Jacobo

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

• 1884From the archives

  Jacobo— “supplanter”

  It is the Great Apostle, the son of Zebedee, who is the saint, in whose honour most of those bearing this name in Europe have been christened. A belief arose that he had preached the Gospel in Spain before his martyrdom at Jerusalem; and though there was no doubt that the Holy City was the place of his death, yet it was declared that his relics were brought to Galicia in a marble ship without oar or sail, which arrived at the port of Aria Flava, since called Patron. A little…

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  It is the Great Apostle, the son of Zebedee, who is the saint, in whose honour most of those bearing this name in Europe have been christened. A belief arose that he had preached the Gospel in Spain before his martyrdom at Jerusalem; and though there was no doubt that the Holy City was the place of his death, yet it was declared that his relics were brought to Galicia in a marble ship without oar or sail, which arrived at the port of Aria Flava, since called Patron. A little farther inland arose what was at first termed in Latin the shrine of Sanctus Jacobus Apostolus. Men’s tongues quickly turned this into Sancto Jacobo Apostolo, and thence, confounding the title with the place, arrived at Santo Jaco de Compostella, or Santiago de Compostella.

  Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part I, Chapter II (Patriarchal Names), Section III (Jacob) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)