St Andrew & His Day

[IndyLive Research Contents]

Who is St Andrew & How did he Become Patron Saint of Scotland? 

Chambers, ‘Book of Days’ (1886), 30^th of November.

ST ANDREW. 

St Andrew was the son of Jonas, a fisherman of Bethsaida, in Galilee, and was the brother of Simon Peter, but whether elder or younger we are not informed in Scripture. He was one of the two disciples of John the Baptist, to whom the latter exclaimed, as he saw Jesus pass by: ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ On hearing these words, we are informed that the two individuals in question followed Jesus, and having accosted him, were invited by the Saviour to remain with him for that day. Thereafter, Andrew went in quest of his brother Simon Peter, and brought him to Christ, a circumstance which has invested the former apostle with a special pre-eminence. 

After the Ascension, the name of St Andrew is not mentioned in the New Testament, but he is believed to have travelled as a missionary through Asiatic and European Scythia; to have afterwards passed through Thrace, Macedonia, and Epirus into Achaia; and at the city of Patra, in the last-named region, to have suffered martyrdom about 70 [C.E.]. The Roman proconsul, it is said, caused him to be first scourged and then crucified. The latter punishment he underwent in a peculiar manner, being fastened by cords instead of nails to the cross, to produce a lingering death by hunger and thirst; whilst the instrument of punishment itself, instead of being T-shaped, was in the form of an X, or what is termed a cross decussate. We are further informed that a Christian lady of rank, named Maximela, caused the body of St Andrew to be embalmed and honourably interred; and that in the earlier part of the fourth century, it was removed by the Emperor Constantine to Byzantium, or Constantinople, where it was deposited in a church erected in honour of the Twelve Apostles. The history of the relics does not end here, for we are informed that, about thirty years after the death of Constantine, in 368 [C.E.], a pious Greek monk, named Regulus or Rule, conveyed the remains of St Andrew to Scotland, and there deposited them on the eastern coast of Fife, where he built a church, and where afterwards arose the renowned city and cathedral of St Andrews. Whatever credit may be given to this legend, it is certain that St Andrew has been regarded, from time immemorial, as the patron saint of Scotland; and his day, the 30^th of November, is a favourite occasion of social and national reunion, amid Scotchmen residing in England and other places abroad. 

The commencement of the ecclesiastical year is regulated by the feast of St Andrew, the nearest Sunday to which, whether before or after, constitutes the first Sunday in Advent, or the period of four weeks which heralds the approach of Christman. St Andrew’s Day is thus sometimes the first, and sometimes the last festival in the Christian year.

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North Briton, Wednesday 12^th December, 1866. 

   THE HISTORY OF ST ANDREW. – A Greek monk, of the name of Regulus, Abbot of a monastery at Patræ, a town in the province of Achaia, was admonished by a vision to abandon his native country, and, like the father and mother of a celebrated ancient nation, to depart without delay to a far distant land. This, he was told, was an island in the great ocean situated in the remotest extremity of the western world, and is known by the name of Albion; but, previous to his departure, he was commanded to visit the shrine of the Apostle Saint Andrew, whose relics had been deposited in the above-mentioned city, and to take from the tomb the arm-bone, three of the fingers, and three of the toes of the apostle, to be the companions and protectors of his long and perilous journey. The abbot was so faithless, that he hesitated with respect to obedience, startled, it would appear, at the magnitude of the enterprise he was commanded to undertake. The admonition having been repeat in a more awful and terrific form, and menaces employed in case of further disobedience, the reluctant abbot was at length induced to comply. He repaired to the holy shrine, took up the commanded relics deposited them in a box constructed for the purpose, and having provided himself with companions, and other necessaries for the voyage, as directed in the vision, he embarked in a small vessel, and put to sea. Seventeen other monks and three nuns, or, as they termed in the story, devoted virgins, agreed to accompany him. After having, for the space of two years, been exposed to innumerable hardships and dangers, they were at length by a violent storm shipwrecked in the Bay of St Andrews. Their vessel was dashed to pieces, and they themselves with difficulty escaped, losing all they had on board except the box of relics which they were so fortunate as to preserve. The Pictish monarch upon the throne when Saint Regulus and his company arrived was Hergast or Hergastus, who happened fortunately to be a prince of superior accomplishments and good sense. No sooner was he informed of the arrival of these strangers than he repaired to a palace which he had in the neighbourhood, and commanded them to be brought before him. He was no less struck with the sanctity and gravity of their manners than with the great beauty and sublimity of the doctrines which they taught. He, in short, became a convert, and his people followed his example. The heathenish Druidical worship was exchanged for the rites of the Gospel, the darkness of Pagan error gave way to the light of truth, and St Andrew was accepted as the guardian saint of the kingdom. In the year 819 Hungus, king of the Picts, invaded and ravaged Northumberland, and was returning through East-Lothian with his victorious army loaded with plunder, when he was overtaken and surrounded by his enraged enemy, Athelstane, King of the East and West Saxons, at a place since called Athelstaneford, near Haddington. In this state of alarm and peril he applied, by earnest prayer, to his patron Saint Andrew. The saint heard his prayer, and displayed in token a luminous cross in the air next day, and assured Hungus that if he engaged the enemy he would obtain a complete and decisive victory. The result answered the prediction. The Saxon army was destroyed or taken prisoners, and Athelstane himself was slain. Hungus immediately repaired to St Andrew with all his courtiers and great men, kissed on his bare knees the relics of the saint, obliged those who were with him to do the same, and to bind himself by a solemn oath that he would for ever for the future use no other sign on his banners or standards except what is now known as the Cross of St Andrew. 

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Falkirk Herald, Saturday 6^th December, 1890. 

… There was a large congregation present, who, previous to the commencement of the service, had the pleasure of listening to a skilfully played voluntary by Mr Love. After appropriate preliminary services, Mr Muir, in an eloquent and vigorous sermon from John i., and 41^st (first clause) – “he findeth his own brother Simon” – sketched the life of St Andrew from various notices contained in the New Testament, mentioning also what tradition said of the saint. A legend says that a monk of Patras was called on to gather the relics of the saint and convey them to western regions, where a church was to be founded in memory of St Andrew. The monk, not knowing whither he went, set out, and, drifting without oar or sail, went ashore at what is now St Andrews, and there built an edifice to the honour of the saint. From that time St Andrew was known as the patron saint of Scotland. The preacher then drew several lessons from the life of the saint. One was that in order to do great good men need not occupy a foremost place. No one could dispute that St Peter was greater than St Andrew, but it was to the latter’s influence that St Peter owed his loyalty to Christ. there was much talk at the present day about “Formative Influence,” and eminent men had been asked to state what it was that made them what they were. Were they to be minute, nearly all of them would have to tell of some one inferior in rank and in wealth, whose sincerity, sympathy, and good example had the greatest effect in chiding what was wrong, and encouraging what was right. Little as they knew of Saint Andrew, it was singular that there were so many associations connected with his name. In the times when every country had its patron saint, Scotland had her Saint Andrew, and in the times when saint days were abolished, St Andrew’s day preserved a lingering regard. The 30^th of November was a high day among Scotsmen all over the world. It was also a day set apart some years ago as a day of special intercession for missions… It was surely something to commend, that in the far distant land to which [Scots] might have gone the love of home survived in the breasts of the exiles. They looked back with tear-dimmed eyes to the hills and glens, the rivers, the wood, the little cottage, and the old church they never knew they loved so much till they became severed from them, and they sought to keep up fond memories. Hence they met at least once a year to indulge in reminiscences, to partake of Scottish dishes, listen to Scottish music, sing Scottish songs, and repeat Scottish phrases. The bond of nationality and brotherhood was strengthened. Their own immediate friends, neighbourhood, country, and order, had the first claims upon them. The 30^th November was also devoted as a day of intercession for foreign missions… It reminded them that they were Scotsmen and it spoke to them of fraternity. It proclaimed the principle of brotherhood… 

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Dundee Courier, Thursday 30^th November, 1905. 

ST. ANDREWS DAY. 

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His Cross and City. 

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How the Saint’s Relics Reached Scotland. 

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(Special to the Courier.) 

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   Edward III. at Cressy made “St George for England” his battle-cry, and as a victory followed an exotic saint was adopted as the patron of England. But Scotland’s patron saint was never naturalised by a Royal edict. St Andrew has been associated with the Northern kingdom ever since the forming of Scotland from Albyn, Pictland, Dalriada, Northumbria, and Strathclyde. 

Andrew the Apostle. 

   Of Andrew the Apostle we have no sure record after the Day of Pentecost. He is not recorded among the workers in the Roman dominions, and later times have conjectured that he preached in the savage East. Certainly he never came to Scotland, for the Romans did not commence that conquest till his old age. Yet there is no great reason to doubt the tradition that Andrew suffered martyrdom at Patrai, on the Gulf of Corinth. The early Christians treasured the memory of their martyred evangelists. The references to his death are of early date, and, though we have no direct confirmation of his story, recent investigations around the graves of martyrs at Rome have shown that they were marked and preserved within a few generations. We certainly know that Constantine removed what he believed the relics of Andrew to his capital on the Golden Horn, and that in the Middle Ages they were again dispersed. Brescia, Milan, and Sorrento all claim to possess his remains. 

Relics in Scotland. 

   The Scottish St Andrews never asserted possession of more than a few bones – three finger joints, and some teeth, contained in a silver casket. How did these relics come to Fife? Or, if they never came, what chain of circumstances connected the Apostle’s name with Scotland? There is nothing in the character of St Andrew that would appeal to the early Scots above all other saints and eclipse the fame of their own noble missionaries. Andrew was a fisherman, yet he is not in Scotland the patron of fisher alone, but of the whole country and of all classes. We know nothing of his character. The third clause of the Apostles’ Creed is attributed to him, and his emblem is the nailless, X-shaped cross on which he died. That there is no visible reason why Scotland should adopt Andrew spontaneously adds to the probability that the cult of the brother of Peter was carried to Fife by some party of monks from the East. The legends themselves disagree on the way in which the relics reached St Andrews. In the most miraculous tale they sailed there in a stone coffin, which reached Kilrymont Cliffs without human aid. This probably reflects the doubts of the Middle Ages as to any men managing to transport relics from Greece through barbarian nations and stormy seas to savage, unchristian Scotland. The most widely accepted tale in monkish times was that, thirty years after the death of Constantine, a pious Greek monk named Regulus or Rule conveyed the relics from Constantinople to Scotland, converted a Pictish King, and obtained a site for their shrine. Some have thought that the Byzantine appearance of St Regulus indicated a very early origin and an Eastern architect, but experts now declare the tower is pure native Norman work, and not built before the twelfth century. Indeed, there is every reason to believe that the ecclesiastical settlements at both Whithorn and Iona preceded that at St Andrews, which cannot have been founded before the eighth century. The legends connect it with a Pictish King named Angus or Ungus, who reigned in the middle of that century, and the historian, mixing fact, hints from legend, and conjecture, tells the story of its foundation thus. 

Acca’s Northern Flight. 

   Wilfred, Bishop of Northumbria, in the seventh century, visited Rome, and when there cast himself under the protection of St Andrew in carrying out the great purpose of his life – the conversion of the Northumbrians to the creed of Rome. Having succeeded in his purpose, he dedicated his church at Hexam to the holy apostle and martyr. Acca, his successor, naturally identified himself with the saintly associations of this church, and, being a great collector of relics, enriched the church at Hexam with the relics of St Andrew and other costly treasures. Acca was driven from his Bishopric, and fled to the unconquered Picts north of the Forth, taking his relics with him. Then he disappeared from the view of the English chroniclers, but it is a probable surmise that he carried the bones of St Andrew to Kilrymont, thence for all time the town of St Andrew. The time of his flight northwards certainly coincides with the reign of the Pictish King Angus, whom the legends associate with the name of the place. Henceforward to the Reformation it may be said to have been the ecclesiastical centre of Scotland. Its diocese extended from the borders of England to the River Dee, and included not only the counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan, but a great part of Perthshire, Forfarshire, and the Mearns, with the two Lothians, Berwickshire, and Roxburghshire. 

The St Andrew’s Cross. 

   And all the while that St Andrews city ruled this great district St Andrew protected all Scotland. Was not Bannockburn won in his name, and did not the Bruce and his Barons come to the consecration of the great Cathedral as the trophy and memorial of their triumph? The Cross of St Andrew passed into the Royal Banner of Scotland, and round it the Scots and their King died at Flodden. That very bloodstained pennon is still in the Advocates’ Library in Edinburgh. It was under the “Blue Blanket” – the St Andrew’s Cross on a blue ground – that the Covenanters marched to Philiphaugh, to Dunbar, to Rullion Green, and Bothwell Brig, to die, as the legend on their standard declared, “For Christ and his Covenant.” Strange contrast, it was under the same blue cross on a white ground that the Port Arthur and Baltic Fleets met the Japanese. Under that same white cross there meet to-night thousands of Scots in all parts of the world, who, though they gather at the name of Scotland’s patron saint, honour not the Apostle, but the national genius of Scotland, by the conservancy of blood ties and of glorious traditions. 

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Brechin Advertiser, Tuesday 27^th November, 1928. 

