James of Zebedeeoften called Santiago el Mayor, is the patron saint of quite a few cities and cities around the globe, however above all he’s common for being the patron saint of Galicia and SpainIn line with varied oral traditions, Santiago – one of many apostles of Jesus Christ – disembarked in Roman Baetica, continued strolling alongside the Roman street that linked Italica with Mérida in the direction of Coimbra and Braga and ended up in Iria-Flavia, Padrón, in Galicia.
After an extended journey via the Iberian Peninsula, Santiago returned to Jerusalem and Within the yr 44 he was decapitated with a swordNevertheless, his disciples collected his physique and embarked it in the direction of Roman Hispania. In line with this similar custom, the ship landed on the Galician coast, the place it was taken to the place the place the Compostela cathedral is situated at the moment.
“God made Santiago, the Patron Saint of Spain, which didn’t exist at the moment, in order that when the day got here he might intercede for it and produce it again to life along with his doctrine and his sword.”
Not in useless, it’s unattainable to show traditionally that the apostle truly travelled to the Peninsula. «Regardless of all of the efforts of scholarship of yesterday and at the moment, it isn’t potential, nonetheless, to allege in favour of the presence of Santiago in Spain and his switch there, a single distant, clear and authoritative piece of reports», explains Sánchez Albornoz in his work «On the daybreak of the Jacobean cult».
Philip IV proclaims Santiago because the patron saint of Spain
Nevertheless, the story was rooted within the Iberian custom and within the yr 1630, when the monarch Philip IV was in energy, Pope City VIII formally decreed that the Apostle Santiago, the Nice, was to be thought-about the only real and solely Patron of the Spanish Nation“God made Santiago, Patron Saint of Spain, which didn’t exist at the moment, in order that when the day got here he might intercede for it and produce it again to life along with his doctrine and his sword,” Francisco de Quevedo as soon as mentioned.
Santiago has derived in quite a few quite common names in Spain, particularly in Galicia: James, Jacob, Yago, Iago, Jaime, Tiago, Santiago or DiegoWithin the case of the title Diego, all the things means that it’s an incorrect separation of the title Santiago: San Tiago. Nevertheless, they’re all Spanish variants of the Hebrew title Ya’akov, which suggests, in line with the favored etymology contained within the Bible, “held by the heel.”
Santiago and shut, Spain!
Within the army custom of Spain, the warfare cry «Santiago and shut, Spain!» It has been utilized by troopers from the Reconquista to fashionable occasions earlier than every offensive cost. The that means of the phrase is, on the one hand, to invoke the apostle Santiago, who in line with legend appeared throughout the battle of Clavijo (844) to struggle alongside the Christians, and on the opposite, the army order closes, which in army phrases means to have interaction in fight, to cost or to assault.
Shouting “Santiago and shut up, Spain!”, Hernán Cortés made his approach via the Battle of Otumba (1520) with 5 horsemen (Pedro de Alvarado, Alonso de Ávila, Cristóbal de Olid, Rodrigo de Sandoval and Juan de Salamanca) in the direction of the Aztec army chief. In line with a legend that emerged shortly after the battle, the Apostle Santiago, patron saint of Spain, additionally supported the virtually suicidal cost in opposition to hundreds of Aztec warriors on horseback, as he’s mentioned to have finished in a number of battles in opposition to the Muslims within the Iberian Peninsula.
