko II of Bosnia|King Tvrtko II]], and even more of his wife, [[Dorothy Garai|Queen Dorothea]], whom James accused of trying to poison him.<ref name="Fine">{{citation|title=The Bosnian Church: Its Place in State and Society from the Thirteenth to the Fifteenth Century|last=Fine|first=John Van Antwerp|author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine, Jr.|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|isbn=|year=1975|pages=206}}</ref>
He was sent by the Papal Council as an [[Inquisitor]]<ref name="Runciman1947">{{cite book|author=Steven Runciman|title=The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1LGB7u5iD0C&pg=PA112|year=1947|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-28926-9|pages=112–}}</ref> to [[Kingdom of Bosnia|Bosnia]] in 1432–33, working in the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Bosnia|Bosnian Vicariate]].<ref name="Fine2007">{{cite book|author=John Van Antwerp Fine|title=The Bosnian Church: Its Place in State and Society from the Thirteenth to the Fifteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rb4oAAAAYAAJ|date=January 2007|publisher=Saqi|isbn=978-0-86356-503-8}}</ref> He returned in 1435 and served as Vicar of Bosnia until 1439.<ref name="Fine2007"/> He combated the heresies that he found there, which earned him the hostility of its ruler, [[Tvrtko II of Bosnia|King Tvrtko II]], and even more of his wife, [[Dorothy Garai|Queen Dorothea]], whom James accused of trying to poison him.<ref name="Fine">{{citation|title=The Bosnian Church: Its Place in State and Society from the Thirteenth to the Fifteenth Century|last=Fine|first=John Van Antwerp|author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine, Jr.|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|year=1975|pages=206}}</ref> He left Bosnia citing King [[Tvrtko I]] as the cause of failure of Franciscan mission.<ref name="Runciman1947"/> Between 1434 and 1439 he worked in Southern Hungary against heretics.<ref>{{cite book |author=Nemeskürty István |date=1989 |title=Daliás idők |language=Hungarian |location=Budapest |publisher=Magvető |pages=122–127}}</ref> In August, 1439, he imprisoned [[Bálint Újlaki]], who first translated the Bible into Hungarian ([[Hussite Bible]]).


At the time of the [[Council of Basle]], James promoted the reunion of the moderate [[Hussites]] with the Catholic Church, and later that of the [[Greek Orthodox]] at the [[Council of Ferrara-Florence]].<ref name=oliger/> Against the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], he preached several [[crusade]]s, and at the death of [[St. John Capistran]], in 1456, James was sent to Hungary as his successor. He instituted several [[montes pietatis]] (literally, "mountains of piety": nonprofit credit organizations that lent money at very low rates on pawned objects), and preached in all the greater cities. He was offered the [[Diocese|bishopric]] of [[Milan]] in 1460, which he declined.<ref name=cna/>
At the time of the [[Council of Basle]], James promoted the reunion of the moderate [[Hussites]] with the Catholic Church, and later that of the [[Eastern Orthodox]] at the [[Council of Ferrara-Florence]].<ref name=oliger/> Against the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], he preached several [[crusade]]s, and at the death of [[John Capistran]], in 1456, James was sent to [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] as his successor.<ref name=cna/> In 1457 he was sent to Danish king [[Christian I of Denmark|Christian I]] to discuss the Turkish crusade and also the Bohemian issue.<ref name="Jensen2007">{{cite book|author=Janus Møller Jensen|title=Denmark and the Crusades, 1400-1650|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-GvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA67|date=24 April 2007|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-474-1984-6|pages=67–}}</ref>


St. James belonged to the [[Franciscan|Observant]] branch of the Friars Minor, then rapidly spreading and stirring up much controversy. In this task, he encouraged reforms in the Order of Friars Minor. How much he suffered on this account is shown in a letter written by him to St. [[John Capistran]].<ref>Nic. Dal-Gal, O.F.M., in "Archivum Franciscanum Historicum", I (1908), 94-97.</ref> King Tvrtko II was a major opponent of James's reforms in Bosnia, and was probably strongly influenced in that regard by Queen Dorothy.<ref name="Fine"/>
He instituted several [[montes pietatis]] (literally, "mountains of piety": nonprofit credit organizations that lent money at very low rates on pawned objects), and preached in all the greater cities.<ref name=cna/> He was offered the [[Diocese|bishopric]] of [[Milan]] in 1460, which he declined.<ref name=cna/>
James belonged to the [[Franciscan|Observant]] branch of the Friars Minor, then rapidly spreading and stirring up much controversy. In this task, he encouraged reforms in the Order of Friars Minor. How much he suffered on this account is shown in a letter written by him to [[John Capistran]].<ref>Nic. Dal-Gal, O.F.M., in "Archivum Franciscanum Historicum", I (1908), 94-97.</ref> King Tvrtko II was a major opponent of James's reforms in Bosnia, and was probably strongly influenced in that regard by Queen Dorothy.<ref name="Fine"/>