THE ORIGIN OF ST ANDREW’S DAY 

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   Friday will be St Andrew’s Day, when Scotsmen the world over will meet to celebrate the festival of their patron saint. 

   What association St Andrew really had with Scotland it would be impossible to say. Scotsmen themselves don’t know. Once, at a St Andrew’s Day dinner at Calcutta, a witty English clergyman gave his version. He said he had come to the conclusion that St Andrew had been chosen to become the patron saint of Scotland because he discovered the lad who had the loaves and fishes! 

   Whatever the explanation, and there are several, “St Andrew and our Right” has resounded over many a Scottish battlefield since the eighth century. Nowadays his name is associated rather with feasting than with fighting. 

   It would seem that Scots emigrants, who, after losing home ties, really appreciate them, usually take a greater interest in the celebration of old customs and observances than those at home. 

   That this has been the case till recently cannot be doubted in regard to the national anniversary of St Andrew’s Day, the last day of November. St Andrew has from time immemorial been the patron saint of Scotland, but in his time he did not visit our shores. Scotland’s own saint was one of the Disciples, the son of Jonas, a fisherman, of Bethsaida, in Galilee, and the brother of Simon Peter. 

   St Andrew travelled through Asia Minor as a missionary, and at the age of 70 landed at Achaia. Here, the Roman Governor had issued orders that all persons must make sacrifices to the pagan god. Andrew refused to obey the order and was cast into prison, tried, and condemned to death. After being scourged he was bound to a cross, which was in the shape of the now famous X. To torture the aged missionary farther, he was bound with thongs to the crossed boughs instead of nailed, and hung there to die a lingering death.  

   In the early part of the fourth century, Emperor Constantine disinterred Andrew’s remains and reinterred them in a church built at Constantinople, and dedicated to the twelve Apostles. 

   In [C.E.] 369 the missionary Regulus set sail from the East, taking with him certain holy relics of St Andrew. Regulus was wrecked on the shores of Fife, but the remains were saved and a rough stone chapel was built to shelter them. A modern relic of this ancient visit is St Rule’s or Regulus, Tower in St Andrews, and it is supposed that this was the origin of the town. 

   But Scotland’s Saint became bound by closer ties. King Hungus of the Picts, while at war with the English, swore that if he beat the English he would dedicate one-tenth of Scotland to St Andrew. After a complete victory the King, true to his word, built a splendid church and dedicated it to the Saint’s memory. From that time St Andrew has been firmly established as patron saint of the Scots. 

   The “Silver Cross” of St Andrew forms, of course, the diagonal white cross of the Union [flag]. 

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Grant, ‘Old and New Edinburgh’ (1880), pp.148-157.

“The laigh-shop of Creech’s Land was last occupied by the Messrs. Hutchison, extensive traders, who, in the bad state of the copper coinage, when the halfpennies of George III. would not pass current in Scotland, produced a coinage of Edinburgh halfpennies in 1791 that were long universally received. On one side were the city arms and crest, boldly struck, surrounded by thistles, with the legend, Edinburgh Halfpenny; on the other, St. Andrew with his cross, and the national motto, Nemo me impune lacessit, which is freely and spiritedly rendered, “Ye daurna meddle wi’ me.” Since then they have gradually disappeared, and now are only to be found in numismatic collections.” 

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How St Andrew & His Day is Celebrated By Scots 

Glasgow Sentinel, Saturday 7th October, 1854. 

   “The hall was beautifully and appropriately decorated under the superintendence of George Lamb, Esq., one of the associates. At the east end, over the Chairman’s table, there were suspended two royal standards of Scotland on blue coloured staves, with yellow tops, and tassels of yellow. This portion of the hall was also tastefully decorated with wreaths of evergreens and flowers. Over the Croupier’s chair, at the west end, and above the gallery, a union ensign was suspended on the wall, with wreaths of evergreens. On the north and south sides of the hall, the great windows were draped over with curtains of the newly-arranged Scottish rights’ tartan, which does much credit to the taste of Mr James McKissock, 81 Wilson Street, Glasgow, the maker. Suspended from the curtains, and hanging over between the windows, were tastefully-arranged floral wreaths. On the north side, the St Andrew’s Ensign was suspended from a flag-staff, coloured blue with yellow top. The St Andrew’s Ensign is the Standard of Scotland, with the union in the corner. The English have their St George’s Ensign, and Scotland has her equal right to display her St Andrew’s, when and where she wills. On the south side of the hall there was displayed the Standard of Scotland. It is unnecessary, on Scottish ground, to describe the standard of our country. It is to be regretted that it is not oftener seen; it was the flag of our forefathers, and their descendants should be proud of it and its many glorious associations. In front of the chair were the Royal Arms of Scotland painted on canvass, and the Arms of the Earl of Eglinton, and Duke of Montrose; and below, festoons of evergreens and heather, &c.”    

N.B. With regards the “Scottish rights’ tartan” made by James McKissock, I was curious as to what this tartan looked like and had a look through the ‘Scottish Register of Tartans‘ website and could not find it. Not with the creator’s name or the name of the tartan or the year in which it must have been made for this event. So, I emailed them asking if they could help me out but for whatever reason they weren’t able to help me, which I found very strange, and referred me to enquire with the ‘Scottish Tartans Authority‘, which I did on 09/08/19. I am, as yet, still awaiting a response. 

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Caledonian Mercury, Tuesday 8^th December, 1724. 

   “London, Decem. 1. Yesterday being St. Andrew’s Day (the Titular Saint of Scotland) the Natives of that Part of Great Britain wore the Cross of that Saint; and the Nobility of the Order of St. Andrew, or the Thistle, made their Appearance at Court in their Green Ribbans. We hear that his Majesty, who together with his Royal Highness the Prince, wore the Cross, is to create four new Knights of that Order. The Society of Scots Gentlemen, who meet here annually on this Day, had a Feast, as usually, and chose Mr. George Middleton their Master for the Year ensuing. The Knights of this Order used to meet, before the Union, at St. Andrew’s Town and Kirk. History is not certain when this Order began; but only, that the Scots have received St. Andrew for their Guardian ever since the 810, in the Reign of Hungus the Pict; when the said Hungus making War with Athlanstan King of England, saw in the Sky, the Night before the Battle, a bright Cross, like that on which St. Andrew suffered Martyrdom, and the Day proving successful to Hungus, he and his Confederate Achaius went bare-footed to the Kirk of St. Andrew’s, to return Thanks to GOD and his Apostle for their Victory; vowing, for themselves and their Posterity, always to use the said Cross in their Ensigns and Banners: Which has accordingly been observed by the Scots and Picts ever since; and hence, tis believed, the Order took its Rise.” 

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Glasgow Evening Times, Tuesday 30^th November, 1880. 

ST ANDREW’S DAY. 

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   After all, are we the sad race satirists depict us? Do we take our pleasures sadly? The question of national temperaments is one of the most curious that can occupy the student of sociology. Why do we assume that our Gallic neighbours are always vivacious, and the Germans always stolid? Why do the British people pass as stern money-grubbers, who scarcely ever relax a muscle but when they are eating, and who make themselves invariably ill in consequence of their fictitious gaiety over a Christmas pudding? When we divide the English from the Scotch again this country fares still worse. The Continent may regard us indiscriminately as long faces and dull, but across the Border the reproach is doubled and applied to the assumed stiff-necked Presbyterianism of the Scotch. The story is trite of the traveller who, after three days’ residence in a strange country, could write a book about it, and after three years discovered he knew nothing about it. but the story is pat in its application here. When our mockers come to live in the North they discover that, although our fogs and our rainfall prevent us enjoying much outside merriment, we are not without sociality within doors. We are not in the habit of drinking coffee or beer in front of our domestic castles, but these things, and more, are to be found in plenty when one has crossed the hospitable threshold. For a strictly Presbyterian nation it is curious to note how our affections cling to the days which another Church than ours associated with religious solemnity and familiar enjoyment. We are always making merry! It is only a few weeks from Hallowe’en, and we are already ay St Andrew’s Day; and the tables which groaned under autumn dinners will soon groan again under the feasting which the new year brings. Let our scoffers come and live in our midst; we will give them specimens of the pleasures we do not take sadly, and when they have quaffed mountain-dew, and danced a reel or two, we will ask them for their opinion on our manners and customs of our winter enjoyment. 

   Saint Andrew’s Day is recognised as the special day on which Scotsmen throughout the world should do honour to the patron saint of their native country. In all the colonies, in America, and where else our roving brethren congregate tonight, there will be many a toast to things and names dear to their hearts, and stories of days at home will make the association of foreign soil and Scotch interests less and less an impossible thing. And in this country the newspapers of to-morrow will bear ample evidence of the good cheer which has been partaken of in honour of St Andrew. 

… 

   In Buckinghamshire St Andrew is the patron saint of lace-making, possibly, one writer has said, because the intersecting threads in the delicate fabric so frequently form his cross. However this may be, the lace-makers make special cakes in honour of St Andrew, and call them “T’andry cakes.” At Bozeat, in Northamptonshire, a kind of sweet toffee is made on St Andrew’s Day, and the bell of St Mary’s is rung, and called “T’andry Bell.” Sometimes “T’andry” is further corrupted in the same county into “Tander.” So strange are the freaks of language. Another instance of the same kind of derivation and corruption is the word “tawdry.” This is not, of course, from St Andrew, but it is from St Audrey. We neither make a pint of eating toffy or cakes on St Andrew’s day, but go in for the more solid, substantial, and satisfying sheep’s head. 

   The alleged origin of this sheep’s head eating is curious, but we by no means vouch for the alleged origin being the real one. here it is, however, as given in the invaluable pages of Brand. To Duddingston, he says, many of the opulent Edinburgh citizens used to resort in the summer months to solace themselves over one of the ancient, homely dishes of Scotland, for which the place has been long celebrated; the use of singed sheep’s heads (he continues) boiled or baked, so frequent in this village, is supposed to have arisen from the practice of slaughtering the sheep fed on the neighbouring hill for the market, removing the carcases to town, and leaving the head, &c., to be consumed in the place. So that, according to this account, a custom must [have begun] among the classes who could get heads of sheep for the taking away, gradually developed into a local attraction and specialty, the fame of which spread so widely that not only “the opulent Edinburgh citizens,” but the opulent citizens of other places, sat down with pleasure in winter as well as summer to discuss what was at first thought only good enough to be left on the hill. Brand, however, does not cite any other authority. 

   It was to Saint Andrew that Robert the Bruce attributed the victory of Bannockburn. When “the Cathedral of the future metropolitan city of Scotland” was opened by him on the fifth of July, 1318, he testified his gratitude to heaven for the victory vouchsafed by the intercession of St Andrew. 

   Naogeorgos, in his “Popular and Papish Customs,” says of St Catherine’s Day – 

     “What should I tell what Sophisters, on Catherin’s day devise? 

      Or else the superstitious toyes that matters exercise;” 

but he scarcely gives any more information about St Andrew’s Day, to which he refers immediately afterwards – 

     “To Andrew all the lovers, and the lusty wooers come, 

      Believing through his aid, and certaine ceremonies done, 

     (While as to him they presents bring, and conjure all the night) 

      To have good luck, and to obtain their sweet and chief delight.” 

He then goes on to the dedication of a Church holiday. His reference to St Andrew’s Day, it will be seen, is tantalising. He says St Andrew’s is the lover’s day, and that lads and lasses bringing presents to him, and watching all night, after going “through certain ceremonies,” believe they will have good luck, and obtain “their sweet and chief delight.” What were those ceremonies? He gives no information as to them further. One may assume that they were very similar to those practised among ourselves on Hallowe’en. St Andrew’s Day is too near Hallowe’en for Scotch maidens again to resort to divination, but in Germany, on St Andrew’s Eve, to find out the colour of the future bridegroom’s hair, the following ceremony Thorpe tells us is performed. Between eleven and twelve at night the girl who wishes to peep into futurity in this innocent wat goes to the house door. She takes hold of the latch and says thrice – “gentle love, if thou hearest me, show thyself.” Thereafter, she suddenly opens the door wide enough to pass her hand out, making a grasp in the air, and finds in her hand a lock of her future husband’s hair! It will not be every girl, it may be assumed, who will attempt such a lonely feat in the midnight hours. 

   Luther, in his “Table Talk,” speaks of German girls reciting the following prayer to St Andrew on his day in order to learn what their husbands will be:- “Deus, Deus meus, O Sancte Andra effice ut bonum Pium acquiram virum; hodie mihi ostends qualis sit cui me in uxorem ducere debet.” 

   Our same worship in these days takes the form of eating and drinking. The eve, and not the morn, as Keats has it, “is full of holiday.” For us no bells with rival clamours ring, nor does “cunningly station’d music die and swell in echoing places,” but true it is that on this day of the patron saint of Scotland, 

“A Metropolitan murmur, lifeful, warm,” 

comes, not from one county or from one country, but from every spot and sod where the untiring Scot has set his venturous foot. Hail! St Andrew and St Andrew’s Day! 

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Banffshire Herald, Saturday 12^th January, 1895. 

   THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN BUENOS AYRES. – Some time ago the municipality of Buenos Ayres purchased the Scotch church of that city (of which the Rev. J. W. Fleming, B.D., son of Mrs Fleming, The Lodge, Keith, is pastor), for the purpose of making a new boulevard. Another site was thereupon acquired by the Scotch residents, and on 30^th November last the foundation of their handsome new church was laid with suitable and imposing ceremony by the Hon. Mrs Pakenham, wife of Her Majesty’s minister to the Plate. In the evening, the Saint Andrew’s Society of the River Plate, celebrated the day of the patron saint of Scotland and the foundation of the church by a banquet. Among the toasts were “the kirk o’ Scotland, and o’ oor braw new ane,” “the camp an’ a’ oor friens there,” “the St Andrew’s Society,” “the Lasses,” and “the Chairman,” the last toast being proposed by the Rev. J. W. Fleming. The toast-list was interspersed with Scotch songs; and the proceedings ended in the orthodox style by the singing of “Auld Lang Syne.” 

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Alloa Advertiser, Saturday 24^th December, 1853. 

AULD LANG SYNE; 

OR, 

HOW THE SCOTCH IN AMERICA REMEMBER SCOTLAND. 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ALLOA ADVERTISER. 

New York, 3d December, 1853.      

   SIR, – … to come to the affairs of the Society, of which I mean this letter to give you some information. In the year 1740, the Scotchmen in New York formed themselves into a Society for the benefit of their countrymen in that State, and for immigrants. The denominated the Society, the “Saint Andrews,” – that being the name of the patron Saint of Scotland, and yearly, since the formation of the Society on Saint Andrew’s day, the 30^th of November, the members and those who chose to join them, have a dinner. During the past year the Society have distributed 1400 dollars, not, however, among its members, who are all able to support themselves, some of them being the wealthiest Scotchmen in this city. Besides distributing money, they obtain situations if possible for Scotch immigrants who come under their notice, who may be in distress… 

   During the evening the following toast was received over the telegraph wires from the Saint Andrew’s Society of Philadelphia, who also were holding their anniversary dinner:- “May the guid right hand of your charity never be sticket, nor your pouch of benevolence want a baubee, while there is a Scottish heart in America, or a Scottish emigrant in distress.”… 

   We come now to the account of the dinner of last Wednesday evening, which took place in the Metropolitan Hotel, the largest and handsomest in New York. During the day, the flag of Saint Andrew – having a white ground, and a blue cross – was displayed from the flag-staff on the roof of the hotel. At six o’clock the members and invited guests assembled in the parlour, and thence proceeded to the large dining room, headed by a piper in full highland costume, playing some of the national airs of Scotland. The number of gentlemen at dinner was about 120. The table was set off with tasteful ornaments representing Holyrood Palace, Stanley Castle, Burns’ Monument, a Highlander, Edinburgh Castle, &c. Among the dishes at dinner were a haggis and Scotch kail. The viands were of the best description. At one end of the room was exhibited a full length transparency of Saint Andrew, with the motto – “Relieve the Distressed,” and underneath – “Nemo me impune lacessit.”… Between the courses the piper walked round the tables, playing Scottish airs, assisted by Dodworth’s Instrumental Band. The chair was occupied by the president of the Society, Mr Adam Norrie… The Chairman then rose to propose the first toast. He said:- “Another year has gone by since we assembled around the festive board, and while it had been marked by wealth and prosperity to numbers of our countrymen, it had not been without sorrow and suffering to others. Some of these had been brought under the notice of the Society and received of its bounty. He would not give the company any detailed account of these transactions, but it was with great pleasure he informed them that large numbers had received relief. Some who, through sickness, had been unable to provide for themselves, others who, from long usage, might be considered permanent pensioners on the society, such for instance as old men, widows, and orphans. The Society, thinking it best to relieve the aged and the young, who were unable to provide for themselves… Though the numbers of the applicants had been numerous, he was glad to be able to state that the funds were in a flourishing condition. This being the case, it must add to the pleasure of this meeting – so calculated to arouse the feeling of all true sons of Scotland… The Chairman said that he would interrupt the volunteer toasts for a short time, as he had just received one or two toasts from the Telegraph Office, sent from the far south, namely, Charleston. They had sent them as a toast, “Saint Andrew’s Day, sacred for the remembrance of the past, cherished for the opportunity offered of reuniting Scotchmen that were far from Scotland.” The Society of Saint Andrew, in Petersburg, state of Virginia, sent the following – “The bonds of charity unite us all as brethren.” From the Saint Andrew’s Society of Philadelphia came the following: “Ye’re unco thrang, but ye tak time to gi’e a helping hand to a puir stranger. The driving tide o’ trade has nae washed awa your auld Scottish kindness.” To these toasts appropriate answers were returned with the electric messenger. The answer to the Philadelphia toast was – 

Attentive still to sorrow’s wail, 

Or modest merits silent claim, 

Oh never may your sources fail, 

And never envy blot your name. 

The last toasts given were the ex-Chairmen, to which Mr Irvine, president for last year, replied, and gave “The memory of James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd.” One or two songs followed, and the company enjoyed themselves until the wee short hour ayont the twal, when they separated, every one highly pleased with the night spent after the guid auld fashion. Indeed we may say a night spent in Scotland. Hoping that the above may be of interest to your numerous readers, I remain, 

Yours respectfully, 

W. H.      

–

Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette, Saturday 23^rd April, 1898. 

A BORDER MINSTREL. 

——— 

… 

   Robert McLean Calder was a “Border Minstrel.” having been born in Berwickshire at the town of Duns in 1841. His boyhood, however, was spent at the little village of Polwarth, made famous in Scottish song by Allan Ramsay, John Grieve, and others. Calder became early acquainted with the many legends and historical associations that cling to this picturesque district. He got but little schooling. “The three R’s were as far as I got,” he wrote, “for at the early age of nine I hired out at the farm of Raecleughhead in the humble occupation of ‘herding craws,’ and varying this with cutting thistles or gathering ‘rack.’ During this time, and also later on when herding sheep on the moors by Kyles Hill, I supplemented the meagre education I had received by taking my books with me to the field and the hill-side, and improving my leisure hours in studying educational text books, and generally reading everything I could borrow in the village. My father and mother – the former being a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and the latter having decided poetical ability – encouraged me in every way in efforts to improve my mind.” From Polwarth he returned to Duns, where he was apprenticed as a draper with his uncle, and turned his attention to the study of music and verse-making…  

   From Duns our poet removed to a situation in London, where he was one of the promoters of the “Tomahawk,” a smart but short-lived illustrated paper. After one or two more changes, in 1866 he emigrated to America, where he joined the famous Lloyd and Bidaux Minstrels in a tour through the United States, becoming a very popular member of the troupe. In the following year he crossed into Canada and settled at Chatham, Ontario, where he obtained a situation in what is there styled a “dry goods store.” There are many Scotsmen in Chatham, and here his musical and literary talents joined to his genial, social disposition, made him a general favourite, and he speedily became a notable member of the local St. Andrew’s Society. The Scotch Society of the same name in Ottawa having offered gold medals for the best poem on St. Andrew’s Day and the Marriage of the Princess Louise, Calder gained them both. The manner of his writing the former as told by his brother is worth repeating. 

A MIDNIGHT INSPIRATION. 

   “My brother could never write poetry to order. I have often suggested a subject to him, and asked him to write something upon it, but very seldom could I get him to do anything in this way. Many of the best things he did came to him as an inspiration. He told a friend that he wrote the poem on Saint Andrew’s Day on a sudden impulse. He went to bed, and woke up in the middle of the night, dressed himself, and wrote the poem straight off and again retired. In the morning he posted the verses without any revision. It gained the prize medal.” A verse or two from this prize poem will give my readers an idea of Calder’s style. He writes, it will be observed, in Burns’s favourite measure – 

“There’s no a day in a’ the year 

We greet wi’ sic a hearty cheer; 

For Scotia’s sons frae far and near 

Their hearts obey, 

To haud oor Patron Saint aye dear, 

St. Andrew’s Day. 

–

“Frae east to west, baith south an’ north, 

In ilka corner o’ the earth, 

Will Scotsmen gie in joyous mirth 

Their feelin’s play, 

To celebrate our Patron’s birth, 

St. Andrew’s Day. 

–

“An’ in our ain Dominion land, 

Frae forest wild to sea-girt strand, 

Scotsmen will meet, a mighty band 

Respect to pay, 

When ‘chill November’ brings to hand 

St. Andrew’s Day. 

–

“Oor wives an’ dochters, too, maun greet 

This hallowed time wi’ honours meet: 

An’ bairnies too maun hae their treat, 

An’ grannies gray 

Tell hoo they kept langsyne the great 

St. Andrew’s Day. 

–

“Then let us hope that mony a year 

We lang may meet ilk ither here, 

Oor jokes to crack, oor questions spier, 

An’, blithe an’ gay, 

To welcome wi’ a joyous cheer 

St. Andrew’s Day.” 

   In 1871 he paid a visit to the old country. On his return to Chatham he started business on his own account. Here he remained till 1882, when his business proving unsuccessful, and his health becoming enfeebled, he resolved to return to his native land. From this time till his death, in 1895, he was associated with his brother, Mr. Peter Calder, in an old-established business in London. This brother says of him – “A gentler or more unselfish soul never lived. He was a true child of Nature, without any ambition to be rich, contented when he had enough, and ever ready to help the needy to the utmost of his means. His loss to me can never be repaired.” 

–

Aberdeen Press & Journal, Friday 5^th January, 1883. 

ST ANDREW’S DAY IN NATAL. 

——— 

   An Aberdonian, resident in Durban, writes:- Love and reverence for the land of his birth, and a praiseworthy sympathy with his fellow-countrymen, are among the prevailing characteristics of the Scotchman abroad. Our national puritanism may get mellowed down under the genial influence of contact with our southern friends, but we never lose our pure Scottish feelings; memory loves to dwell on the heather-clad hills, the grand and picturesque scenery of the lesser Alps. And our romantic history tends to make us all feel a pardonable pride that we belong to an honourable race of honest and independent people. 

   The Scotsmen of this colony hold fast to their national traditions. Natal is almost without exception the only colony where a Caledonian Society is not in existence. Consequently, when the 30^th of November comes round, the Scotch cannot allow the anniversary of their patron saint to pass without some fraternal recognition of the day. This year it was decided to hold a banquet on St Andrew’s day in Durban, and, as the sequel showed, it turned out to be a splendid success. We Scotchmen here are frequently chaffed in regard to our national peculiarities. Petty critics will say to us now and again – “But so you really consider the bagpipes musical at all?” Our reply is that outsiders don’t understand us. the bagpipes are never condemned on British battlefields. A committee had worked with wonderful enthusiasm and diligence to render the fete a success, and the banquetting room presented quite an elaborate display. Several fine pictures adorned the walls, and flags of all nations were suitably disposed throughout the room. Numerous mottoes lined the walls, mostly breathing of the land of heather. Notably was seen the motto that Caledonia has borrowed from the thistle, “Nemo me impune lacessit,” displayed in a prominent position in black letters on a white ground, and bordered by the prevailing pink. The windows were adorned with lace curtains, and large and beautiful baskets of flowers were suspended here and there. A flag with the Cross of St Andrew was kept flying outside all the day. The tables were placed in the shape of the Roman letter T, in the centre of the top stroke of which the chairman – our popular railway manager, Mr David Hunter – was seated, room being reserved for a specially invited guest, His Excellency Sir Henry Bulwer, K.C.B., the Governor of the Colony. The weather was propitious, and many “brither Scots” arrived from Maritsburg and elsewhere to greet their compatriots. The assemblage numbered altogether from 150 to 200, and was said to be the largest gathering of Scotchmen ever met together in Natal. The committee deserved great praise for their efforts to secure the comfort of the guests at the meeting. 

   There was no mistaking them with their tartan rosettes and sprigs of real heather all the way from Scotia. Unfortunately, owing to the receipt of important despatches, His Excellency was prevented from attending; but he sent a kindly worded letter of apology, and later during the evening a telegram arrived from him as follows:- “Saint Andrew’s Day, 7 p.m. – My hearty greetings and congratulations. I join with the sons of Scotland in the toast of ‘Scotland.’ ” This toast was pledged most enthusiastically by the company, and many drank it with Highland honours… Telegraphic messages were despatched greeting other St Andrews gathering in Kimberley, Capetown, and Port Elizabeth… Dinner commenced at seven o’clock, and certainly there was no lack of good things with which to refresh the inner man. On the table there were all kinds of tempting delicacies, such as cock-a-leekie, grouse pie, boar’s head, roast geese, and, not least of all, the veritable haggis itself. The programme drawn up was a lengthy and enjoyable one… Colonel Mitchell, C.M.G., in replying, said he was very proud of the doings of the Highland Brigade. The Scotch were perhaps the most valued part of the army, giving it as much as any that character of solidity by which it had gained world-wide reputation. He would perhaps a shade sooner command Scotchmen than any other men, because he knew that, when a Scotchman got orders to do a thing, he did it to the best of his ability… 

   The Chairman, Mr D. Hunter, in giving the toast of “Scotland,” the great toast of the evening, made a stirring and patriotic speech in honour of the “Land of the Mountain and the Flood.” Most of all, we loved to think of the mental, moral, and social characteristics of the Scottish people – 

Our fathers were high-minded men, 

Who bravely kept the faith 

To Freedom and to Conscience true 

In danger and in death. 

