This James is the brother of John the Evangelist. The two were called by Jesus as they worked with their father in a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had already called another pair of brothers from a similar occupation, Peter and Andrew. ” He walked along a little farther  and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and the brother of John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed Him.” (Mark 1:9-20)

James was one of the favored three who had the privelege of witnessing the transfiguration, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in Gethsemani.

- Courtesy of the American Catholic