Under Pope [[Callistus III]], in 1455, he was appointed an arbiter on the questions at issue between the [[Order of Friars Minor Conventuals|Conventuals]] and Observants. His decision was published 2 February 1456 in a [[papal bull]], which pleased neither part. A few years later, on [[Easter Monday]] 1462, James, preaching at [[Brescia]], uttered the opinion of some theologians that the [[Precious Blood]] shed during the [[Passion (Christianity)|Passion]] was not united with the [[Divinity of Christ]] during the three days of his burial. The [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] friar, [[James of Brescia]], the local [[inquisitor]], immediately summoned him to his tribunal. James refused to appear, and after some troubles appealed to the [[Holy See]]. The question was discussed at Rome during Christmas 1462 (not 1463, as some have it), before Pope [[Pius II]] and the [[cardinal (Catholic)|cardinal]]s, but no decision was ever given.<ref name=cna/> James spent the last three years of his life in [[Naples]], and died there on 28 November 1476.
Under Pope [[Callistus III]], in 1455, he was appointed an arbiter on the questions at issue between the [[Order of Friars Minor Conventuals|Conventuals]] and Observants. His decision was published 2 February 1456 in a [[papal bull]], which pleased neither part. A few years later, on [[Easter Monday]] 1462, James, preaching at [[Brescia]], uttered the opinion of some theologians that the [[Precious Blood]] shed during the [[Passion (Christianity)|Passion]] was not united with the [[Divinity of Christ]] during the three days of his burial. The [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] friar, [[James of Brescia]], the local [[inquisitor]], immediately summoned him to his tribunal. James refused to appear, and after some troubles appealed to the [[Holy See]]. The question was discussed at Rome during Christmas 1462 (not 1463, as some have it), before Pope [[Pius II]] and the [[cardinal (Catholic)|cardinal]]s, but no decision was ever given.<ref name=cna/> James spent the last three years of his life in [[Naples]], and died there on 28 November 1476.


==Writings==
== Writings ==
[[Image:Giacomo - Confessione, circa 1476 - 513846.jpg|thumb|''Confessione'', 1476]]
His writings have not yet been collected. His library and [[autograph]]s are preserved in part at the Municipio of Monteprandone (see Crivellucci, "I codici della libreria raccolta da S. Giacomo della Marca nel convento di S. Maria delle Grazie presso Monteprandone", Leghorn, 1889).
His writings have not yet been collected. His library and [[autograph]]s are preserved in part at the Municipio of Monteprandone (see Crivellucci, "I codici della libreria raccolta da S. Giacomo della Marca nel convento di S. Maria delle Grazie presso Monteprandone", Leghorn, 1889).


He wrote "Dialogus contra Fraticellos" printed in Baluze-Mansi, "Miscellanea", II, Lucca, 1761, 595-610 (cf. Ehrle in "Archiv für Litt. u. Kirchengeschichte", IV, Freiburg im Br., 1888, 107-10). His numerous sermons are not edited. For some of them, and for his treatise on the "Miracles of the Name of Jesus", see Candido Mariotti, O.F.M., "Nome di Gesù ed i Francescani", Fano, 1909, 125-34. On his notebook, or "Itinerarium", See Luigi Tasso, O.F.M., in "Miscellanea Francescana", I (1886), 125-26: "Regula confitendi peccata" was several times edited in Latin and Italian during the fifteenth century. "De Sanguine Christi effuse" and some other treatises remained in manuscript.
He wrote "Dialogus contra Fraticellos" printed in Baluze-Mansi, "Miscellanea", II, Lucca, 1761, 595-610 (cf. [[Franz Ehrle]] in "Archiv für Litt. u. Kirchengeschichte", IV, Freiburg im Br., 1888, 107–10).


