(1391-1476) Dominic Gangala was born to a poor family in Monteprandone, Italy. He achieved the degree of Doctor in Canon and Civil Law from the University of Perugia before joining the Franciscans at age 22 and taking the name James, after the Apostle, James the Greater. He studied and later worked with Saint John of Capistrano and was taught by Saint Bernardine of Sienna. James was ordained a priest, combated heretics, and was appointed an inquisitor.
Saint James was a popular preacher credited with converting tens of thousands of heretics and hundreds of thousands of nonbelievers. One sermon on Saint Mary Magdalen in Milan was said to have converted 36 “women of ill repute.” We never know what impact a particular insight or shared experience, strength, and hope can have on another person. Do you speak up at meetings?
“O gracious and most holy word of God! You enlighten the hearts of the faithful, you refresh the hungry, you console the afflicted, you enrich the mind with every good and make all virtues spring up; you snatch souls from the jaws of the devil, you justify the wicked and make heavenly those who were earthly minded” (Saint James of the Marches).
Reflection by Brad Farmer