Nor should their deeds be e’er forgot, 

For noble men were they, 

Who struggled hard for sacred rights, 

And bravely won the day. 

… 

   Other toasts common to St Andrew’s gatherings followed, that of “The Ladies” being drunk with Highland honours. The successful Durban St Andrews banquet of 1882 came to a close after the “wee sma’ hoor ayont the twal,” the whole company joining in singing “Auld Langsyne.” 

–

Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald, Friday 28^th March, 1890. 

THE SCOT IN WINNIPEG. 

   Scotchmen are often said to be clannish, and to a great extent that is the case. But it is a good fault to have, and the Scot abroad makes good use of the fault. The Scot in this country is a Canadian first and a Scot next. his motto is, 

“Oh! Canada, I lo’e thee weel, 

Although nae son o’ thine; 

Within thy wide dominion there beats 

Nae truer heart than mine.” 

The Scotch element is strong in Winnipeg, the western capital. The city has three Presbyterian churches – North Church, Knox, and St. Andrew’s. In the latter will be found most of the Scotch people and all the new settlers, perhaps because it is a homely and social congregation, presided over by an earnest hard-working pastor (Rev. J. Hogg), who Sunday after Sunday tells 

“— the language of the soul, 

And in his book of life the inmates poor enrol.” 

   In the forenoon service the psalms are sung to the old tunes so dear to the old folks of the congregation, the tunes that recall their past days in the old country. In the evening, hymns and anthems are sung for the benefit of the younger generation, who hold the very sensible belief that the church service should advance with the times. 

   Then a visit to the rooms of the  

ST. ANDREW’S SOCIETY 

is a sight that gladdens the hearts of Scotchmen. The twang of the Fifers and Edinburgh folks, and the broad dialect of the Aberdonians, can be heard mingling with the more refined dialects of Inverness, Glasgow, and the West. The Society’s diploma of the Burns Federation, dated at Kilmarnock, 1886, and signed by the well-known signature of the President of the Federation, P. Sturrock, seems like an echo from Ayrshire of the voice of one so well-known in public life in North Ayrshire. The St. Andrew’s Society takes its name from Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, and is composed of men of Scottish birth and descent. The object of the Society, as its motto explains, is to “Relieve the Distressed,” to commemorate the anniversaries of Burns and Scott, and to observe in a fitting manner Hallowe’en and Dominion Day. The commemoration generally takes the form of a Scotch concert, or a dinner, at which the glories and beauties of Scotia and the brave deeds of her sons are recalled by the good auld Scotch songs, so familiar to all from their childhood, and still possessing charm for all. They make 

“— a’ feel as if at hame, 

‘Mid Scotia’s bonnie scenes, 

When, gatherin’ roun’ us, fancy brings 

The faces o’ auld frien’s; 

For tae a’ Scotsmen noo abroad 

The auld land aye is dear.” 

Gatherings like these are always enjoyed by all, the entertainment being of the highest and most elevating kind. And the performance shows that the Scotch songs are more earnestly studied and better sung by amateur vocalists here than at home, a fact that ought to make the young musicians of Scotland blush with shame, as it shows their want of national and patriotic feeling, and also shows that national pride and strong patriotic feeling are stronger and more fully developed in the Scot abroad than in the Scot at home. Anyone – whether poor emigrant or rich tourist – who leaves the old country for Manitoba, can look forward to being surrounded by friends, who are always willing to lend a helping hand to the stranger, and show – 

“That man to man the world o’er 

Shall brithers be for a’ that.” 

–

Scotsman, Tuesday 21^st November, 1899. 

   It is often remarked that the memory of Scotland’s patron saint is better preserved furth of Scotland than in the home country, and if one wishes to enjoy the haggis, the gush of patriotic sentiment, the bagpipe, and “Auld Lang Syne” at their very best, it might be well to pass November 30 in Canada or New Zealand. Even golfers in Scotland do not show any special desire to observe St Andrew’s Day, though the name of the saint has been so much identified with the royal and ancient game. As Freemasons and in other capacities they will, no doubt, gather together in the evening in a social and brotherly way to feed the flame of patriotic fervour, which at this trying time should shine as brightly as possible. but it is to England we must turn for the appropriate connection of golf with the name of Scotland’s patron saint. At the Saint Andrew’s meeting of the Formby Club last week, Mr H. H. Hilton anew annexed the St Andrew’s Challenge Prize. On Saturday last the Southport Club had its St Andrew’s meeting and club dinner. On Saturday next the Royal Liverpool and Chester Clubs have their St Andrew’s Day meetings, and on the 29^th the similar fixtures of the West Lancashire and Oxford University Clubs are held, followed by the Royal Isle of Wight and others on the 30^th. The combination is an excellent one, for the haggis will be preed with greater zest in the evening when the day has been spent in pursuing the gutta. 

–

Paisley Herald & Renfrewshire Advertiser, Saturday 12^th November, 1864. 

SCOTTISH NATIONALITY. 

   On Wednesday night, a lecture upon “Scottish History, Memories, and Associations,” was delivered in the Philosophical Hall, by William Burns, Esq., of Glasgow, a gentleman well known for his long-continued and strenuous advocacy of the claims of Scottish Nationality… the lecturer proceeded as follows:- 

   Mr President and brethren of the Glasgow St. Andrew’s Society, – When I had last the pleasure of addressing you in this way, I took the opportunity of calling your attention to some of the historical and traditionary circumstances connected with the choice of name of “Saint Andrew,” as that of the Patron Saint of Scotland, and hence, of the Society whereof we are members; explaining, briefly, the origin and meaning of the emblem which forms the decoration we are in use to wear – the Saint Andrew Cross – how it came to be the national standard of Scotland,.. I am anxious to go somewhat deeper into the subject, and explain to you what appear to me to be the principles upon which such Scottish associations as the Glasgow Saint Andrew’s Society are founded, and the effects they are naturally calculated to produce… Well, then, as you all know our Society was formed so far back as the year 1854. I must say it had a very humble beginning, in the almost casual meeting of a few individuals, whose thoughts and feelings had been more or less roused by recent discussions arising out of the formation of a society specially directed to Scottish questions… Guided by experience, our action was quiet and unobtrusive – seeking not so much a mere increase of numbers, as the adhesion of volunteers embued with the same spirit as ourselves… The objects of our society are set forth, in a summary form, in the resolutions passed at our first meeting, to which I refer, as recorded in your Minute Book, now before me. These are (1), “The periodical assembling of ourselves together for the celebration of the Scottish anniversary of St. Andrew’s Day; (2) The cultivation thereby of a spirit of patriotism connected specially with our native country; and (3), The interchange of Scottish memories, sentiments, and feelings with fellow-countrymen at home and abroad;..” Why, then, should natives of Scotland associate together for the purposes so indicated? I answer, first, because it is desirable; second, because it is necessary; and third, because, for these reasons, it is a duty… It might, perhaps, for some purposes, have been a sufficient answer to the question just put, merely to say “We are Scotsmen, sons of the soil, and as such, must, of necessity, feel a special interest in memories connected with our native country – experience enjoyment from the recall of Scottish associations – and believe that we nourish manly sentiments by the cultivation of Scottish patriotism.” We know what the world’s history attests, that there is no deeper, purer, or more enduring passion, or rather principle in human nature, than this love of country. Apart from religion, every other influence by which men are moved, or governed, has at times been forgotten, or overborne by opposing influences, save only this passion of patriotism. Impelled by that passion in its more exalted developments, the husband has forsaken or contemned the joys of domestic life; the father has stifled in his bosom the love of his own offspring; men have sacrificed wealth, ease, all that at first sight might seem to render life desirable, and exposed themselves to cares and toils, and tortures, and death itself. It has consecrated to all time such scenes as the Pass of Thermopylæ, the plains of Marathon, the Bay of Salamis, the defile of Morgarten, the field of Bannockburn, and, thank God! many others sacred to freedom. in its general bearing it has, through all ages, been the theme of the poet and historian, the study of the philosopher, and the lever by which politicians and statesmen have moved the nations. It might well, then, seem enough if we were simply professing to cherish this sentiment, and deem it a sufficient reply to those who question us, to say “we find our happiness in so doing.” It might suffice to quote the words of our own great romance writer – 

“Land of my sires, what mortal hand 

Can e’er unloose the filial band, 

That knits me to thy rugged strand?” 

But some there are who pretend to say that now, when Scotland forms part of a greater nationality, the day has gone by for merely Scottish memories. They tell us we should direct our attention rather to the cultivation of patriotism in our new relation as citizens of the United Kingdom, and warn us against what they are pleased to call “narrow-minded provincialism.” The Times, even while pertinaciously ignoring the other portions of the Union, (unless when abusing them), and while apparently knowing only “England,” and “the English,” affects to say, “We on the other side of the Tweed have risen to the conception of a United Kingdom, and even of a British Empire,” leaving it to be inferred that Scotsmen cannot do the same. We shall see by and by how this matter stands. Others again affect to be advocates of what they choose to call “Cosmopolitanism,” under the guise of extended sympathies, and universal benevolence; and they point to the evils of national antipathies, while others are eloquent, in season and out of season, in expressing the hope that the time is nigh, or already come, when the distinction between Scots, English, [Welsh,] and Irish should cease to be recognised, and when the members of the [four] nations should know one another only as fellow-citizens. In answer to all this, one might simply put such questions as these – Has the time come when English memories and sentiments should be forgotten? Has any one come forward to advise fellow-citizens south of the Tweed that they should forget they are English, and devote themselves to Cosmopolitanism? Such questions need no answer. Indeed, I rather think that if put to even the most liberal of Englishmen, they would simply laugh in your face. 

But passing by this in the meantime, I would say – If by “rising to the conception of a British Empire” is meant,.. – if it means that Scotland and England should alike, without equivocation or unfounded assumptions, perform their duties to each other, according to the spirit and letter of that union, that Scots as well as English should, loyally and devotedly, promote the interests and the honour of the United Empire – then I venture to say that Scotland has, in fact, performed her duties – that my countrymen have truly risen to the conception of a United Kingdom, and loyally and faithfully, at home and abroad, in the field of literature or of science, in peace or in war, or in contributions to the common exchequer, vindicated the honour and promoted the interests of the Union,.. Let no one, then imagine that loyalty, as Britons, is in any way incompatible with our cherishing the recollection that we are Scots. If, again, by “Cosmopolitanism” is meant the absence of those narrow prejudices which result in selfishness, in blindness to our own faults or the merits of others, jealousy of our neighbours’ prosperity, or want of sympathy with their misfortunes; – if by Cosmopolitanism is meant the presence of that extended sympathy which is so exquisitely described by our national bard, then with him may we all be able to pray, 

“That come it may; 

As come it will for a’ that, 

That man to man the world o’er 

Shall brother be an’ a’ that.” 

In this sense, I trust there are none amongst us who are not cosmopolitans. But I need not point out to you that this consummation is supposed to be founded on the prevalence of “Sense and worth o’er a’ the earth,” and not upon the abandonment of our own deliberate convictions or cherished habits. So, if by saying the time has come when all distinction between Scots and English should cease and be forgotten, is meant that the prejudices and hatreds of former ages should cease to influence their conduct towards each other, that Englishmen should be honoured and respected in the North, and Scotsmen in the South, as fellow-citizens; that we should be ready to learn from them that which may improve our condition, materially, intellectually, morally, or socially, and that they should be prepared to follow the same course, then, I trust, we shall yield to none in our cordial assent to such a doctrine. But, on the other hand, if “forming a proper conception of our position as citizens of a United Kingdom” means that we, as natives of this northern portion of that kingdom, should forget the glories of our past history, the deeds and the graves of our fathers, that our eyes should cease to take a peculiar delight in our country’s natural beauties, and our hearts throb with a more exquisite pleasure at her music or poetry; that we should cease to feel a special interest in the joys and sorrows, or a special exultation at the noble deeds, of ‘British Scots;’ if it means that we are to sit quietly down and see our national peculiarities sneered at, or our very existence as a people ignored, voluntarily divesting ourselves of our own individuality, and, with contemptible meanness seeking to occupy others, without regard to whether what we follow be really worthy of imitation, then, I, for one, must demur to the inglorious doctrine, and trust in this I express, however faintly and imperfectly, your sentiments. So if the cry of cosmopolitanism means that, overlooking the ties of kindred and of blood, those immediate relations in which God’s providence has placed us, and the duties which these impose, we should devote ourselves to the study of the laws and customs of strangers, and expend our sympathies and our energies upon the happiness or miseries of foreign nations; if it means that we should divest ourselves of these natural impulses and partialities, which our Maker, for wise and salutary purposes, has implanted in our bosoms, in order that we may be able to boast of all mankind being alike to us; if it countenances that distortion of mental vision which causes so many in ordinary life to see nothing but beauties abroad and blemishes at home, and some eminent men in public life to turn their backs, as it were, upon their own country, and cast in their lot and sympathies with her enemies and detractors; if those things are meant by, or included in cosmopolitanism, then I repudiate the name entirely, and am content to bear the reproach of loving my own city or country beyond all other cities or countries however favoured by nature or by art, and my own people however far they may be from perfection. In like manner, if by saying the time has come when distinctions between Scots and English should be unknown, is meant, that it is desirable those peculiarities which have hitherto marked the two nations, arising from race, or history, or institutions, should cease entirely to exist, or operate, that Scottish laws, religion, and habits, should be merged in those of England, and that the whole people of this populous empire should be polished down to a single pattern, and assume the dull, monotonous, uninspiring level of a… uniformity, – then, I am prepared to contend that any such result is the very opposite of desirable. The truth is, gentlemen, that the proud place which Great Britain has attained is, in a great measure owing to that very diversity which some ignorant persons affect to deprecate… Mr Burns continued his lecture at considerable length, particularly referring to the fact that Scotland had never been conquered, but want of space will not allow us to give more at present of his interesting paper. 

