Parish History

Santiago, in Spanish, is Saint James, the brother of John.  The Apostles Peter, James and John were with Christ the most during the last three years of His life.  They witnessed His miracles, His transfiguration, and were with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane during His agony.  Seven years after Christ's death, James went to northwestern Spain, now known as Galicia, to evangelize.  Going back to Jerusalem, he was the first Apostle martyred, being beheaded by order of King Herod Agrippa in 44 A.D.  James' followers placed his body and head in a stone carved coffin and took it back to Galicia.  Pilgrimages went to this place until banned by the Romans throughout Christendom.  Over the next 750 years his place of burial was forgotten until the year 812, when it was found by a pious hermit who saw a star (stela), much like the star of Bethlehem, shining on a particular spot in an open field (Compo) accompanied by heavenly music.  With his Bishop, Teodoro, they cleared the brush away and found the inscripted stone coffin identifying it as that of St. James.  Opening the coffin, they found his uncorrupted body with head reattached.  The king was told of this and ordered a shrine named Santiago de Compostela be built in what is now Galicia and naming St. James the patron saint of all Spain.  Later the Pope declared a holy year for each year St. James' feast day, July 25th, falls on Sunday.  The faithful began making pilgrimages to the shrine and granite crosses were placed along the many pathways to guide their way. 

     In 1979 the Diocese of Orange named our parish after this shrine, then in 1984 our church and rectory were built.  The first Galician Granite Pilgrimage Cross in the United States is now located in the center of our parish fountain.  This granite cross was a GIFT to us from our mother church Santiago de Compostela in Spain.  Bishop Michael Driscoll blessed this cross on July 25, 1993.  The three-foot, carved statue of Santiago was placed in its shrine niche on August 1, 1993.