Which Roman Catholic saint is traditionally associated with a legendary search for Noah’s Ark?

Saint James of Nisibis is traditionally associated with a legendary search for Noah’s Ark.

According to a tradition reported in accounts of James, the fourth-century bishop attempted to climb Mount Ararat to find the ark. The story says that an angel stopped him from reaching the summit and gave him a piece of the ark instead. This relic was later associated with the cathedral at Etchmiadzin in Armenia.

James of Nisibis was a major Christian figure of late antiquity and is remembered as the first bishop of Nisibis. The ark-search story belongs to later tradition, not to the biblical text itself, and should not be treated as archaeological proof that the ark has been located.

Mount Ararat became a focus of Christian pilgrimage and ark legends because Genesis places the vessel in the mountains of Ararat. Saint James’ story is consequently part of the history of ark traditions, while the Genesis account itself names neither James nor any expedition.