–

Daily Review, Monday 3^rd December, 1866. 

THE “TRUE HIGHLANDERS’ CLUB” IN LONDON. 

   The fifty-first annual St Andrews dinner of the “Club of True Highlanders” was held on Saturday evening, in their rooms at the Bedford Club, Bedford Row, Holborn, London. The chair was occupied by Mr William Gordon Hepburn, chief, supported by Messrs Macleish and Grant as chieftains. At seven o’clock about one hundred of the members and their friends sat down to an excellent dinner, provided by the steward of the club. After the usual loyal and patriotic toasts, 

   The CHIEF proposed “Prosperity to the Club of true Highlanders,” and took the opportunity of briefly explaining its origin. He said that in 1815, after the battle of Waterloo, when many of our countrymen were returning home from the campaign wounded both in body and in spirit, and much in want of the assistance of friends to rescue them from immediate distress and help them to reach their native home, a few humane and patriotic Scotchmen in London banded themselves together and instituted the Club of true Highlanders for the furtherance of the praiseworthy object already mentioned, and also to preserve the costume, customs, and the songs of ancient Caledonia. For many years the club was a success until, unhappily, a feeling of discord was introduced, and many of its most valuable members left and instituted those two societies, so honourable to our countrymen – the Highland Society and the Caledonian Society of London. From this time the parent club dwindled, until a very short time since it was little known among Scotchmen on the south side of the Tweed, but better times were in store for it. A band of enthusiastic Scots were enlisted on the committee, and they, with a laudable zeal and enterprise, secured the use of the splendid rooms in which they now meet. From that time the number and character of its members has rapidly improved beyond their most sanguine expectations, until now the original founders of the club would be proud to witness the success that attends their pet institution. Charity also enters largely into the objects of the club. They have already rendered much assistance to their necessitous countrymen in London, and have the desire and prospect of still further extending their efforts in that direction.

   Several other appropriate toasts were proposed, and drank with Highland honours, after which, 

   The CHIEF proposed the toast of the evening, “The immortal memory of Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland,” which was drunk in silence. He remarked that many Scotchmen are still ignorant of the history of their patron saint, and the origin of the cross which bears his name. For their information he told them the following popular and generally accepted legendary story, narrated by Fordoun:- “A Greek monk, of the name of regulus, Abbot of a monastery at Patræ, a town in the province of Achaia, was admonished by a vision to abandon his native country, and, like the father and mother of a celebrated ancient nation, to depart without delay into a far distant land. This, he was told, was an island in the great ocean situated in the remotest extremity of the western world, and is known by the name of Albion; but, previous to his departure, he was commanded to visit the shrine of the Apostle Saint Andrew, whose relics had been deposited in the above-mentioned city, and to take from the tomb the arm-bone, three of the fingers, and three of the toes of the apostle, to be the companions and protectors of his long and perilous journey. The abbot was so faithless, that he hesitated with respect to obedience, startled, it would appear, at the magnitude of the enterprise he was commanded to undertake. The admonition having been repeated in a more awful and terrific form, and menaces employed in case of further disobedience, the reluctant abbot was at length induced to comply. He repaired to the holy shrine, took up the commanded relics, deposited them in a box constructed for the purpose, and having provided himself with companions, and other necessaries for the voyage, as directed in the vision, he embarked in a small vessel, and put to sea. Seventeen other monks and three nuns, or, as they are termed in the story, devoted virgins, agreed to accompany him. After having, for the space of two years, been exposed to innumerable hardships and dangers, they were at length by a violent storm shipwrecked in the Bay of St Andrews. Their vessel was dashed to pieces, and they themselves with difficulty escaped, losing all they had on board except the box of relics which they were so fortunate as to preserve. The Pictish monarch upon the throne when Saint Regulus and his company arrived was Hergast or Hergastus, who happened fortunately to be a prince of superior accomplishments and good sense. No sooner was he informed of the arrival of these strangers than he repaired to a palace which he had in the neighbourhood, and commanded them to be brought before him. He was no less struck with the sanctity and gravity of their manners than with the great beauty and sublimity of the doctrines which they taught. He, in short, became a convert, and his people followed his example. The heathenish Druidical worship was exchanged for the rites of the Gospel, the darkness of Pagan error gave way to the light of truth, and St Andrew was accepted as the guardian saint of the kingdom. In the year 819 Hungus, king of the Picts, invaded and ravaged Northumberland, and was returning through East-Lothian with his victorious army loaded with plunder, when he was overtaken and surrounded by his enraged enemy, Athelstane, King of the East and West Saxons, at a place since called Athelstaneford, near Haddington. In this state of alarm and peril he applied, by earnest prayer, to his patron Saint Andrew. The saint heard his prayer, and displayed in token a luminous cross in the air next day, and assured Hungus that if he engaged the enemy he would obtain a complete and decisive victory. The result answered the prediction. The Saxon army was destroyed or taken prisoners, and Athelstane himself was slain. Hungus immediately repaired to St Andrew with all his courtiers and great men, kissed on his bare knees the relics of the saint, obliged those who were with him to do the same, and to bind himself by a solemn oath that he would for ever for the future use no other sign on his banners or standards except what is now known as the Cross of St Andrew.” Much of this legend may be fabulous, but it also contains what is true of the origin of St Andrew as the patron saint of Scotland, and of the cross, its national emblem. 

   It may be stated that a large proportion of the company were attired in the garb of Old Gaul. Some of the dresses were very beautiful, and had a pleasing and picturesque effect. Many of the most delightful of the songs and ballads of Scotia were sung by gentlemen present, in a style that is seldom to be heard in any public music hall or concert room; and, to the music of the bagpipes, Highland dancing entered largely into the amusement of the evening. The sword dance and Highland fling, as performed by Messrs grant and McBain, were perfection, and called forth the rapturous applause of the company. 

–

Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald, Saturday 1^st January, 1881. 

ST. ANDREW’S DAY IN AMERICA. 

CHICAGO, Ill., Nov. 30, 1880.      

   SIR, – As the 30^th of November comes round, it is looked forward to with much interest by the Scotch who have found hospitable homes in America. It is looked forward to with pride, not only on account of its being a day when Scotchmen meet and talk the “auld mither tongue,” but also on account of its being a band of sympathy between the land we left and the land we live in. Scotchmen are all over the world, and where two Scotchmen are, they are sure to meet and talk of Scotland, Scotchmen, and “Auld Langsyne;” and it was for this purpose that over 300 members, guests of the St. Andrew’s Illinois Society, gathered round the banquet tables of the Chicago Freemont House, on Tuesday, 30^th November, or St. Andrew’s Day, to celebrate the 35^th anniversary of their society. The recollections of home were strong in the mind of every Scotchman present, and as they came up and grasped you by the hand with the exclamation of “Hoo’s a’ wi’ ye, man,” it seemed as if every Scotchman was proud of the land of his birth, and the auld mither tongue. 

   In Chicago St. Andrew’s Day was held in much the same way as in other parts of the United States; and as the vice-president, Mr McGregor, read a number of telegrams from sister lodges throughout the States, it seemed as if St. Andrew was (in America at least) truly the patron saint of Scotchmen. 

   After a splendid menu had been gone through, proceedings in the speechmaking line were commenced by the president, Mr Kirkland, who in a few terse remarks, gave the object of the meeting. The speech he made was full of spirit and poetry. He said he was proud of being a Scotchman, and proud of knowing that there was not a Scotchman but felt happy of having been born in Scotland. Although we may be exiled from our native land, we are Scotchmen still, and we can fully realise the feelings of Burns when, on leaving Ayr, he sang so sadly and so sweetly – 

“Farewell my friends, farewell my foes, 

My peace with these, my love with those, 

The bursting tear my heart declare, 

Adieu, my native banks of Ayr.” 

He then proposed “The day, and a’ wha love it,” and in doing so he said that the same toast was being drunk from the Arctic to the Antarctic pole, from the Golden gates of California to the Atlantic-washed coast of our eastern shore. Wherever a Scotchman’s voice is heard, there will be a health to his native land, a memory to his patron saint, and a wish for Auld Scotland’s welfare. The toast, as may be supposed, was enthusiastically cheered and responded to. 

   The next thing on the programme was a song, by Professor J. McGill, composed for the occasion, and entitled “Old Scotland’s mountains free,” which was rendered in a very energetic and patriotic way. 

… 

HUME.      

–

Galloway News & Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser, Friday 3^rd December, 1886. 

NOTES FROM GLASGOW. 

——— 

WEDNESDAY NIGHT.      

… 

   The thirtieth of November has for over a couple of centuries at least, and perhaps for much longer, been recognised as the day on which it is right to celebrate the memory of Saint Andrew, the patron Saint of Scotland. Who the Saint was or where he came from very few people know. Some who pretend to know place him on a pedestal so high that one would be inclined to believe that our patron Saint was the apostle St. Andrew himself. Others who also pretend to know give him a character that would make him a very acceptable son of Beelzebub. To most people, in fact, our patron Saint is a myth. However, that really matters little after all, the commemoration of St. Andrew’s Day unquestionably affords ‘a reason fair to drink and fill again,’ to Scotchmen all the world over, and they do not neglect the opportunity. Not only in our own country, but in England, America, and at the Antipodes, Scotsmen met together on Tuesday night, and in the words of the poet ‘vexed with mirth the drowsy ear of night.’ In Glasgow the St. Andrew’s Society held their thirty-second anniversary banquet in the Grand Hotel, and the viands were partaken of while a piper in full Highland attire paced round the room relieving his instrument – if I may so term the bagpipes – of a selection of airs which I suppose nobody in the room knew but himself, and which everybody in the room would have been delighted to listen to is he had gone into the ‘next apartment.’ The banquet was quite a success. The speech-making was short, and some capital Scotch songs were given. 

ST. MUNGO.      

–

Inverness Advertiser & Ross-shire Chronicle, Tuesday 16^th December, 1873. 

   The St Andrew’s Day of the thirty-fifth year of Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s reign has come and is past, and equally certain is it that many who joined in the festivals at the various places it was celebrated at will pass away with it before “another comes round.” Yet others will look forward to its return with agreeable anxiety for the pleasure anticipated in the meeting of friends “to hae a swap o’ rhymin-ware.” 

   If this worthy saint is not so familiarly remembered for his contributions to the evangelical epistles as Peter and Paul are, he is well toasted by his proteges, and they are all over the habitable globe. Andrew is not the patron saint of Scotland alone; he is patronised by the Russians also, who have honoured his memory by the institution of two orders of knighthood. Apropos of that joint patronage, I remember reading somewhere an account of the celebration of the “day,” by the natives of both these countries in the Crimea during the war. In one of those November, now nearly twenty years ago, a British army was lying on a bleak hill-side, far away from home; the soldiers of the Scottish infantry regiments and the troopers of the Scots Greys tried, dismally enough, lodged as they were in canvas tents, during the bitter inclemency of a terrible winter to celebrate their St Andrew’s Day, as they had been wont to do, wherever they might be out of their own country. The songs of “Auld Lang Syne.” “Bonnie Annie Laurie,” and “Mo Nighean Dubh,” startled the echoes of their hills which surrounded the camp of the Scots. While they were keeping St Andrew’s Day, the advanced sentries of the allied army, reported an unwonted stir and animation among the inhabitants of the beleagured city, lights flashed from windows, and faint “sounds of revelry by night” were wafted on the passing breeze. Strange, that the deadly foes, Scot and Russ, who had met and confronted each other in battle array, and who on the morrow might be raging again after each other’s lives, should have been engaged in the celebration of the same festival – doing honour to the same patron saint. 

