Jacobus, St. James the Less, son of Alphaeus (otherwise called Clopas or Cleophas), and Mary, the sister of the Virgin Mary, and brother of Joses, Jude, and Simon, he and Jude being among the Apostles; he is generally regarded as the author of the Epistle of St. James, the authorship of which, however, D. (and, according to some editions, Brunetto Latino) attributed to St. James the Great.
    D. mentions him in connexion with his mother, Conv. iv. 22¹⁵⁰ [Jacobi, Maria]; his Epistle is referred to, Par. xxv. 29-30, 77; Conv. iv. 2^83-4, 20^51-3; Mon. i. 1^38-9 [Jacobi, Epistola]. (A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante, Toynbee, 1898).