His numerous sermons are not edited. For some of them, and for his treatise on the "Miracles of the Name of Jesus", see Candido Mariotti, "Nome di Gesù ed i Francescani", Fano, 1909, 125–34.
==Veneration==
James was buried in Naples in the Franciscan church of [[Santa Maria la Nova]], where his body remained until 2001. At the instigation of the provincial minister of the Marches region, Father Ferdinando Campana, O.F.M., James's body was relocated to Monteprandone where it remains incorrupt and visible to the public today. He was [[beatified]] by Pope [[Urban VIII]] in 1624, and [[canonized]] by [[Pope Benedict XIII]] in 1726. Naples [[veneration|venerates]] him as one of its [[patron saints of Naples|patron saint]]s. His [[liturgical]] [[feast day]] is observed by the Franciscan Order on 28 November. He is generally represented holding in his right hand a [[Chalice (cup)|chalice]], out of which a snake is escaping – an allusion to some endeavours of [[heresy|heretics]] to poison him or, less likely, to the controversy about the Precious Blood.<ref>Santi e Beati "San Giacomo della Marca" [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/35550]{{it icon}}</ref>


On his notebook, or "Itinerarium", See Luigi Tasso in "Miscellanea Francescana", I (1886), 125-26: "Regula confitendi peccata" was several times edited in Latin and Italian during the fifteenth century. "De Sanguine Christi effuse" and some other treatises remained in manuscript.
==References==

== Veneration ==
James was buried in Naples in the Franciscan church of [[Santa Maria La Nova, Naples|Santa Maria La Nova]], where his body remained until 2001. At the instigation of the [[provincial superior|provincial minister]] (Franciscan superior) of the Marches region, Ferdinando Campana, James's body was relocated to [[Monteprandone]], where it remains incorrupt and visible to the public today. He was [[beatified]] by Pope [[Urban VIII]] in 1624, and [[canonized]] by [[Pope Benedict XIII]] in 1726. Naples [[veneration|venerates]] him as one of its [[patron saints of Naples|patron saint]]s. His [[liturgical]] [[feast day]] is observed by the Franciscan Order on 28 November. He is generally represented holding in his right hand a [[chalice (cup)|chalice]], out of which a snake is escaping – an allusion to some endeavours of [[heresy|heretics]] to poison him or, less likely, to the controversy about the Precious Blood.<ref>Santi e Beati "San Giacomo della Marca" [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/35550]{{in lang|it}}</ref>

==Annotations==
{{Cnote2 Begin|liststyle=upper-alpha}}
{{Cnote2|a|In English he is known as ''James of the Marches'' or ''James della Marca''. He is also known by his surname and monastic given name as ''Jacob/Jacopo/James Gangala''. Another name is ''Dominic/Domenico Gangala''. "James" is a variant of both Jacobus and Giacomo. He is also known as ''Jacobus Picenus'' (after his birth place).}}
{{Cnote2 End}}

==References ==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


==Sources==
{{Portalbar|Saints}}
*{{Catholic|title=St. James of the Marches}}


{{s-start}}
{{Authority control|VIAF=77141223}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=John of Korčula}}
{{s-ttl| title = Vicar of Bosnia| years=1435&ndash;1438}}
{{s-aft| after = John of Waya}}
{{s-end}}

{{portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|Saints|Italy}}

{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = James of the Marches
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Gangala, Dominic
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Italian Friar Minor, preacher and reformer
| DATE OF BIRTH = ca. 1391
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Monteprandone]], [[March of Ancona]], [[Papal States]]
| DATE OF DEATH = 28 November 1476
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Naples]], [[Kingdom of Italy]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:James of the Marches}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:James of the Marches}}
[[Category:1390s births]]
[[Category:1390s births]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:1476 deaths]]
[[Category:1476 deaths]]
[[Category:Italian Friars Minor]]
[[Category:Italian Friars Minor]]
[[Category:Franciscan saints]]
[[Category:Franciscan saints]]
[[Category:15th-century Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:15th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:University of Perugia alumni]]
[[Category:University of Perugia alumni]]
[[Category:Culture in Naples]]
[[Category:Culture in Naples]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Ascoli Piceno]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Ascoli Piceno]]
[[Category:14th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:15th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:15th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Wonderworkers]]
[[Category:Miracle workers]]
[[Category:Burials in le Marche]]
[[Category:Burials in le Marche]]
[[Category:Incorrupt saints]]
[[Category:Incorrupt saints]]
[[Category:Beatifications by Pope Urban VIII]]
[[Category:Canonizations by Pope Benedict XIII]]

