November 30th St. Andrew's Day
So...obviously St. Andrew is not a Celtic saint; he is one of the 12 apostles and brother to St. Peter.
Yet somehow he ended up as Patron saint of one of the 7 Celtic nations: Scotland. (Of the other 6 "nations", only Galicia has another apostolic saint, the apostle St. James, buried at the terminus of the pilgrim route of Santiago de Compostela.) I thought perhaps I could muse a little on how Andrew ended up in that position and about the issues of Saints in general, which are an important part of Celtic Christianity.
After the crucifixtion, legend has it that Andrew preached to the Scythians in the area north of the Black Sea, then in Constantinople where he installed a bishop, and finally in the Pelopponese in Greece where he was martyred at the city of Patras. Like his brother, Peter, he refused routine crucifixtion, but was bound to an "X" shaped cross, now referred to as a Saltire.
What happens after this point is a little sketchy. His remains, i.e. relics, would have been buried at Patras. A Greek monastic named St. Regulus (St. Rule), apparently had a vision that he should move a portion of the relics, and he took them north, eventually ending up near Fife in Scotland...now the site of the town and University of St. Andrews. I have seen dates as early as 315 AD and as late as around 800 AD listed for when this occurred. The latter time coincides the legend of King Oengus of Scotland trying to defeat the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstan in battle. Oengus sees a cloud formation in the form a Saltire cross, and swears that if he wins the battle he will make St. Andrew patron of Scotland. Obviously he won the battle.
Another theory was that Andrew was chosen to "trump" the English, who had only St. George. (So what if George could slay dragons--he wasn't an apostle after all!) This aspect of "using" saints as almost a football team mascot bothers me, yet I suspect it was quite real. Growing up I used to be a big fan of the movies of Errol Flynn. In one of these, "The Black Prince," there is a scene where English troops are trying to route the French during the Hundred War. The camera focuses on the English charging and yelling "England and St. George," then pans over to the defending French who are screaming out "France and St. Dennis." George wins that round in the Celebrity Saint match-up.
I also get concerned about the whole "relics" concept. In one of my vacations, my daughter and I made a trip to the monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai peninsula. I recall long lines of Orthodox worshipers coming by an encased set of relics, weeping and kissing the surrounding glass--I don't recall which saint it was. I use saints in my prayers, particularly if there is an aspect of their lives that is similar to a problem I am dealing with. I believe in the "communion of saints." I worry, however, that saints are elevated to a position of semi-divinity, an intermediary to Jesus...who needs no intermediary.
As I read the background to the Celtic love of saints, I realize that Andrew is in many ways an anomaly compared to the other Celtic saints. Esther de Waal has a marvelous chapter devoted to the background of Celtic saints in her book The Celtic Way of Prayer. She describes them as earthy, local, part of the kin-structure of the Celtic society. Many of them were created saints by local acclamation rather than formal canonization. They are present now, not remote. De Waal has a marvelous quote from a contemporary Irishwoman that, because of the beer-related nature of the town I currently live in, I cannot resist copying:
I would like to have the men of Heaven
In my own house:
With vats of good cheer
Laid out for them...
I would like a great lake of beer
For the King of Kings,
I would like to be watching Heaven's family
Drinking it through all eternity. (De Waal attributes this to Peig. The Autobiography of Peig Sayers of the Great Basket Island)
So...next time I am at Odell's brewery with a pilot sampler tray, I am going to have to mentally imagine a Celtic Saint sitting across from me. Not to get inebriated, but just to socialize in a friendly, gaelic fashion.
Lord, thank you for the Celtic Saints in general. Their struggles and joys are an inspiration to me. Keep me from putting them in Your place, yet allow me to "converse" with them, so that I may learn to be closer to You through their example and advice. Amen.
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