Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/262

 234 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

them to be removed to Scotland, or at least certain relics of the Saint ; said to be the arm bone, three fingers of the right hand and three toes, and deposited them in the church, with a monastery which he erected to the memory of St. Andrew at Abernethy, where now is established the city of St. Andrew, in the county of P'ife, with its far-famed University, the most ancient of the four Scottish Universities, and believed to be the only one in Europe where theology is the sole study. I'he city originated from the Abbey, which was in a flourishing condition when the University of St. Andrew was founded, about the year 141 1. It was to this church of St. Regulus, that pilgrims from foreign countries resorted in the early ages. " Hungas, King of the Picts," about the year 809, in acknowledgment for great success which he had achieved in battle, gave to this church the See of Kilrule, the tenth part of his domin- ion, and directed that the cross of St. Andrew should thenceforth be the badge of the country. Kenneth H, King of the Scots, having conquered the Picts, whose capital was at Abernethy, extinguished their kingdom in North Britain in 845, and transferred the seat of government from Abernethy to the town of Kilrule, ch:inging its name to St. Andrew, and ordering that the Bishop of St. Andrew should be the chief in the kingdom. He also " repaired and nchly cntluwed ihe church of St. Regulus, in which the arm of St. Andrew was reverently kept.".

According to an ancient legend or tradition, it is pretended that Hungas, who reigned over the Picts in Scotland in the 9th century, had a vision {8^3) the night preceding one of his battles, in which the Apostle x\ndrevv appeared and promised to him a decisive victory, assuring him that a token or a sign should appear over the Pictish host, representing a cross fashioned as the one upon which St. Andrew suffered. Hungas, awaking, looked up to the sky, and saw the promised cross, as did all of both armies. The vision when related greatly encouraged the Picts, and the appearance of the cross terrified the army of King Athelstan, who was killed in the ensuing battle. After achieving victory, Hungas, to express his thankfulness for prevailing over the King of the ancient Saxions, went in solemn procession to the Kirk of St. Andrew, to ren- der thanks to God and His Apostle for the victory, and with the Picts on that occasion vowed for themselves and their posterity, that from henceforth in time of war, they should wear as a badge of cognizance the cross of St. Andrew. Hungas as a further expression of thankfulness, gave to the church of Regulus divers rich gifts, including many to adorn the church, and also "a case of beaten gold for preserving the relics of St. Andrew." John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, Scotland, says that the cross of St. Andrew " appeared to Achaius, King of the Scots, and Hungas, King of the Picts, the night before the battle was fought betwixt them and Athelstane, King of England, as they were on their knees in prayer."

The See of St. Andrew was established in 51S ; and the city ol St. Andrew, became the seat of the Scottish primacy, and therefore the ecclesiastical met- ropolis of the kingdom. The origin of the city was in the very early period I have named. The legend concerning it, is that Regulus, the Greek monk of Patrae in Achaia, about the year 370, was commanded by a vision from heaven to leave his own country for the island of Albion, the ancient name of Great Britain, and there preach the gospel to the Picts. Having passed through the Mediterranean, and coasted along the shores of Spain and France, he entered the German Ocean, where after a tedious and tempestuous passage, he was shipwrecked in the Bay now called St. Andrew, j^nd with difficulty reached the shore, accompanied by his companions, a few monks, and the small box which contained the relics of the Apostle Andrew. Hergustus, who was then King of the Picts, received the strangers graciously, and in a short time em-

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