Unearthing the Relics of St Andrew

In fourth-century Patras, Greece, a monk named Regulus had a dream. Regulus, now known as St Regulus or St Rule, was a caretaker of St Andrew’s relics. Before becoming one of the twelve apostles, Andrew and his brother Simon Peter were fishermen. Called by Jesus as he walked along the Sea of Galilee, the brothers cast away their nets, abandoned their boats, and were made ‘fishers of men.’ 

Andrew, one of Christ’s first and most intimate followers, brought his ministry to Greece and Asia Minor after the Pentecost. Around AD60, Andrew was in Patras, spreading the Word during the reign of Nero. He baptised many, including the wife and brother of Patras’ governor, Aegeus. Enraged, Aegeus ordered his death. On 30 November, Andrew was martyred on an X-shaped cross. Andrew’s remains were buried in Patras, where eventually they fell under the care of St Regulus. 

In the dream, Regulus was instructed to gather and hide some of St Andrew’s bones; this was, according to legend, to prevent Emperor Constantine from transporting all the relics to Constantinople, which was realised in AD357. Regulus then had a second dream, in which an angel told him to take the bones “to the ends of the earth.” As the lore goes, Regulus set off with a kneecap, an upper arm bone, three fingers, and a tooth. Assaulted by the winds and waves of a tempest, St Regulus was shipwrecked on the coast of Fife. He brought the relics to a small settlement, Kilrymont, and dedicated a shrine to St Andrew. The coastal dwelling bore a haunting resemblance to ‘the ends of the earth,’ with its sea-beaten cliffs and shores, all swathed in mist. 

Unfortunately (I say unfortunately as a lover of legends, and a firm believer that their truths linger for a reason), the myth of St Regulus’ odyssey has been eclipsed by alternative accounts of St Andrew’s relics. After his remains were removed to Constantinople, devotion to the Saint bloomed across the Western and Eastern worlds, with dedication sites growing in early European churches. Byzantine Emperors often gifted relics to the Pope to show favour or develop imperial diplomacy; it follows that Rome acquired fragments of St Andrew’s remains. These were likely brought from Rome to the Anglo-Saxon world around AD597, as part of St Augustine’s mission. 

In AD732, Bishop Acca of Hexham, seeking asylum with the Pictish king Oengus, took the bones of St Andrew to Fife. Housed in Kilrymont, the relics drew vast crowds of venerating pilgrims. The bones were kept in the Morbrac, a sacred chest ornamented with gold, engravings, and precious stones. In 1127, a community of Culdee monks set about building St Rule’s Tower, enshrining the relics within. However, the tower proved to be inadequately sized, and in 1160, an Augustinian Order began constructing the expansive St Andrews Cathedral. 

St Rule’s tower remained a lasting beacon for those on pilgrimage. It was around 1200 that the name of St Andrew became associated with Kilrymont because of the famous relics it sheltered. 

Andrew’s relics disappeared during the sixteenth century. John Knox, leader of the Scottish Reformation, delivered a sermon in 1559 that incited his congregation to demolish the Cathedral’s interior. Armed, they stormed its halls and sacked the shrine. Whether the relics are entombed in the grey stomach of East Sands may forever remain a mystery. Regardless, St Andrew’s bones have formed the body of the town we call home.

Illustration by Tess Barbey