St Andrew's Day!

A very Happy St Andrew's Day to all our Scottish readers and supporters!

As Scotland becomes more patriotic and self-aware, it is vital for nationalists to carve out and re-establish their identity, and not have to it changed into some multi-culti, multi-racial mess.

• He was born in Bethsaida in Galilee
• Andrew's Greek name was Andreas which means 'manly'
• He was the elder brother of Saint Peter
• Andrew was a fisherman by trade
• He was the second person to be baptised by John the Baptist after Jesus
• Andrew was martyred for his faith in Patras
• Legend has it that some of St Andrew's bones were taken to Scotland by St. Rule (also known as St Regulus) in Pictish times
• His bones once lay in St. Andrew's Cathedral
• The first church in England to be dedicated to him was in Rochester
• His emblem is a cross Saltire
• The flag of Scotland, the Union Flag, the Arms and Flag of Scotia all feature a Saltire to commemorate St Andrew

Some more facts:

• Churches were also dedicated to him from early times throughout Italy and France as well as in Anglo Saxon England, where Hexham and Rochester were the earliest of 637 medieval dedications.
• St. Andrew has also been remembered down through the ages because of the way he met his terrible death in A.D. 60.
• It is said that he believed himself unworthy to be crucified on a cross like that of Christ, and so he met his end on a ‘saltire’, or X-shaped cross (St Andrew’s cross) which became his symbol.