It’s the Feast of 1st Sun of Advent, 1st Class, with the color of Violet. In this episode: the meditation: “Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary”, today’s news from the Church: “Conference for Single Catholics - TX”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop.
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Sources Used Today:
- “Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell: Meditations on the Four Last Things by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
- “Conference for Single Catholics - TX” (FSSPX.news)
- The Spiritual Life – Archbishop Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
Saint Andrew is one of the most familiar apostles, yet one of the easiest to overlook. We know the essentials: he was a fisherman from Bethsaida, the brother of Saint Peter, and the first disciple called by Christ. The Gospels show him as the quiet one in the background — the apostle who brought others to Jesus. He’s the one who brought Peter to the Lord, the boy with the loaves, and the Greek visitors who wanted to meet Christ. Andrew didn’t preach with thunder. He simply pointed the way.
Tradition tells us he carried the Gospel north and west after the Ascension, preaching in lands that today include Greece, Romania, Ukraine, and parts of Russia. He was martyred on a cross shaped like an X in the city of Patras, greeting his death with the same serene readiness that marked his life. His relics have traveled many times — carried to Constantinople, gifted to Rome, returned to Patras, and venerated fiercely wherever they rested.
But the real richness of Saint Andrew’s story lies in the traditions that blossomed around his feast. November 30 became one of the most culturally colorful dates in the Christian calendar. In Scotland — where Andrew is patron — his feast long marked the unofficial start of winter celebrations. Fishing villages lit bonfires to honor the apostle who once cast his nets on the Sea of Galilee, and families prepared simple meals of oats, fish, or root vegetables. Over time, Saint Andrew’s Day became Scotland’s national day, marked with music, ceilidhs, and blessings for the land and sea. Even today, the saltire flag — the white X-shaped cross — recalls the shape of Andrew’s martyrdom.
Across Eastern Europe, his feast took on a different flavor. In Romania, Ukraine, and Poland, the night before Saint Andrew’s Day was treated with a mix of piety and old folk customs. Families prayed for protection against wolves — believed to be especially active on Andrew’s night — and young people performed sweet, slightly superstitious rituals to glimpse their future spouse. In Poland, melted wax was poured into cold water, forming shapes said to predict the coming year. In Romania, unmarried women placed sprigs of basil under their pillows, hoping to dream of their future husband, asking Andrew’s intercession for a blessed marriage. Though quaint today, these customs reflect how deeply the apostle was woven into family life.
Saint Andrew is also the patron of fishermen, sailors, spinsters, rope-makers, singers, and travelers — an eclectic list that seems fitting for an apostle known for guiding people gently toward Christ. In places where his devotion runs strong, his feast marks the beginning of Advent: a soft signal that the waiting for the Lord has begun.
Saint Andrew reminds us that the holiest work is often quiet, that pointing the way to Christ sometimes happens in small gestures, and that even the most ancient apostle can still warm the cold days of late November.
Saint Andrew the Apostle, pray for us!
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