Deepertruth: St. Philip and St. James the Younger's story's on their Feast day

St. Philip was one of the original twelve Apostles who grew up in Bethsaida on the Lake Genesareth (John 1:44).  He was raised around the fishing industry and he was very close to the brothers Simon and Andrew  the sons of Bar-Jona (House of Bar-Jona) and James and John who were the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 4:21).

St. James the Less is noted as "Less" to distinguish him from James, the brother of St. John and the son of Zebedee who is called James the "Greater". The reason being that James the Less was a younger man and age has it's rank and privilege.  The better translation would be James the younger.  Today's story is about James the Less who was the son of Cleopus(John 19:25) also known as Alphaeus, and Mary, a close relative of the Virgin Mary.  James was a cousin of Jesus who was often times referred to as a brother of the Lord. 

Both of these Saints witnessed the Ministry and received the teaching from Jesus Christ personally who built the young Catholic Faith through their committment in following Jesus.  St. Paul would write that the Church was built upon the foundation of these Apostles and prophets with Christ himself as the capstone, the foundation stone.