Latest revision as of 15:25, 29 January 2024

Saint

James of the Marches
Saint James of the Marches by Francisco Zurbarán
Bornc. 1392
Monteprandone, March of Ancona, Papal States
Died28 November 1476
Naples, Kingdom of Naples
Venerated inRoman Catholicism
(Franciscan Order)
Beatified1624 by Pope Urban VIII
Canonized1726 by Pope Benedict XIII
Major shrineSanctuary of St. James of the Marches
Monteprandone, Ascoli Piceno, Italy
Feast28 November
AttributesDepicted holding in his right hand a chalice, out of which a snake is escaping
PatronagePatron of Monteprandone, co-patron of Naples, Italy

Jacob de Marchia (Latin: Jacobus de Marchia, Italian: Giacomo della Marca; c. 1391 – 28 November 1476), commonly known[a] in English as Saint James of the Marches, was an Italian Friar Minor, preacher and writer.[1] He was a Papal legate and Inquisitor.

Early life[edit]

He was born Dominic Gangala (Italian: Domenico Gangala) in the early 1390s to a poor family in Monteprandone, then in the March of Ancona (now in Ascoli Piceno) in central Italy along the Adriatic Sea. As a child, he began his studies at Offida under the guidance of his uncle, a priest, who soon afterwards sent him to school in the nearby city of Ascoli Piceno. He later studied at the University of Perugia where he took the degree of Doctor in Canon and Civil law. After a short stay at Florence as tutor for a noble family, and as judge of sorcerers, he was received into the Order of Friars Minor, in the chapel of the Portiuncula, in Assisi, on 26 July 1416. At that time, he took the monastic name Jacobus (Jacob, Jacopo; rendered James in English). Having finished his novitiate at the hermitage of the Carceri, near Assisi, he studied theology at Fiesole, near Florence, with John of Capistrano,[2] under Bernardine of Siena.[1] He began a very austere life fasting nine months of the year. Bernardine told him to moderate his penances.[2]

Priest and inquisitor[edit]

On 13 June 1420, he was ordained a priest and soon began to preach in Tuscany, in the Marches, and in Umbria; for half a century he carried on his spiritual labours, remarkable for the miracles he performed and the numerous conversions he wrought. He helped spread devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus.[2] From 1427, James preached penance, combated heretics, and was on legations in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and Bosnia. He was also appointed inquisitor against the Fraticelli, a heretic sect that dissented from the Franciscans on the vow of poverty, among other things.[3]

He was sent by the Papal Council as an Inquisitor[4] to Bosnia in 1432–33, working in the Bosnian Vicariate.[5] He returned in 1435 and served as Vicar of Bosnia until 1439.[5] He combated the heresies that he found there, which earned him the hostility of its ruler, King Tvrtko II, and even more of his wife, Queen Dorothea, whom James accused of trying to poison him.[6] He left Bosnia citing King Tvrtko I as the cause of failure of Franciscan mission.[4] Between 1434 and 1439 he worked in Southern Hungary against heretics.[7] In August, 1439, he imprisoned Bálint Újlaki, who first translated the Bible into Hungarian (Hussite Bible).

At the time of the Council of Basle, James promoted the reunion of the moderate Hussites with the Catholic Church, and later that of the Eastern Orthodox at the Council of Ferrara-Florence.[1] Against the Ottomans, he preached several crusades, and at the death of John Capistran, in 1456, James was sent to Hungary as his successor.[3] In 1457 he was sent to Danish king Christian I to discuss the Turkish crusade and also the Bohemian issue.[8]

He instituted several montes pietatis (literally, "mountains of piety": nonprofit credit organizations that lent money at very low rates on pawned objects), and preached in all the greater cities.[3] He was offered the bishopric of Milan in 1460, which he declined.[3]

James belonged to the Observant branch of the Friars Minor, then rapidly spreading and stirring up much controversy. In this task, he encouraged reforms in the Order of Friars Minor. How much he suffered on this account is shown in a letter written by him to John Capistran.[9] King Tvrtko II was a major opponent of James's reforms in Bosnia, and was probably strongly influenced in that regard by Queen Dorothy.[6]