   In London the occasion is taken advantage of for appeals to the few favoured by fortune in behalf of the needy of their fellow countrymen, and on Monday evening last, under the presidency of the Lord Mayor (an Ayrshire man), £2600 were collected for that object. In New York and Calcutta it is the principal festival of the year, where ambassadors and rulers attend, and deliver themselves of orations, something after the fashion of Her Majesty’s Ministers at the Guildhall feast in London. The Scottish Corporation has six hundred pensioners on its lists, who receive from five shillings to ten shillings per week, in addition to which they have medical advice given to them at the hospital one day in every week of the year. Small as these allowances are, they are found useful to the poor recipients, and the distribution of so much charity is creditable to Scottish philanthropy. It is a curious fact that the anniversaries of the two oldest institutions of the metropolis take place on St Andrew’s day. The Scottish Corporation held its 209^th meeting on Monday last, and the Royal Society celebrated its 24^th anniversary the same evening. (Its first President, Sir Robert Moray, was a Scotsman.) It is also truly stated by the apothegm that “the saint has not so much honour paid to him in his country as he meets with out of it.” In India and America it is especially celebrated. In Calcutta a telegram reports that the day was kept by a large party dining together, with the Lieutenant-Governor (Sir George Campbell) in the chair… With so many countrymen there, it is no wonder that Saint Andrew’s Day was a specialty; and among the distinguished men who discharged the duties of presidents on these occasions will be found Lord Macaulay, Sir James Mackintosh, Sir Charles Metcalf, Sir William Morrison, Sir John Peter Grant (the elder). The orations of any of these illustrious men would be a treat to listen to, more especially the first. Two toasts are inseparable at that festival, and their sound is certainly thrilling to Scottish ears. These are – first, “The Land of Cakes,” and next “Wallace and Bruce.” Lord Macaulay has written rather severely in his history(?) of certain acts of Scotsmen, and Highlanders in particular. Let us see what were his sentiments in proposing these toasts on the occasion of his presidency at the festival in Calcutta. “It was a country,” he said, “which he gloried to be connected with, although he had not the honour of being born in Scotland, neither was he educated, but had only visited it as a stranger and a traveller. But it was impossible for any one to visit it without being struck by its beauties, and for his own part he had never seen any country equally interesting.” In proposing the toast of “Wallace and Bruce,” he said, “their heroic efforts had been as beneficial to England as to Scotland. I am not aware that I trench upon politics, when I say that it would have been happy for the British Empire if Ireland had had her Wallace and her Bruce – if it had not in those dark ages come by conquest under the arbitrary yoke of England, but had, like Scotland, been amalgamated with it by pacific measures. On the other hand, it would have been the greatest calamity if at that time we had been cursed with another Ireland, and, from the want of such men, had acquired another country to be governed through a succession of ages by a military force. It is not as an Englishman, therefore, and not as a Scotchman, but as an undivided British heart that I propose to you the immortal memories of William Wallace and Robert Bruce.” Equally interesting was his next speech, which is also worthy of quotation, as I am not aware that he has elsewhere mentioned the name of the peasant poet of Caledonia:- “The toast which I am now about to propose is well chosen for this occasion. It is ‘the memory of Robert Burns;’ it is well selected by the stewards from the whole of the literati of Scotland, rich as the country is in great names from the earliest times.

We can boast of George Buchanan, Adam Smith, and a Walter Scott, and many other names of literary celebrity; yet I confess, if I looked out for a representative of the national genius, for a mind which abounded with the flavour of the soil, of all the writers Scotland ever produced I should certainly fix on Burns. As for those other eminent men, they were acquainted with the literature of many ages, to them the classic learning was familiar, but Burns had nothing but the simple reading of a peasant. He wrote plain Scotch, and when he attempted to write English, in my opinion he always fell below himself. His seems to have been a mind filled with the image of the cottage and fields, where he passed his youth. With these materials, and his own original genius, he came forth, in the most benighted period of English poetry and produced a succession of works, which, if they do not equal those of Shakspere and Milton, are imbued with the same spark and the same spirit that are to be found in poets of the first class. I think therefore that you have done most wisely in selecting his memory as an object of our respect, because I conceive it impossible to find in the literature of any country a man so much the image of his country as he.” 

–

Why St Andrew? 

Glasgow Herald, Saturday 30^th November, 1889. 

WANTED, A SCOTCH PATRON SAINT. 

——— 

   It may seem the rankest heresy and flat disloyalty to the Scottish nationality of the past, not to speak of the Scotch Home Rule of the future, to advertise on St Andrew’s Day for a Scotch patron saint. For is not this the day on which we should cry “St Andrew and our right” to everything that is good under the sun, and think in the region of the pocket about suffering and luckless compatriots in all parts of the world? Now, I thoroughly approve of all this sort of thing. The world was made for Scotland, not Scotland for the world; and he only is a true Scotch (I beg pardon, Scots) patriot whose life is one long appropriation clause. Then by all means let us stick to and help each other like Freemasons, brigands, and Bohemian men of letters. But we live in times when realism is the vogue, and we ought surely to be realists when we are sainting it as well as when we are sinnering it – which latter conception of realism is practically the only one which prevails on the other side of the English Channel. Now, I have been rubbing up my history of Saint Andrew, and even trying to rub a little of the Acta Andreæ into my brain, and, as is not uncommon with those who do this, I have been rubbing my eyes a good deal since. In particular, I cannot see what St Andrew did for Scotland that we should keep his memory green with such a portentous effort on the last day of November. I read, indeed – in Bishop Lesley, Nisbet, and other authorities – that once on a time St Andrew’s Cross appeared to Achaius, King of the Scots, and Hungus, King of the Picts, and that the next day they gave Athelstane, King of England, the thrashing he doubtless richly deserved. Now, what evidence does there exist of a kind to satisfy a third-rate examiner in logic that it was the appearance of the Cross which led to Athelstane’s defeat?.. I have, besides, another crow to pluck with St Andrew. He has given his patronage to Russia as well as to Scotland. This might be rather awkward in the future, unless our Separatists (I mean, of course, our Nationalists) have it all their own way, and when Russia happens to declare war on England, Scotland should be found ready to play that country off against her nearest neighbour, as in the past she played off France. But, apart from that, I like wholes better than halves; and I must say it seems to me rather humiliating to have only half a saint. 

   So I regard myself as released from all allegiance to St Andrew, and perfectly entitled to indulge in my realistic proclivities in the hunt for a worthy successor to him. The question then is, who is the real patron saint of Scotland, or, to put the matter in another way, whose day is so religiously kept annually in Scotland as to entitle it to be regarded as a saint’s day in the proper sense of the term? here again I feel at first tempted to answer – as becomes, indeed, a patriot – one question with another, and to inquire, can there be any doubt about the matter? With all respect to Mr R. L. Stevenson, Professor Robertson Smith, Mr Charles Waddie, Lord Rosebery, Emeritus Professor Blackie, the Rev. John McNeill, and Scotland’s other living Men of Destiny, who no doubt have birthdays stowed away somewhere like other and plainer folk, is not Scotland’s true anniversary not the 30^th of November but the 25^th of January, when Robert Burns saw the light? Compare the feeble, flaccid, thin-voiced, conventional Mrs Grundyish toasting of St Andrew to the abandon, the sincerity, the realism of 

“We are’na fou, we’re nae that fou, 

But just a drappie in oor e’e,” 

sung (so I am credibly informed, for I am personally quite ignorant of such scenes or sights) by hard-headed and successful Scotchmen at the orthodox hour beyond the twelfth! There is one aspect of Burns worship which even in these days has not, I think, had full justice done it. The Duchess of Gordon declared him to be the only man she had met who could take her off her feet, and the strangest thing about Burns is that his memory, his very name, although it is close upon a hundred years since he died, is able on the night of the 25^th of January to carry off their feet hundreds and thousands of the soberest and steadiest of the soberest (see Excise Returns) nation in the world. In the great present-day war between Labour and Capital, John Burns occupies a prominent position as one of the Captains – nay, as the Adjutant-General – of Labour, and on many moral and intellectual grounds he obviously deserves respect from those who disagree with his economics. Yet there is a kind of homage on the part of Capital to Labour which the presence of the living John never can command, but which the memory of the dead Robert still does. One has but to look at the names of the leading men who take part in Burns Club dinners and the saturnalia of the 25^th of January generally to see that they either belong by birth to the capitalistic class or have forced themselves into it by native energy and resolution, and, above all, by obeying two of Burns’s injunctions – “Conceal yoursel as weel’s ye can frae critical dissection,” and “Gather gear by every wile that’s justified by honour.” But on one particular night in the year they offer themselves as whole burnt-offerings on the altar of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality. Everybody knows how Sheridan, when under the influence of – vertigo – declared himself to be Wilberforce. That was a stroke of talent, undoubtedly. But Burns has, since his death, brought attacks of vertigo on men who are to commerce what the Wilberforces of an earlier time were to philanthropy; that is a stroke of genius. 

   If the matter, therefore, were put to a plebiscite, I have no doubt that Scotland would vote by a majority for the supersession of Saint Andrew by Saint Robert. His memory has at all events, in the opinion of his admirers, been knocking at the door of the Calendar for a good while. The number of folks who go to bed comfortably thinking – by way of moral nightcap – that they are not as Burns is not nearly so large as it used to be; while the number of thick-and-thin partisans who are inclined to send to Coventry any man who dies not declare their hero to be an impersonation of all the virtues as well as of all the talents is almost alarmingly on the increase. Burns is finding his way into “collections of hymns, ancient and modern,” partly, no doubt, because he is as much a favourite with large-minded clergymen as he is with large-hearted capitalists, and, after that, who can say what will happen? Burns, cleared of his imperfections, has the making of a first-class patron saint. There are, of course, saints and saints. I can hardly conceive of his belonging to certain orders of them. I cannot, for example, imagine his out-Anthonying St Anthony like Moore’s precisian, who, when he is haunted by the proprietrix of eyes of most unholy blue, turns upon her ungallantly and 

With rude, repulsive shock, 

Hurls her from the beetling rock. 

But in times of female suffrage, I have no doubt that, if a plebiscite were taken on the question of a successor to St Andrew, the ladies would to a woman vote for Burns. 

   Personally, therefore, I have no objection whatever to the substitution of St Robert for St Andrew. But these are days of locomotion generally and of movable feasts in particular. So if St Andrew should be hurled from the pedestal on which he has stood far too long, I think it would be wiser, following the prevailing fashion, to put his saintship in commission. Burns has perhaps the first claim on a share in the debatable land of popular admiration in excelsis. But he is not the only simple great one gone; he is not the only great Scotchman whom many consider to be eminently worthy of canonisation. There is David Hume; he has already been admitted into the Calendar – at anyrate into the Edinburgh Directory. there is Thomas Carlyle; you may doubt his sanity when he was under the influence of dyspepsia or Cromwellism, but you can never doubt his sanctity. There is Sir Walter Scott. He was, according to Carlyle, but a very great restauranteur. Yet there are hundreds and thousands of English-speaking and English-reading people in all parts of the world who have found more consolation, more leading and more light in his works, than in those of many who have been voted into a saint’s shrine without a single dissentient voice. Then there is John Knox. Who can doubt that if there was a poll of Scotland for the patron-saintship, he would stand second to Burns – even although Mr Skelton has been of late pushing forward the rival claims of Maitland of Lethington, with perhaps Lauderdale, Claverhouse, and the Bloody Mackenzie to follow. But there are at least a dozen eminent – eminent in the universal not the parochial sense – Scotchmen, each of whom would make a really admirable patron saint. Why should they not be canonised as a preliminary to that canonisation of all Scotland which would be preferable perhaps even to its nationalisation. Why should we not celebrate Sir Walter’s Day one year, Sir Thomas’s Day the next, and so on, though not, it is to be hoped, ad infinitum, for that would mean ad nauseam? No doubt these gatherings might lead to disputation, perhaps even to free fighting; but then, what pleasure can compare with the certaminis gaudia? In any case, we should substitute variety for conformity, and that is something. Anything for a quiet life, says the timid man; anything for a varied life, says the wise man. “Continuance,” according to the pious poet, “maketh hell” – and that Other Place, though it may be paved with good intentions, is, beyond all question, not inhabited by the Saints. One thing at least ought to be acknowledged. Even if the patron-saintship of Scotland be not put in commission, it has continued too long in the hands of St Andrew. 

–

Glasgow Evening Post, Wednesday 30^th November, 1892. 

   This is the last of November; it is also Saint Andrew’s Day. It is comforting to know that, in respect of having one whole twenty-four hours out of the year devoted to himself, Scotland’s patron saint lags not behind his brethren of other countries. “Aun’ra,” is emphatically as good as the next man. But – whisper! – some sarcastic folk are disagreeable enough to say that the saint really held in esteem by Scotsmen of the nineteenth century is named, not Andrew, but Robert, and, further, that he hailed from the county of Ayr! This, of course, is a horrid libel, containing not one word of truth. 

–

Glasgow Weekly Herald, Saturday 14^th December, 1889. 

    SUBSCRIBER IN JERSEY. – (1 and 2) “when and where did St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, live, and what was his work?” You have often read about him in the New Testament, we feel quite sure, but, apparently, without being aware of it. He is the same Andrew who was a fisherman in Galilee, and became one of Christ’s apostles – he was the very first “called,” if we mistake not. That answers your first and second questions, but (3) “How came he to be the patron saint of Scotland?” In traditional history we read of two events, either of which, or both combined, may have led to his being adopted by the Scots as their patron saint. It is said that in the eighth century, when the Scots and Picts were arrayed against the English, on the night before a battle in which the former were victorious, a “St Andrew’s cross” appeared to the Scottish monarch, and was hailed as a token of success. Another story is that more than a thousand years ago a certain St Regulus, or Rule, was voyaging past the easter coast of Scotland, having with him some of the bones of the long previously martyred Saint Andrew, and was forced to take refuge in a friendly bay from a threatening storm. He landed there, settled, built a chapel, or something of that sort, and enshrined the bones. The truth of this story is attested by the fact that the spot was named St Andrews, and continues to be so called to the present day. (4) Yes, it is the same St Andrew who is venerated by the Russians, who claim a more direct interest in him, seeing that he was (so their traditions say) the evangelist who first preached the gospel in Russia. 

