Santiago de Compostella

St James, an apostles of Jesus spent a decade as a missionary bringing Christianity to the new world, which was northwest Spain. In 44 A.D. James returned to the Holy Land and was beheaded. Before his body was thrown to the lions, as was the custom in those days, it was rescued by two of his disciples.  They retuned his body to Spain in a small boat and entombed his body in the hills of Galicia, hiding it so it would not be found by the Roman Authorities. There it lay hidden for almost 8 centuries. On July 25th 813, a monk was directed by the stars to the tomb and a local bishop exclaimed that St. James was in Galicia. Santiago de Compostella was born. Santiago is Spanish for St James and de Compostella means field of stars. There is a year long celebration in the year that July 25th falls on a Sunday. This last occurred in 2010 and next date will be in 2021. The carvings on the door tell the story of St James and the door is only opened during the year when July 25th falls on a Sunday.