Born in Ancona to poor and very virtuous parents, St. James was educated in true piety and studied at the university in Perugia. After gaining a good position in Florence, he observed that in the hurry of worldly business, men easily forget to converse sufficiently with God and themselves, and that shutting themselves up in it, they become part of that vortex which hurries time and the world away without looking any further. Against these dangers, persons who live in the world must use the antidote of conversing much with God. St. James resolved to embrace religion and joined the Franciscan Order. For forty years he never passed a day without taking the discipline and allowed himself only three hours for sleep. With great zeal for the salvation of souls he preached daily the word of God either to the people or to the religious of his own order. He accompanied St. John Capistran in some of his missions in Germany, Bohemia and Hungary. He died at the age of 90 in 1476.