Saint Andrew was Saint Peter’s older brother and was called with him to follow Jesus. “As Jesus was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is now called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea, they were fishermen. He said to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him” (Matthew 4:18-20).
John the Evangelist presents Andrew as a disciple of John the Baptist. When Jesus walked by one day, John said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Andrew and another disciple followed Jesus. “Jesus turned and saw them following them. They said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, where are you staying.’ He said to them. ‘Come and you will see.’” So, they went and saw where he was staying and they remained with him that day” (John 1:38-39). Andrew, at once, recognized Jesus as the Messiah and ran to introduce Him to his brother, Peter, (John 1:41). So, the two brothers became disciples of Christ.
In the Gospel on the occasion of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, Andrew is known to have said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fishes: but what are these among so many” (John 6:8-9). In addition, also found in the Bible, we read that merely a few days before the death of Christ, some Greeks asked Philip if they might see Jesus. Philip referred this important matter to Andrew as one of greater authority and then both told Christ (John 12:20-22). In the Acts of the Apostles, Andrew is named in the list of Apostles where the order of the first four is Peter, John, James, and Andrew. As one of the twelve apostles, Andrew was very familiar with Jesus during His public life. He was present at the Last Supper and saw the risen Christ. Andrew also witnessed the Ascension of Christ and shared in the grace and gifts of the first Pentecost.
When the apostles went out to preach to the nations, Andrew went to Greece and Turkey. He was called personally by Jesus to proclaim the Good News, to heal the sick with Jesus’ power, and to share His life and death. Andrew was crucified in Patras by order of the Roman Governor Aegeas. He was bound, rather than nailed to a cross in order to prolong his sufferings. This great saint was crucified on a cross known as “crux decussata” which is an X-shaped cross or a “saltire.” Today, this is commonly known as “St. Andrew’s Cross.”
It is believed that Andrew requested to be crucified in this manner because he felt that he was “unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus.” His martyrdom took place during the reign of Nero on 30 November 60 AD. Andrew’s remains were first preserved in Patras. The Roman emperor Constantius II in 357 had the remains of this saint moved to Constantinople. Then, St. Regulus, a monk, received in a dream the command to take the bones “to the ends of the earth.” He was to build a shrine wherever he was shipwrecked. He landed on the coast of Fife in Scotland. In September 1962 Pope Paul VI had all of St. Andrew’s relics, that somehow ended up in Vatican City, sent back to Patras. Now, many of these relics and the cross on which he was martyred are kept in the Church of Saint Andrew in Patras.
St. Andrew’s cross is found on the flag of Scotland. St. Andrew is commonly portrayed as a man with long white hair and a beard, often holding a Gospel book or a scroll. He is the patron saint of fishermen and singers. He is also honored as the patron saint of Scotland. His feast day is November 30th. St. Andrew, pray for us.
The Rev. Gus Puleo serves as director of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program and the Spanish Department at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where he also teaches English and Spanish. He is a graduate of Norristown High School and attended Georgetown University, where he received B.A. and B.S. in Spanish and linguistics. He has master’s degrees in Spanish, linguistics and divinity from Middlebury College, Georgetown University and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the former pastor of St. Patrick Church in Norristown.
