On Sunday November 26, following 10:30AM mass, in the sanctuary, parishioners will gather for a brief time of worship to commemorate the Feast Day of St. Andrew. Thom Moore of the Happy bagpiper will be our guest bagpiper for the service. All are welcome to wear kilts in celebration of the occasion.

St. Andrew, Disciple of Jesus and Patron Saint of Scotland
Andrew, a fisherman by trade, was the first disciple chosen by Jesus. His missionary travels included regions around the Mediterranean and Black Seas where he also helped establish churches throughout the Byzantine empire. One of Andrew’s converts included the wife of a Roman provincial governor in southern Greece; the governor, upon hearing this news, immediately ordered Andrew to be scourged and then crucified on an X-shaped cross, the saltire.

There are two widely held beliefs regarding why Andrew was crucified on a saltire. One is that the Romans tilted the cross to look like an X to disparage and mock Christianity rather than use the shape held in reverence by Christians. The other is that Andrew requested that he be crucified on a diagonal cross, tied upside down, as he felt he wasn’t worthy to die on the same shape of cross as Jesus.

According to legendary accounts given in 16th-century historiography, in 832 AD, Óengus II led an army of Picts and Scots into battle against the Angles. He was heavily outnumbered, and on the eve of the battle, vowed that if granted victory he would appoint Andrew as the patron saint of Scotland.

The next morning, white clouds forming an X shape in the sky were said to have appeared, and Óengus, feeling empowered by this divine intervention won the battle despite the odds. Believing the X-shaped cloud to have represented the saltire cross upon which Andrew was crucified, Óengus appointed Andrew as the patron saint of Scotland. The white saltire set against a celestial blue background is said to have been adopted as the design of the flag of Scotland based on this legend.