Tuesday, October 25, 2016

How the Holy Apostle Andrew Became the Patron Saint of Scotland



And thus became an important part of Souþern life as well:

St. Regulus, or Rule, is commemorated on October 17/30.  According to tradition, in the fourth century at the command of an angel Regulus took a small portion of the relics of St. Andrew the Apostle from Patras in Greece and sailed to the northwest with them.  He may have taken several companions with him; among them may have been St. Triduana.  Finally Regulus reached the shore of the present-day Scottish county of Fife.  There he built a church to keep the relics of St. Andrew, which later was called St. Andrews.  This town grew into a center of pilgrimage and Gospel teaching.  St. Andrew thus became the patron-saint of Scotland, and the cross on which he was crucified became the national emblem of the country.  In the twelfth century, a magnificent cathedral of St. Andrew was built on the site of the original church in St. Andrews.  It was 120 meters (or c. 390 feet) long.  St. Andrews was considered to be the spiritual capital of Scotland, and pilgrims came there from different corners of the world.  During the Reformation the cathedral was destroyed, and today only the ruins of this important Roman Catholic cathedral survive.  St. Regulus’ tower, which dates earlier than the twelfth century and stands thirty-three meters (108 feet) tall, survives intact.  Tiny portions of St. Andrew’s relics are kept inside the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral in London.

Source:  Dmitry Lapa, ‘Saint Triduana of Scotland’, http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/98004.htm, opened 25 Oct. 2016

St Regulus’s Tower

Cathedral ruins

St Andrew’s Cross on Scotland’s flag.  This is what the South's own flag is patterned after.


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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the South!

Anathema to the Union!

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