Saint Andrew
Feast Day: November 30
St. Andrew (
Greek andreia - "manhood" or "valor") was one of the 12
apostles of
Jesus Christ and the brother of the apostle Simon
Peter. In
Byzantine tradition, he is called
protokletos ("the first called") because he is named first among the apostles in
John 1:40. Andrew and Peter were both fishermen in
Capernaum on the
Sea of Galilee when called by Jesus to become "fishers of men" (
Matthew 4:19).
Varying sources place Andrew preaching in various parts of
Asia Minor around the
Black Sea following
Jesus'
resurrection. He was crucified in
Greece by the
Roman Governor
Aegeas in
60 AD. He was bound instead of nailed to the cross to prolong his agony and the cross was 'X' shaped, a symbol which is traditionally associated with him.
His remains were taken to
Constantinople by
Constantius II in
357. When the
French took Constantinople in
1208,
Cardinal Peter of
Capua brought them to
Arnalfi,
Italy. In the 15th century,
Pope Pius II displayed Andrew's skull to a crowd from the steps of
St. Peter's in a ghoulish attempt to drum up support for a
crusade against the
Turks. The head was returned to from whence it originally came,
Patrai, Greece, by Pope
Paul VI in a gesture of goodwill towards the Greeks in
1964.
Andrew is the
patron saint of
Scotland and
Russia.