–

Banffshire Reporter, Friday 5^th November, 1869. 

   WE have no authentic record of who first preached the Gospel in Scotland. There are several traditions, and a number of writers would fain have us believe that St. Paul himself planted Christianity in Great Britain; and it may be so, as there are several years of the most active part of his life in which his travels are not described in Scripture; and Clement, an early Christian writer, states that “St. Paul preached the gospel to the utmost bounds of the west.” Before the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and long before his Ascension, the British Isles were looked upon by civilized nations are the extremities of the earth; and the Romans, who lived in comfort and luxury, shivered when they spoke of the cold shores of our then barbarian island. Great Britain, in the secret ordering of Almighty God, was early destined to become the stronghold of Christianity. It is to the Romans, between the years [C.E.] 78 and [C.E.] 446, that we owe the introduction of the religion of Jesus Christ and the overthrow of Druidism which was the false religion of the Picts, but of the exact date, when Christianity took root in this country, we have no reliable authority. One of the earliest legends on this subject informs us, that in the beginning of the third century, or in the year 307 St. Regulus set sail from Achaia, accompanied by a priest and two deacons, eight hermits, and three devoted virgins, and carried with them, in obedience to a vision by night, part of the relics of the Apostle Saint Andrew, who was crucified at Patras, in Achaia. After a tempestuous voyage, in which they lost all save the relics of the blessed saint, their frail boat was driven on our Scottish shores, and they landed where the city of St. Andrews now stands. They lived there for some time among the rocks of St. Andrew’s bay, where St. regulus, or Rule’s ocean cave, a rough oratory hewn out of the solid rock, is still his memorial. their arrival in this country having been made known to the King of the Picts, he presented them with lands and permitted them to disseminate the Gospel along our eastern coast. They built a church on the site of the mediæval Cathedral of St. Andrews. This legend may justly account for the national veneration of Saint Andrew, and his being made the patron saint of Scotland. 

   The first apostle of the Scots, of whom we have certain information, was Saint Ninian. He was the son of a British prince, and was born in Strathclyde, in the year 360. He was a very pious youth and devoted to the service of God. He went to Rome at the age of 20 and was a pupil of St. Jerome, one of the most learned and energetic Fathers of the Church, who inspired him with greater zeal for the glory of God. Ninian was consecrated in 397, and on his way back to this country visited Saint Martin of Tours, who hailed in him the future saint. Ninian making known his desire to rear a church in his own land (Scotia), the aged Bishop promised him skilled artificers, and with prayers and his blessing, they parted. Ninian, coming to the work of the evangelization of the southern Picts, chose, for the centre of his work, a promontory near the Solway. Temples fell and churches rose, and St. Ninian’s work was blessed. He succeeded in establishing a well organised branch of the 

“One catholic and apostolic church.” 

He died in 432 bequeathing to his clergy two treatises he had prepared for them – “A commentary on the Psalms,” and “Sentences from the Fathers;” no small legacy when books were few and scarce. After Saint Ninian there are not wanting confessors of Christianity. He was buried at Fordun, in the Mearns, where a church called “Paddy’s Chapel,” a well in the minister’s garden known as “Paddy’s Well,” and an yearly market constitute local memorials of him, who was emphatically, The Apostle of the Scots. St. Ternan succeeded Palladius, and he died at Banchory-Ternan. Full as these men’s lives doubtless were of beautiful examples and heroic faith, there is little more known of them than that they carried on and completed the conversion of the Southern Picts which St. Ninian commenced. We cannot tell what sufferings they may have endured in bringing others to the knowledge of Christ; but doubtless they won the martyr’s crown and, 

“Now with triumphal psalms they stand 

Before the throne on high, 

And serve the God they love amidst 

The glories of the sky.” 

P.      

–

Glasgow Herald, Monday 1^st December, 1890. 

ST ANDREW SOCIETY. 

——— 

MEETING AND DINNER OF THE GLASGOW SOCIETY. 

——— 

… 

   The CHAIRMAN proposed the toast of the evening – “The Glasgow St Andrew Society.” After thanking the members for having elected him to the position of president, he said that in his researches into saint lore he was surprised at the slender claim that Saint Andrew had to be recognised as the patron saint of Scotland, for, as far as he could discover, he had never been here at all. (A laugh.) But he understood that St Regulus brought some relics of St Andrew to the east coast of Scotland, and built there a church in which these relics were enshrined. In course of time a primacy was established and also a university, and that place became known to all Scotland as St Andrews. (Hear, hear.) That occurred somewhere in the first century between 60 and 70. he had been thinking in connection with the list of saints that it was a great pity that the saint who did most for Scotland had not been recognised as its patron saint – St Columba; and he had also, as the result of his investigations into the subject of saint lore, constructed a theory of his own, which perhaps accounted for the remarkable amount of common sense peculiar to the people of Glasgow. He understood that in ancient times when a man was bereft of reason it was the custom to take him to Glasgow and tie him to St Andrew’s post, and the cure was then certain. (A laugh.) They could, therefore, understand why those under the shadow of St Mungo at the present day were so remarkable for their strong common sense. (Laughter.) Their object, however, in being present that evening was not so much to glorify St Andrew as to emphasise that strong spirit of nationality which was so inherent in the Scottish character. (Applause.) It was not, however, among such as were gathered round that table that night that they were to look for that intensity of feeling which was the general accompaniment of St Andrew’s Day. (Applause.) Wherever in far-off climes their fellow-countrymen assembled, there they must look for that fervour which was so indispensable to the celebration of the patron saint’s day of Scotland. It was there that the memory of their native land called forth the most burning eloquence; it was there that the recitation of the deeds of their fathers stirred the blood; it was there that when their pathetic and stirring songs were heard these called up emotions which it was not possible for almost any man adequately to describe. Their countrymen in far-off climes not only entered into the spirit of the songs, but they called up the memory of their kin, and they seemed to see before them the homes they had left long ago – perhaps at the mountain foot or at the loch side – in fact their feelings were so high wrought on the anniversary of their Saint’s Day that it would require a tongue much more eloquent than his to describe the emotions of their fellow-countrymen abroad. (Applause.) But St Andrew’s Day did not satisfy Scotchmen. They required more in order to express patriotic sentiment; and therefore every man who assembled over the world on the 30^th of November did not fail to meet again on the 25^th of January – (applause) – to do reverence to the memory of the poet, who did more to make Scottish nationality than any other man. (Applause.) Certainly no poet did so much by his verses to adorn and to dignify the land of his birth, as well as to depict that independence of character which was such a marked feature of the Scottish people. (Applause.) But St Andrew was claimed as the patron saint of another and a greater nation than this. He was regarded as the special patron of Russia. He did not need to enter into the reason why that great empire claimed him more than Scotland did. Comparisons were said to be odious. But our position among the smallest of the nations seemed to invite a comparison which was almost irresistible. Here were two countries claiming the same patron saint – one a small one, the other a greater one. The greater might be greater in size, but the smaller was greater in true greatness. (Hear, hear.) In the same way take our agriculture, and, under the disadvantage of a not too generous climate, it was unequalled. Take again the development of our natural resources – what a source of renown to us the world over. Our country abounded in beauty, and people came from all parts of the universe to see these places, and were able to look at and admire them with comfort and safety… In the field of invention there was the great Scotchman Watt, and in political economy we were the teachers of the universe. Our poets, our authors, and out philosophers had occupied positions among the most exalted; and the British Empire, of which we were all so proud, had been greatly built up by the blood of Scotchmen. (Applause.) Well might they, therefore, on St Andrew’s Day meet not only in this city but the world over to keep alive the sacred flame of patriotism, to bask in its warmth, and to rejoice that Almighty God had blessed them with a birthright and a heritage which it should be their dearest and most earnest desire to transmit to the most remote generations. (Applause.) A desire had been expressed that when the funds – which now amounted to over £400, and which could, he thought, be supplemented without much difficulty – permitted, a bursary should be founded in the university with the view of stimulating the study of Scottish history. That was good, but it did not require so much attention as another which he would venture to suggest. It was his lot a few days ago to preside over a meeting of old Scottish soldiers who had fought and bled for their country in all parts of the world. He was much struck by the extreme hardship of many of the cases which were then referred to. It was a terrible thing for a man who had passed the best of his life in the army, had been wounded in the battles of the country, to find himself at the close of his life compelled to live on such limited means as the country allowed. He would venture to suggest that the St Andrew Society should take some little interest in these men, and with the money at its disposal take up the cases of men who were in such distressed circumstances. And not only do that, but do more – to make a vigorous effort to supplement the sum they already possessed, and at once enter on this field of real beneficence. (Loud Applause.) 

   The toast was heartily received. 

   Other toasts were proposed and responded to, among these being “The Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council of Glasgow,” by Mr Cook; “Our American Cousins,” by Mr King; and “Kindred Societies,” by Mr Rutherglen, the secretary. 

–

Stirling Observer, Thursday 4^th September, 1879. 

STIRLING FIELD CLUB. 

… The most interesting spot is a place on the slope of Meall Cala, at the lower end of Glen Main, not very far from the junction of the Meann with the Finglas, and situated just on the brink of a series of cataracts in the former stream [Allt Gleann nam Meann]. This spot is known to natives of the glen as Claodh nan Kessenach, that is the “Burying-place of the Kessons or Kessachs.” The only legend in connection with the place is that it was made the burying ground of the Kessachs in consequence of an accident that occurred on Ben Ledi. Previously they had been wont to bury their dead at the Chapel of St Bride at the east end of Loch Lubnaig. the only road thither was across the shoulder of Ben Ledi, past a small lake, and then down the Stank glen. On one occasion, it is said, a funeral party going by that route during a snow-storm, got inadvertently upon the lake, which was frozen over and covered with snow, and the ice breaking, the majority were drowned. From this circumstance the lake received the name which it still retains of Lochan na Corp (the small lake of the dead bodies.) To avoid the possibility of the recurrence of such an accident, the burying-place of the Kessachs was made. This traditionary story appears to me to wear a suspicious look of having been invented to account for the names of the places concerned in it. The question, however, that occurs in this connexion is, “Who were the Kessons or Kessachs?” Not a great deal of light I am afraid can be thrown on this matter. The possible suppositions are two. First, that there was a clan of that name. If that were the case this clan must have become extinct – at any rate has entirely disappeared from the district – a thing not very likely, considering the tenacity with which tribal names and tribal feeling have kept their hold of the Celt. The other supposition which commends itself to Mr Stuart, is on the whole a more likely one, that they were a fraternity of disciples or followers at St Kessach – a saint in great repute all through the district. Traces of him are still to be found in the Tom na Kessach, an artificial mound at Callander Bridge, and in the Feile na Kessach (or Fair of St Kessach) still held at Callander on the 10^th of March, O.S., and which one hundred years ago was the principal market held there. Indeed, from what I can learn, St Kessach seems to have been the chief saint of the ancient Scots, who are said to have come into battle to the cry of Ma Kessach. As the Scots advanced eastwards, gradually conquering or supplanting what have been called the Pictish people, the eastern Saint Andrew began to assert a supremacy until he was finally accepted as the patron Saint of Scotland. This change is traditionally said to have taken place about the end of the 9^th century of the Christian era. If there is any credit to be given to this account we may find in it some faint clue to the age of the Claodh na Kessenach. In support of the idea that there may have been some religious fraternity settled here, there is the evidence derived from some names in the immediate neighbourhood. About 500 yards down the stream from the burial-place is a small hill of conical shape, now covered with trees, which is known by the name of Tom Naombh, or the Holy Knoll, and at the base of this again is Dal Naombh, or the Holy Field. A deep pool beneath a waterfall, close by is called Lhinne Clugg, the Bell Pool. One informant told me that this name originated from the circumstance that the bell which summoned the brotherhood to worship was suspended from the tree that projected from the rock overhanging the pool. But if this be so, the good brothers must be credited with a somewhat unholy disinclination to obey the call to worship, as they could scarcely have selected a spot where the sound of the bell would be more effectually muffled than over a roaring waterfall. Mr Stuart is probably right in scouting this idea and referring the name to the sound made by the waters falling into the pool. To return to the burying-place. It is, from a rough measurement I made, about 150 yards in circumference and has been enclosed by a mound of stones and earth. It is not at all of the nature of a barrow or sepulchral cairn, so that if a place of sepulture at all, it does not belong to the pre-historic or very early period, but is more likely to have been a place of Christian interment – thus confirming the conjecture already advanced upon other evidence. Mr Stuart was good enough to accompany me to the place and dig into it, in the hope that something might turn up to justify the old name. We opened it up in two or three different spots, but found no human remains. 

–

Dumbarton Herald & County Advertiser, Wednesday 7^th December, 1892. 

NOTES FROM LONDON. 

