St. Andrew's Day

Here is a repost from two years ago that has always been popular with readers:

Today is the feast of St. Andrew, named for the Patron Saint of Scotland. St. Andrew's Day is celebrated by Scots around the world on November 30th. The flag of Scotland is the Cross of St Andrew, also known as the Saltire, and this is widely displayed as a symbol of national identity.

St. Andrew's Life
Andrew was born and raised in Bethsaida, a town in Galilee on the banks of Lake Genesareth about 70 miles north of Jerusalem. Andrew and his older brother Simon worked for their father in the fishing business.

Andrew and three other fishermen were mending their nets on the shore when Christ approached them and said, "Come and follow me. I will make you fishers of men." Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist before he met Jesus, and is often referred to as the "First Called" because he was the first Apostle to be summoned by Jesus.

Andrew introduced his brother Simon to Jesus, who accepted him as a disciple and gave him the name Peter (later known as St. Peter). This might make Andrew the first missionary of the disciples. About a year later Jesus chose 12 to be his apostles and Andrew was named among the first four.

After the Christ's crucifixion, Andrew became a missionary. He preached in Scythia on the north shore of the Black Sea in an area which is now Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and the Ukraine. He preached in Russia as far as the Volga River and was also the Patron Saint of Russia.

It was at Patras in Greece that he was crucified on a Cross Saltire, an X-shaped cross known today as the St. Andrew's Cross. Andrew was put to death because he refused to renounce Christ. It was at his own request that an X-shaped cross was used because, he said, "I am not worthy to be crucified in a cross like my Lord's." Andrew was not nailed, but bound, to a cross, on which he preached to the people for two days before he died. The saint's body was placed in a casket and buried at Patras. This crucifixion occurred in about the year 70.

The Bones of St. Andrew
St. Andrew's bones were entombed in Patras, and in 357 the remains of St Andrew were taken from Patras to the Church of the Apostles in Constantinople on the orders of the Roman Emperor Constantius II (son of Constantine The Great).

A monk named Rule (St. Rule or St. Regulus) had custody of the burial place. Two days before the body was to be taken, Rule was warned in a dream that St. Andrew's remains were to be moved and was directed by an angel to take those of the remains which he could to the "ends of the earth" for safe-keeping. Rule dutifully followed these directions, removing a tooth, an arm bone, a kneecap and some fingers from St. Andrew's tomb and transporting these as far away as he could.

That place was Scotland and it is here the association is believed to have begun. It was here that Rule, after two years of rough voyaging and many hardships, was shipwrecked with his precious cargo. Rule landed at the north east coast of Fife called Kilrymont, now called Saint Andrews, where the king of the Picts, received and venerated the relics. The relics were placed in a specially constructed chapel. This chapel was replaced by the Cathedral of St. Andrews in 1160, and St. Andrews became the religious capital of Scotland and a great center for Medieval pilgrims who came to view the relics.

It is not known what happened to the relics of St. Andrew which were stored in St. Andrews Cathedral, although it is most likely that they were destroyed during the Scottish Reformation. The place where the relics were kept within the Cathedral at St. Andrews is now marked by a plaque, amongst the ruins, for visitors to see.

The larger part of St. Andrew's remains were stolen from Constantinople in 1210 and are now to be found in Amalfi in Southern Italy. In 1879 the Archbishop of Amalfi sent a small piece of the saint's shoulder blade to the re-established Roman Catholic community in Scotland. During his visit in 1969, Pope Paul VI gave further relics of St. Andrew to Scotland with the words "Saint Peter gives you his brother" and these are now displayed in a reliquary in St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh.

The Legend of St. Andrew
Several hundred years after St. Andrew's remains came to rest in Kilryman, the armies of ancient Pictland and ancient Northumbria faced each other at Athelstaneford in East Lothian. During a time when all of Britain consisted of minor kingdoms, Angus MacFergus, King of the Picts, along with Eochaidh, King of the Scots of Dalriada, defeated the army of Athelstane, King of Northumbria.

The night before the battle, the Pictish king witnessed a cross-like formation of white clouds in the azure sky that resembled the cross of St Andrew. King Angus took this sign as a divine portent of his impending victory. Sure enough, the Picts were encourage and were victorious the following morning, and because of the perceived intervention of one of the apostles, the St. Andrew's cross was adopted as a symbol of Pictland. Centuries later, another king, Kenneth MacAlpin forged the ancient Celtic kingdoms into the Kingdom of Scotland, but this Pict heraldic symbol was retained and would come to represent the entirety of an emerging Scottish nation.

The Saltire
Following Robert the Bruce's victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Declaration of Arbroath (1320) officially named "our patron and protector, Andrew" the Patron Saint of Scotland. The Saltire, the oldest national flag in Europe, officially became the national flag of Scotland in 1385.

Today the Scottish flag is now on show more than ever before. It can be seen in hundreds of places throughout the country, from ancient buildings and castles, to modern schools and offices, and can be seen flying proudly above the new Scottish Parliament. But nowhere does it fly more proudly than in the village of Athelstaneford where it is still hoisted daily, and flies day and night floodlit, to remind us of King Angus and his dream and victory all those centuries ago in 832AD.