St Andrew, Patron of Scotland
Scotland’s association with the brother of Peter is down to an early 8th century Bishop of Hexham.
Anglo-Saxon Britain 410-1066
Scotland’s association with the brother of Peter is down to an early 8th century Bishop of Hexham.
Anglo-Saxon Britain 410-1066
St Andrew the Apostle came to be the Patron Saint of Scotland through an early 8th century Bishop of Hexham. His feast day is the 30th of November, and he is patron also of Romania and Russia.
ANDREW was the first of the twelve apostles gathered by Jesus Christ. He and his brother Simon Peter were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel.
Andrew’s missionary journeys stretched from Greece to modern-day Georgia and Ukraine.
Christian tradition records that he was martyred at Patras in Greece in AD 62, crucified on an X-shaped cross called a saltire.
Relics of St Andrew were acquired by Acca, a monk from Hexham, during a trip to Rome in 692, and on his return home he became Abbot of a monastery dedicated to the saint.
Acca went to Scotland in 732, taking the relics with him to what is now St Andrews on the east coast.
Their presence gradually led to the Apostle taking over from St Columba as Scotland’s Patron, and it is the saltire of St Andrew which forms the national flag of Scotland.