In this little book you have already been presented to three patron
saints. There was St. David, the patron saint of Wales; St. Patrick, the
patron saint of Ireland; and St. George, the patron saint of England.
Now we come to St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, who is honoured
by Scotsmen on the 30th November in each year. The first mention of this
Saint is in the New Testament where he, with his brother Simon Peter,
became a disciple of Christ, after having been a disciple of John the
Baptist. After the death of Christ this first disciple of his became a
missionary in many lands. From tradition we learn that St. Andrew
travelled and preached the gospel in Scythia, Thrace and Asia Minor.
Finally, we are told that he suffered martyrdom for the Christian faith
at Patrae, in Achaia. The cross on which he died was in the form of an X,
and that is now known as the St. Andrew's cross.
But how did this Saint come to be connected with Scotland? Well, the
story told is this: There was once a monk who lived in the fourth
century called Regulus, or Rule, who brought the bones of St. Andrew
from Constantinople--where they had been deposited in a church by the
Emperor Constantine--and buried them near the sea on the east coast of
Scotland. There he built a church, and round the church there gradually
gathered a little hamlet. In course of time, the hamlet became a City
with a cathedral and a university, and in your geography books you will
find it called St Andrews. I am not sure that I can ask you to believe
all this story, for it is only a monkish legend. But at least part of it
is true. If there was no such monk as Regulus, there is certainly a very
pleasant city called St. Andrews, in which there is a building called
St. Rule's Tower.
Here is another sure thing that I can tell you. There is an Order of
Knighthood called the Order of St. Andrew, although it is more often
called the Order of the Thistle. It was created by James II. in 1687,
and it includes the King and sixteen knights. The insignia of the Order
consists of a gold collar composed of thistles interlaced with red; the
jewel is a figure of St. Andrew in the middle of a star of eight
pointed rays; and the motto of the Order is _Nemo me impune lacessit_.
This is a motto which Scotsmen carry with them all over the world.
All over the world, also, Scotsmen keep in remembrance two days; and on
these days they meet together to express love of the old home. One of
these days is the 30th November--St. Andrew's Day. Curiously enough, it
is not a holiday in Scotland, nor do the people there hold it much in
remembrance. But when a Scotsman goes into a strange country--though it
be no further than London--he begins to think a very great deal of his
homeland, and all the ill things he said of it when he lived there are
quickly forgotten. Bleak and barren it may have been to them once, but
when Scotsmen meet on St. Andrew's Day, or on the birthday of Robert
Burns, they discover that Scotland is the most lovely country in the
world. This is just as it should be. I hope that all you children,
wherever you may travel, will keep a great love for the land where you
were born.