Hodie est festum Iacobi!

Happy feast day of St. James the Less!

Also on this day in 2003, Jayme, who was named after James the Less, became Catholic.

James the Less is commonly identified with "James the brother of the Lord" and "James, the son of Mary"/"James, the brother of Joseph." (as in "Mary, wife of Clopas" - the "other Mary" at the foot of the Cross during the Crucifixion).

St. Jerome seems to think that this same James wrote the Epistle bearing his name:

James, who is called the brother of the Lord, surnamed the Just, the son of Joseph by another wife, as some think, but, as appears to me, the son of Mary sister of the mother of our Lord of whom John makes mention in his book, after our Lord's passion at once ordained by the apostles bishop of Jerusalem, wrote a single epistle, which is reckoned among the seven Catholic Epistles and even this is claimed by some to have been published by some one else under his name, and gradually, as time went on, to have gained authority.

James the Greater, brother of John, probably didn't write this epistle, having been killed in 44 AD, when the epistle seems to address issues that arose in the 50s. Accepting Jerome's testimony, it would seem that James the Less went on to become the leader of the Church in Jerusalem. In this case, "James the brother of Jesus," "James the Less," and "James the Just" are all the same person, if I understand things correctly.

But apparently, the issue was confusing even in Jerome's day. I haven't seen a more comprehensive treatment of the authorship of James - I just spent about half an hour looking for one, and the information I'm finding either contradicts itself or fails to cite its claims. For now, I'll trust Jerome - he was a pretty smart guy.