St Andrew

Andrew, Peter's brother, and John were the first disciples to follow the Lord. St Andrew was a native of Bethsaida in Galilee, a fisherman by trade, and a former disciple of John the Baptist. He was the one who introduced his brother Peter to Jesus, saying, "We have found the Messiah." 

Overshadowed henceforth by his brother, Andrew nevertheless appears again in the Gospels as introducing souls to Christ. After Pentecost, Andrew took up the apostolate on a much wider scale, and was martyred at Patras in southern Greece on a cross which was in the form of an "X." This type of cross has long been known as "St Andrew's cross." When Andrew was led to the place of martyrdom, on beholding the cross from a distance he cried out:

"O good Cross, so long desired and now set up for my longing soul I confident and rejoicing come to you; exultingly receive me, a disciple of Him who hung on you."

Forthwith he was nailed to the cross. For two days he hung there alive, unceasingly proclaiming the doctrine of Christ until he passed on to Him whose likeness in death he had so vehemently desired. The account of this saint's martyrdom presents to us the mysticism of the Cross of later times.