This is a bit of additional info about St. Andrew and the Scottish flag:
Andrew and his path to sainthoodMICHAEL T R B TURNBULL
EVERY nation needs a symbol to express its identity. Out of Scotland's history three core symbols emerged: a plant (the thistle, commemorating Alexander III's crucial victory against the Vikings at Largs in 1263), an animal (the Lion Rampant, remembering the Royal beast kept by King William the Lion) and a saint (Andrew, chosen to root Scotland in Bible values).
Andrew - from the Greek word for "strong" - was a Galilean fisherman. Hearing Jesus speak, Andrew abandoned his nets and journeyed tirelessly north from Greece to the shores of the Black Sea, rousing and motivating people to turn to God. He is believed to have been crucified by the Romans on the shore at Patras in Greece, pinned to a spread-eagled cross.
Saint Andrew's altar at St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh.
After his execution, Andrew became widely honoured as a saint. His bones - now venerated as relics - were moved to Constantinople, then capital of the Roman Empire. Later, some of his bones were carried to Rome and then taken on to England at Pope Gregory's orders by monks led by Saint Augustine in a series of missionary journeys. This very long and complicated story was explained more simply and effectively through the inspiring fable of St Regulus (Rule). In that story, Regulus is a monk who brings some of Andrew's bones (three fingers of the right hand, part of an arm bone, a knee-cap and a tooth) perilously by sea from Greece to what is now St Andrews in Fife.
Following the 8th-century battle of Athelstaneford in East Lothian, Andrew was chosen for the Scots as their patron saint. It was at Athelstaneford that King Angus, leading a force of Picts, faced a powerful Anglian army. That night Angus was visited by Andrew in a dream and promised victory. Next morning, the King awoke, looked out east and saw a saltire – or X-shaped - cross in the refracted beams of the rising sun. King Angus won the battle convincingly and the saltire cross became the symbol of Pictish and then Scottish nationhood.
The stirring account of the battle was crafted by medieval chroniclers to bring out the parallels with the savage battle of Milvian Bridge in Rome (312 AD) where the emperor Constantine defeated his rival Maxentius and then cut off his head. Constantine - who had visited Britain as a young man - converted to Christianity after seeing the superimposed Greek letters P and X (an abbreviation for Christ) in the refracted rays of the setting sun on the eve of battle. After his victory, Constantine shrewdly went on to make Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Keith O'Brien proudly carries the Scottish saltire in Rome after being installed as cardinal, 2003.
Over the centuries the bones of Andrew continued to make their way across the world. In 1206 other parts of Andrew’s body were taken in a fleet of galleys to Naples and then on to Amalfi; in 1460, the Tyrant of Morea fled from the Turks, bringing a portion of Andrew’s skull to Rome as life insurance. In 1879 the Third Marquess of Bute acquired part of a shoulder-blade from Amalfi, along with other smaller pieces of bone and presented them to Saint Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral in Edinburgh. In 1969 Pope Paul VI presented a second relic to the newly created Cardinal Gordon J Gray in Rome. Another part of Andrew's skull (the Tyrant of Morea's gift) was returned to the Greek Orthodox Church by Paul VI in 1962 as a gesture of reconciliation; today it is venerated in the Cathedral of St Andrew by the shore at Patras.
Saint Andrew continued to be invoked at critical points in Scottish history. William Wallace's prayer before battle was "Saint Andrew mot us speed" ("Saint Andrew leads us to victory"). At the battle of Roslin in 1303, Sir Simon Fraser addressed the Scots with the words: "In God all your hope ye set; Saint Andrew, Saint Ninian and Saint Margaret." In July 1318 St Andrew's Cathedral, in St Andrews, was consecrated in the presence of Robert the Bruce who gave thanks for the victory at Bannockburn (1314), where the Scots army had proudly worn the saltire cross on their tunics. The relics in St Andrews disappeared at the time of the Reformation and assumed to have been destroyed.
For Scots today Saint Andrew with his cross is still a potent symbol: Andrew was a networker who brought the wider world to meet his Master; the saltire is a multiplication sign of dynamism and enlargement. This recalls Andrew's initiative in bringing the boy to Jesus at the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and is an appropriate symbol of entrepreneurial skills for Scotland in the 21st century. There are other advantages: sharing Andrew as our patron with Russia and Greece gives Scots a worldwide orientation.
(Michael T R B Turnbull is a teacher and author. His works include Saint Andrew: Scotland's Myth and Identity (Saint Andrew Press); Buildings and Landmarks of Edinburgh (W & R Chambers); Monuments and Statues of Edinburgh (W & R Chambers); Cardinal Gordon Joseph Gray (Saint Andrew Press); Edinburgh and Lothians Holy Corners (Saint Andrew Press); and most recently Curious Edinburgh (Sutton Publishing).)
heritage.scotsman.com/greatscots.cfm?id=2246232005
