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Saints calendar

November 30 · Catholic · traditional calendar

Andrew the Apostle

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother from Bethsaida, was the first of the Twelve to follow Jesus; Byzantine tradition calls him the First-Called. His feast on November 30 begins the St Andrew Christmas novena, prayed until Christmas.

Patronage
Scotland, Russia
Era
1st century

The first to follow

Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist. When John pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God, Andrew and another disciple followed him and spent the rest of the day with him (John 1:35–40). Andrew then found his brother Simon, told him they had found the Messiah, and brought him to Jesus (John 1:41–42). The other Gospels tell of a call by the Sea of Galilee: Jesus saw the brothers casting a net, and they left it at once to follow him (Matthew 4:18–20; Mark 1:16–18). They came from Bethsaida and shared a house in Capernaum (John 1:44; Mark 1:21, 29). Andrew is named in every list of the Twelve (Matthew 10:2; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13).

Bringing others to Jesus

John's Gospel shows Andrew bringing others to Jesus. Before the feeding of the five thousand, he pointed out a boy with five barley loaves and two fish, though he wondered what so little could do (John 6:8–10). Later, some Greeks who had come for the feast asked Philip to see Jesus. Philip told Andrew, and the two went to Jesus together (John 12:20–22). Andrew's own name is Greek, from a word meaning "manly" (Strong's G406). Benedict XVI saw in the scene with the Greeks a sign of Andrew's later place as an apostle to the Greek world.

Later traditions

Accounts of Andrew's later life come from tradition, not from the New Testament. Eusebius, citing Origen, says Scythia fell to him; fourth- and fifth-century writers also name Epirus, Achaia and Greece. The Passion of Andrew, which Benedict XVI dates to the early sixth century, says he was crucified at Patras in Greece. The X-shaped cross now named after him is a later image: the 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia found no evidence for it older than the fourteenth century. His relics went to Constantinople in the fourth century and to Amalfi in the thirteenth; in 1964 Paul VI returned a relic from St Peter's to Patras. Scotland and Russia honour him as chief patron. The Ecumenical Patriarchate keeps November 30 as its patronal feast, and each year the Holy See sends a delegation to Istanbul for it.

The St Andrew Christmas novena

The St Andrew Christmas novena is an anonymous prayer to God, not to Andrew, about the hour of Christ's birth. It is said fifteen times a day from his feast on November 30 until Christmas, so it lasts longer than a nine-day novena. In January 1929 the magazine The Sign printed it from a reader's letter: "Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the Most Pure Virgin Mary at midnight in Bethlehem in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desire (here mention) through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen." The writer had prayed it for over 35 years and named a Dublin leaflet series as its source. The editors added that putting confidence in the number of repetitions is a form of superstition.

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