Saint Andrew was the older brother of Saint Peter. He was the first of the Apostles to be called by Our Lord. He was a disciple of Saint John the Baptist, who pointed out Jesus to him as the Messias. Saint Andrew summoned his brother, Peter, and both became glorious Apostles of Our Lord. Saint Andrew preached the Gospel, after Our Lord’s death, in Asia Minor and to the people of Scythia. He then went to Macedonia and to Greece. He was martyred at Patras, in Achaia, by being tied to a cross shaped like the letter X, and ever since called the “Saint Andrew’s cross.” Saint Andrew made his cross a pulpit. On it, while he bled and bled from scourgings he had received, he preached to the faithful for two days until he died. Part of his body is now the town of Amalfi in southern Italy. He is the patron saint of Russia and also of Scotland.
See also: Saint Andrew.
Crucifixion of St. Andrew, by Juan Correa de Vivar (1540 – 1545) source
