Catholic Church Times

Saint Andrew the Apostle

Apostle (Feast)

Feast Day
November 30
Life
d. 60
Born
Bethsaida, Galilee

Andrew was a fisherman from Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee, the brother of Simon Peter and the son of Jonah (or John). He had been a disciple of Saint John the Baptist, and according to the Gospel of John (1:35-42) he was the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah and to bring his brother Simon Peter to him. From this scriptural fact comes his ancient title in the Greek-speaking East: Protokletos, the First-Called. Together with Peter, James, and John he is named in the inner circle of the Twelve in the Synoptic Gospels.

The New Testament records nothing of his later ministry, but ancient tradition - already attested by Origen in the third century - assigned him as his missionary territory the regions around the Black Sea (Scythia, Thrace, Asia Minor) and Greece. The fourth-century historian Eusebius records his preaching in Scythia, and a strong Byzantine tradition makes him the founder of the see of Byzantium itself, the seed of what became the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. He is said to have been martyred at Patras in Achaea around the year 60 by crucifixion on an X-shaped cross (the crux decussata or Saint Andrew's cross), which appears on the flags of Scotland and Russia today. His relics, removed from Patras to Constantinople in the fourth century and from there to Amalfi during the Fourth Crusade in 1208, were partially restored to the Orthodox Church of Greece by Pope Saint Paul VI in 1964 as a sign of reconciliation between Rome and Constantinople.

Andrew is the patron of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and his feast (November 30) is the occasion of the annual exchange of papal and patriarchal delegations between Rome and Constantinople, a sign of the Catholic and Orthodox commitment to restoring full communion. He is the apostle who brings others to Christ.

Patronages

Scotland · Russia · Ukraine · Greece · Romania · fishermen · the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

From Saint Andrew the Apostle

"We have found the Messiah."
— Saint Andrew to his brother Simon Peter, John 1:41

Catholic Churches Named After Saint Andrew the Apostle

20 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint Andrew the Apostle's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:

Sources