——— 

   SAINT ANDREW’S DAY was duly and right royally celebrated last Wednesday by the Scotch colony in the Metropolis. Whereupon it may be remarked, as an indisputable fact, that the patriotism of the Scotchman seems to increase in fervour and strength the farther he is from the “land of brown heath and shaggy wood.” 

——— 

   Both at the Albert Hall and St James’ Hall, concerts were given in honour of the patron saint of the land of the thistle, but the latter was by far the more successful, chiefly owing, no doubt, to the attraction of the Glasgow Select Choir, whose repeated visits have rendered them no less popular here than they are on the other side of the border. 

——— 

   The most remarkable thing about these gatherings, however, and also of the Burns’ celebrations, is the overpowering national feeling that pervades the very atmosphere, and moves the audiences to unrestrained excitement. They have come not only to hear the auld Scotch sangs, but to sing them, and that they do right lustily, before the concert begins, to the amazement of the bewildered Southron, who wonders “Wot all the bloomin’ fuss is about, don’t cher know.” 

–

Glasgow Herald, Tuesday 19^th December, 1893. 

THE GLADSTONIANS AND SCOTTISH HOME RULE. 

Gleniffer House, Trinity Road,      

Edinburgh, December 15, 1893.      

   SIR, – A very general feeling prevails that the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England, however interesting from an antiquarian or historical point of view, has no more significance in modern politics than the Song of Solomon… It is not our object in this paper to state what has been preserved to us, but to point out various infringements of the Treaty. We may state that while the letter of the law has sometimes been kept, the spirit has as often been broken. 

   The first article of the Treaty of Union provides for the national name being Great Britain… A few years ago a treaty of commerce was entered into with China, in which the legal title of Great Britain and Ireland was omitted, and England and the English Government used instead, the result being that both Scotland and Ireland were left out in the cold… 

   Article 16 is important; it reads thus:- “That from and after the Union the coin shall be of the same standard and value throughout the United Kingdom as now in England, and a Mint shall be continued in Scotland under the same rules as the Mint in England, and the present officers of the Mint continued, subject to such regulations and alterations as Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, or the Parliament of Great Britain shall think fit.” This article has been entirely set aside. When Sir George Trevelyan was asked this session what was the reason, he answered, quite shortly, that it had been done by some regulation of the treasury or Act of the British Parliament, entirely overlooking the fact that such action was illegal. While some of our youngest colonies have Mints of their own, the ancient kingdom of Scotland is deprived of such a distinct badge of national life. The letter and spirit of the first article is also infringed by putting the image of Saint George on the back of our money. Who is this Saint George that he should have precedence over Saint Andrew? George of Cappadocia flourished in the fourth century and was raised to the throne of Saint Athanasius in the most scandalous manner, and for a time oppressed the province of Alexandria till the people, no longer able to bear his exactions and profligate life, rose in rebellion and tore him and his wicked accomplices to pieces and flung their bodies into the sea. yet the image of this odious wretch, who was a greater monster than the dragon he was fabled to have slain, is stamped upon our coins, while Saint Andrew, one of the twelve apostles, is set aside for no other reason than that he is the patron saint of Scotland. 

… 

Charles Waddie.      

–

What Happened to His Relics? 

On the 14^th of June 1559, John Knox and his followers arrived in the City of St Andrews, removing all the valuable items they associated with Catholicism, to further the Reformation and the implementation of the Protestant religion. 

–

Fifeshire Journal, Thursday 10^th March, 1881. 

OUTLINE OF HISTORY OF ST ANDREWS. 

… 

   In the reign of Hergust, King of the Picts, about 370 [C.E.], the district surrounding St Andrews – more especially that portion stretching along the east coast – was one vast forest, infested by wild animals, which have long since ceased to have a home in this country, conspicuous among which was the wild boar. At that time it was used by the above-mentioned Monarch as a royal hunting-ground, and was known by the name of Muckross, which signifies Land of Boars. 

   One day when the King was regaling himself in his palace at Abernethy he was informed that twelve men and three women had been shipwrecked at this promontory of Muckross. On receiving this intelligence he immediately hastened to the spot, and summoned the unfortunate crew into his presence in order to learn whence they came and for what purpose. One of their number, Regulus by name, thereupon informed his Majesty that he had been appointed guardian of the hallowed bones of the Apostle Andrew, who was crucified at Patras, a city of Achaia in Greece. He further related how the Emperor Constantine had, with impious fraud, endeavoured to get possession of these sacred relics in order to carry them to his famous city of Constantinople. But St Andrew himself appeared to him in the solemn vigils of the night, and warned him of the intentions of the Emperor, at the same time giving him orders “to put on his sandal shoon, to take scrip and staff, and go forth with his bones upon the far Western Ocean till he found for them in an isle situate in the utmost parts of the world a more peaceful and hallowed repose.” He, frightened at first by the strange vision, hesitated, but after a time resolved to comply with these solemn injunctions. According he went to the shrine where the sacred relics were deposited, and took therefrom an arm-bone, three fingers of the right hand, a tooth, and one of the lids of the Apostle’s knees, put them into a small box, and set out on the voyage accompanied by the devout sisters and brethren who now surrounded him; and after many perilous adventures and great hardships – “having sailed by the Mediterranean, and round a strange and savage coast” – they were finally driven upon this rocky shore, which formed part of his Majesty’s dominions. 

   The King, deeply impressed with the narration of this wonderful adventure, and struck with the dignified and refined demeanour of these castaways granted them all the forest land known as Muckross, with its inhabitants as serfs, as well as his own royal lodge and its belongings. To make the grant more complete he ordered a church to be built for them, the remains of which are still known as the church of St Rule or Regulus – the only entire portion whereof is called the square tower or fower-neukit steeple. 

   He also changed the name of the territory from Muckross to Kil-rule, which signifies home of Regulus, and by this name it was known for several hundred years. And here did Regulus and his company abide, he himself living 32 years after his arrival, serving God devoutly, so that he and his company acquired and long enjoyed a great veneration for their devotion, and many came from foreign parts to visit them and the sacred relics of St Andrew, which were long kept here and preserved most carefully. 

   Towards the end of the ninth century St Andrews was called Kil-rymont, which signifies the King’s home on the Mount, from the fact of Constantine III., King of the Scots, having demitted his crown, and retired from the world to serve God in the Culdean Monastery on the Kirkheugh. 

   Martine (who was secretary to Archbishop Sharpe, and wrote a book in 1683 called Reliquiæ Divi Andreæ) gives the following particulars of the Culdees. He says:- “As to these Culdees at St Andrews there goes a tradition in this place that the Culdees of old, at least Regulus and his companions, had a cell dedicate to the blessed virgine about a bow-flight off the shoare of St Andrews a little without the end of the peere (now within the sea) upon a rock called in his (and our) day the Ladies’ Craige,” &c. 

   Its present name which it has retained upwards of one thousand years was given by Kenneth II., King of Scots, who being a brave and pious prince gave greater outward splendour to the church than former times had seen, and ordained it to be called the church of ST ANDREWS in honour of the saint whom he acknowledged as the national patron. 

… 

DUM SPIRO SPERO.      

–

Dundee Courier, Tuesday 29^th September, 1874. 

HISTORIC SCENES IN FIFESHIRE. 

——— 

BY REV. DR MARSHALL, COUPAR-ANGUS. 

——— 

ST ANDREWS. 

… 

   St Leonard’s College was found in 1512 by Prior John Hepburn; and Archbishop Alexander Stuart sanctioned the erection, and his father, James IV., confirmed it. It was endowed with the tithes of St Leonard’s parish, and also with the revenues of the ancient Hospital on the site of which it was built. That Hospital was for the reception and entertainment of the crowds of devotees, who came from all parts to worship the relics of St Andrew. Those relics somehow at length lost their attractions; faith in their miraculous virtue failed; and when the concourse of pilgrims to them ceased, the Hospital was converted, first into a sort of nunnery for old women, and next into a school for the education of youth. The latter Hepburn laudably superseded by the much more useful institution of the College. 

–

Dundee Courier, Thursday 18^th April, 1895. 

THE EXCAVATIONS AT ST ANDREWS. 

——— 

   In the Times of yesterday there appears a long article from “a special correspondent” describing the excavations at present being carried out at St Andrews at the instance of Lord Bute… Martine says that the entrance to the Prior’s house was by “a faire gateway,” and here, as in Pompeii, the marks of carriage wheels are distinctly traced on the stone. South of this another vaulted room with the groining still in position was encountered, and further south the once mysterious Pends Passage, which, as has been said, Lord Bute believes to have been a drain. Some stone heads were found in it at a depth of 10 feet, the effigies of saints from the cathedral thrown in at the hour of Knox’s triumph. One of these is a head of Christ, the traditional Ecce Homo [Behold the Man]; another seems to be an effigy of St Andrew, with traces of crimson on the garment, and of gold and pink tinting in the features; the third has the visage of Malcolm [IV.] the Maiden. Only St Andrew has escaped mutilation & he remains of a severe and Darwinian aspect… 

–

Aberdeen Press and Journal, Tuesday 6^th December, 1904. 

AN INTERESTING CHURCH RELIC. 

——— 

    At a meeting of the Edinburgh District of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society on Saturday in the Architectural Association’s Hall – Bishop Dowden presiding – Professor Cooper, Glasgow, exhibited an interesting ecclesiastical object in the form of a brooch or medal found at North Berwick, containing the matrices for badges of St Andrew and Christ on the Cross. Professor Cooper said that it was evident that the badge was of very great antiquity. It was impossible not to connect it with the pilgrimages which used to be made to St Andrews, and which were instituted in 736 by Acca of Hexam, who was exiled from that See, and who founded a bishopric among the Picts. Acca was a great collector of relics, and he was regarded as the real bringer of relics of the Apostle to St Andrews. These relics gave St Andrews its importance to Scottish ecclesiastical history and its high place as the ecclesiastical metropolis of Scotland. During two long periods, from the eighth century to the tenth century, and in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, St Andrews was a place of pilgrimage resorted to by men of many nations. The pilgrims going to St Andrews by the east coast crossed from North Berwick to Fife at Earlsferry, founded by the Earls of Fife. At North Berwick on a little islet or peninsula these was a church of St Andrew, and the theory was that the badges formed by the matrices under examination were sold for fixing to the hats or clothing of the pilgrims bound for the shrine of the Apostle. 

–

Dundee Courier, Monday 3^rd December, 1900. 

ST ANDREW’S SUNDAY IN EDINBURGH. 

——— 

AN IMPOSING CEREMONIAL. 

   The Metropolitan Church of St Mary, the Cathedral in Edinburgh, has the honour of possessing the only actual relic of St Andrew in this country, and each year it is taken from its resting-place with reverential regard, and venerated according to the traditional practice of the Catholic Church. This ceremony was carried out yesterday under imposing conditions. 

   Three events concurred to make yesterday memorable at St Mary’s, namely, the beginning of Advent, the religious festival of St Andrew, and the first visit of Archbishop Smith to the church which is to be, during the rest of his lifetime, his primatial headquarters. The last of the decoration touches had been put upon the church, and its appearance, although stripped of gold ornaments, as is usual in Advent, was rendered even more effective than usual by the purple cloth and purple vestments brought into use, the newly-furnished gildings and blue and red lines standing out with artistic clearness. In the morning an orchestra assisted the fine music of Hadyn’s First Mass, and the approach of Christmas was appropriately heralded by a young clergyman recently brought to the Cathedral, who voiced the Advent sermon with impressive fervour. The main interest centred in the evening’s service, where, for the first time since his appointment, Archbishop Smith, in his episcopal vestments, and with mitre and crosier, approached the altar, preceded by an imposing procession of the various guilds, acolytes, and assisting priests. After Vespers, at which the Archbishop officiated, the choir sang an appropriate hymn. A pulpit deliverance on the introduction of Christianity in Scotland having been given by Canon Donlevy, Benediction proceeded, the Archbishop conducting. The reliquary containing the relic of St Andrew – a casket of rich design – was then put in the hands of the Archbishop, and carried by him in solemn procession round the church, the children singing an appropriate hymn, and the relic being solemnly venerated by those present. The rest of the Benediction service followed, and the congregation received the first blessing of their new chief pastor. 

   It is interesting to note that the Archbishop did not on this occasion occupy the throne. The throne is, of course, vacant until the solemn proceedings of installation yet to follow have taken place. 

–

Irish Weekly & Ulster Examiner, Saturday 28^th August, 1943. 

CHEQUERED HISTORY OF A DUBLIN CATHEDRAL. 

By COLIN WARD 

… 

   After the Norman invasion, St. Lawrence O’Toole rebuilt the church, the expense of the work being borne by the Norman barons, Strongbow, Fitzstephen, Raymond le Gros, and the Archbishop himself. In the newly-built Cathedral were preserved the Crozier of St. Patrick, “The Staff of Jesus,” which was brought hither from Armagh, “a relice of great estimation,” a Miraculous Crucifix, a Thorn from Our Saviour’s Crown, a portion of Our Lady’s Girdle, some of the bones of St. Peter and St. Andrew, relics of the martyrs St. Clement, St. Oswald, St. Faith, the Abbot Brendan, St. Thomas-a-Becket, St. Wolstan, Bishop of Worcester, and St. Lawrence O’Toole, with the Shrine of St. Cubius.