JAMES (St.), called the Less, an apostle, the brother of Jude, and the son of Cleophas and Mary the sister of the mother of our Lord, is called in Scripture the Just, and the brother of Jesus, who appeared to him in particular after his resurrection. He was the first bishop of Jerusalem, when Ananias II. high priest of the Jews, caused him to be condemned, and delivered him into the hands of the people and the Pharisees, who threw him down from the steps of the temple, when a fuller dashed out his brains with a club, about
the year 62. His life was so holy, that Josephus considers the ruin of Jerusalem as a punishment inflicted on that city for his death. He was the author of the epistle which bears his name.