St. Andrew the Apostle

Feast day: November 30

Patron saint of fishermen, singers, Sctoland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Patras

St. Andrew, also known as Andrew the Apostle, was the older brother of St. Peter and like St. Peter was a fisherman. As told in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee when he saw Andrew and Simon Peter fishing and asked them to follow him and become "fishers of men."

The Gospel of John, however, tells a different account of how Andrew came to be one of the first apostles, saying that Andrew was originally a disciple of John the Baptist, and it was John who pointed out Jesus to him and another disciple saying, 'Behold, the Lamb of God.' Jesus then invited Andrew to "come" and see.  According to the Gospel of John, Andrew then went to tell his brother that he had seen the Messiah and brought Simon Peter to see Jesus.

We know little more about Andrew from the Gospels, although he was the disciple who, in the story of "The Multiplication of the Loaves," told Jesus about the boy who had five barley loaves and two fish.

Andrew went on to preach the Good News around the shores of the Baltic Sea and through what is now Greece and Turkey. He was martyred by crucifixion in Patras (now a city in Greece), and is said to have been crucified on a diagonal cross, which is now sometimes known as St. Andrew's Cross.