Under Pope Callistus III, in 1455, he was appointed an arbiter on the questions at issue between the Conventuals and Observants. His decision was published 2 February 1456 in a papal bull, which pleased neither part. A few years later, on Easter Monday 1462, James, preaching at Brescia, uttered the opinion of some theologians that the Precious Blood shed during the Passion was not united with the Divinity of Christ during the three days of his burial. The Dominican friar, James of Brescia, the local inquisitor, immediately summoned him to his tribunal. James refused to appear, and after some troubles appealed to the Holy See. The question was discussed at Rome during Christmas 1462 (not 1463, as some have it), before Pope Pius II and the cardinals, but no decision was ever given.[3] James spent the last three years of his life in Naples, and died there on 28 November 1476.

Writings[edit]

Confessione, 1476

His writings have not yet been collected. His library and autographs are preserved in part at the Municipio of Monteprandone (see Crivellucci, "I codici della libreria raccolta da S. Giacomo della Marca nel convento di S. Maria delle Grazie presso Monteprandone", Leghorn, 1889).

He wrote "Dialogus contra Fraticellos" printed in Baluze-Mansi, "Miscellanea", II, Lucca, 1761, 595-610 (cf. Franz Ehrle in "Archiv für Litt. u. Kirchengeschichte", IV, Freiburg im Br., 1888, 107–10).

His numerous sermons are not edited. For some of them, and for his treatise on the "Miracles of the Name of Jesus", see Candido Mariotti, "Nome di Gesù ed i Francescani", Fano, 1909, 125–34.

On his notebook, or "Itinerarium", See Luigi Tasso in "Miscellanea Francescana", I (1886), 125-26: "Regula confitendi peccata" was several times edited in Latin and Italian during the fifteenth century. "De Sanguine Christi effuse" and some other treatises remained in manuscript.

Veneration[edit]

James was buried in Naples in the Franciscan church of Santa Maria La Nova, where his body remained until 2001. At the instigation of the provincial minister (Franciscan superior) of the Marches region, Ferdinando Campana, James's body was relocated to Monteprandone, where it remains incorrupt and visible to the public today. He was beatified by Pope Urban VIII in 1624, and canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. Naples venerates him as one of its patron saints. His liturgical feast day is observed by the Franciscan Order on 28 November. He is generally represented holding in his right hand a chalice, out of which a snake is escaping – an allusion to some endeavours of heretics to poison him or, less likely, to the controversy about the Precious Blood.[10]

Annotations[edit]

  1. ^
    In English he is known as James of the Marches or James della Marca. He is also known by his surname and monastic given name as Jacob/Jacopo/James Gangala. Another name is Dominic/Domenico Gangala. "James" is a variant of both Jacobus and Giacomo. He is also known as Jacobus Picenus (after his birth place).

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Oliger, Livarius. "St. James of the Marches." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 Feb. 2013
  2. ^ a b c Foley, Leonard, "St. James of the Marche", Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast, Franciscan Media ISBN 978-0-86716-887-7
  3. ^ a b c d e ""St. James of the Marches", Catholic News Agency". Archived from the original on 2016-01-30. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
  4. ^ a b Steven Runciman (1947). The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy. Cambridge University Press. pp. 112–. ISBN 978-0-521-28926-9.
  5. ^ a b John Van Antwerp Fine (January 2007). The Bosnian Church: Its Place in State and Society from the Thirteenth to the Fifteenth Century. Saqi. ISBN 978-0-86356-503-8.
  6. ^ a b Fine, John Van Antwerp (1975), The Bosnian Church: Its Place in State and Society from the Thirteenth to the Fifteenth Century, New York: Columbia University Press, p. 206
  7. ^ Nemeskürty István (1989). Daliás idők (in Hungarian). Budapest: Magvető. pp. 122–127.
  8. ^ Janus Møller Jensen (24 April 2007). Denmark and the Crusades, 1400-1650. BRILL. pp. 67–. ISBN 978-90-474-1984-6.
  9. ^ Nic. Dal-Gal, O.F.M., in "Archivum Franciscanum Historicum", I (1908), 94-97.
  10. ^ Santi e Beati "San Giacomo della Marca" [1](in Italian)

Sources[edit]

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainHerbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. James of the Marches". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
John of Korčula
Vicar of Bosnia
1435–1438
Succeeded by
John of Waya