James the Deacon, companion of Paulinus
11 October -- Commemoration
If celebrated as a Lesser Festival,
Common of Missionaries, page 503
The details of the birth and death of James the Deacon are
not known, though, since he accompanied Paulinus, he may
well have been Italian. James seems to have been very
active in assisting Paulinus on his mission in southern
Northumbria and, when King Edwin was killed in battle and
Paulinus had to flee south, James remained in the north. At
some risk to his life, he continued the work of preaching
and baptising around the area which is now north Yorkshire.
As an old man, he attended the Synod of Whitby in 664 and,
though not a monk and therefore without a community to
perpetuate his memory, he seems to have had enough
popularity among ordinary Christians to have had a
continuing cultus long after his death.