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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
Music: Francesco Geminiani

© Iain Lees, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0. Source

About this picture …

St Andrew’s flag on a cairn (pile of stones) atop Blà Bheinn, among the Cuillin Hills on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.

St Andrew, Patron of Scotland
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.

Précis

Although St Andrew never visited Scotland, he became the Patron saint of the country after a monk from Hexham named Acca took some relics of the Apostle to Scotland in 732. Andrew’s Apostolic authority meant that he was soon preferred to Irish saint Columba. (43 / 60 words)

Suggested Music

3 Scottish Airs with Variations (from ‘A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick’)

Sleepy Body

Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762)

Performed by Manfredo Kraemer with the Rare Fruits Council ensemble.

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