Neither a gang of strong men nor a team of oxen could shift her. Her wardens could not lift her to take her to the stake for burning. The Holy Spirit, making her miraculously heavy, had filled her.
The caliph ordered John’s hand to be cut off in punishment. John prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary that his hand might be restored. He fell asleep by her image, and when he awoke, his hand had been miraculously restored.
James led a life of exemplary sanctity and set up enterprises to help the poor. He adopted a very penitential life-style and became a most effective preacher in and outside his homeland.
As with Mary’s birth, we read of Mary’s presentation in the temple only in the apocryphal literature, Protoevangelium of James, which dates from the second century.
