November 28
The saints and feasts remembered on November 28, each with a short life, a Bible passage and a prayer.
Saint James of the Marches
Franciscan preacher who helped the poor escape moneylenders
James was born around 1393 in Monteprandone, a hill town in the Marche region of central Italy, and was baptised Domenico. After studying law at Perugia, he joined the Franciscan friars near Assisi in 1416 and became a follower of the preacher Bernardine of Siena.
For decades James preached, often travelling on foot, across Italy and as far as Bosnia, Hungary and Bohemia, calling crowds to repentance and peace. He helped spread the monti di pietà, charitable lending houses that gave the poor small loans at low interest so they would not fall into the hands of usurers. He also served popes as an envoy and inquisitor against groups judged heretical, work remembered today with more unease. He loved books, and many volumes he owned are still kept in his home town.
He died in Naples on 28 November 1476 and was canonised in 1726. Catholics remember him as a tireless preacher who cared about the everyday needs of the poor.
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction.
2 Timothy 4:2 · BSB
A prayer
God of mercy, you sent James of the Marches along many roads to carry the good news and to care for the poor in their daily needs. Give us hearts eager to share your word and hands ready to lift those weighed down by debt and want, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The lives are written with AI help from public-domain histories and checked before publishing; the prayers are ours. Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), in the public domain. How we write.