As members of The St. Andrew's Society of Pittsburgh, we are often asked who St. Andrew was. Two fishermen, Andrew and his brother Simon Peter were the first apostles to be summoned by Jesus to become "fishers of men." Because Andrew was the first to be called, he is also know as the "Protocletus." According to scripture, Andrew was present at the miracle of the mount and participated in the feeding of the five thousand. It was he who found the young boy with the five loaves and two fishes that fed the huge assemblage. Later, he was also present at the last supper, and accompanied Jesus to the garden where he was arrested and later crucified.
While there is much speculation about where St. Andrew's mission took him, it is widely believed that it was he who spread the Word of Jesus through Asia Minor and Greece. Scythia, and Thrace have been named as well, and many believe that his extensive travels actually took him to Scotland. It has been said that during his travels, St. Andrew built a church in Fife, and that later the town around it was named for him.
St. Andrew met his death at the hands of the Romans in Patras, Southern Greece in the year AD 60, where he was the first apostle to be crucified. Because he believed himself unworthy to be crucified on a cross like that of Christ, he was tied to a saltire, or X-shaped cross. This is the basis for the Cross of St. Andrew, which appears on the Scottish Flag. It is interesting to note that St. Andrew is said to have preached for two days while hanging on the cross.
There are many legends of how St. Andrew's travels led him to become the patron saint of Scotland; but it does appear that his remains traveled nearly as much in death as he did in life.
One legend says that when the Emperor Constantine the Great decided to move Andrew's bones from Patras to Constantinople some 300 years after his death, a Greek monk was instructed by an angel to remove a large number of these relics to "the ends of the earth." Reportedly an assistant to St. Columbine, St. Regulus (a.k.a. St. Rule), was either shipwrecked or was told to stop at the site of a Pictish settlement on the Fife coast of Scotland, which is today known as St. Andrews. St. Rule's Tower stands today among the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral.
Another popular explanation is that the seventh century Bishop of Hexham (either St. Wilfrid or Acca, depending on who is telling the story) brought back some of the saint's relics from a trip to Rome. These relics landed in the hands of the Scots King, Angus MacFergus, who placed them at St. Andrew's. However they got there, St. Andrew's relics were placed in a specially constructed chapel which was replaced by the Cathedral of St. Andrews in 1160. St. Andrew's became the religious capital of Scotland and a great center for medieval pilgrims who came to view the relics.
Another favorite legend tells that when the Pictish King Ungus (or Angus) who reigned from 731-761 was faced with a large invading army, he prayed for divine guidance. A saltire appeared to Ungus in the shape of a white cloud against the blue sky. Ungus won a decisive victory and decreed that Andrew would be the patron saint of his country.
Any or all of these tales may be true. No matter how St. Andrew's association with Scotland began, it was after Robert Bruce's victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1341 that the Declaration of Arbroath officially named St. Andrew the patron saint of Scotland forever. Later, the white Saltire against the blue sky as described in King Ungus' dream became Scotland's national flag in 1385, making it the oldest documented national flag in the world.
~ From early times, churches were dedicated to St. Andrew through- 
out Italy and France, as well as in Anglo-Saxon England
~ St. Andrew is also the Patron Saint of Greece and of Russia
