Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/263

 SAINT ANDREW. 235

braced the Christian reh'gion, as did a great part of his subjects. He after- wards presented St. Regulus with one of his palaces and some lands, and built him a church, of which the ruins still exist at St. Andrew, bearing the name of Regulus. The companions of Regulus are named as Damianus, a priest, Gelasms, Tubaculus and Mermacus, deacons, Nerinus and Elisenius, a Cretian, Merinus and Silvaneus his brother, monks by profession, and eight other persons, five hermits and three devoted virgins. Regulus lived here thirty-two years, and established the first Christian priests of the country called Culdees, signifying " God's servants." They were generally married men — pious and indefiitigable, and respected for their zeal and virtues. Regulus changed the name of the church and place from Kilrymout to Kilrule.

Kenneth to whom reference has been made as having translated the Episco- pal See which the Picts had established at Abcrnethy, to St. Andrew, died in 854. As an item of Scottish history, I will mention that the marble stone which Fergus, the first King of Scodand. had placed at Argyle about 330 years before the Christian era, Kenneth caused to be removed to Scone, by the river Tay, about two miles north of Perth, and had it enclosed in a wooden chair in which the Kings of Scodand were afterwards crowned. It was removed to England by King Edward I., in 129 7, together with the Scotch sceptre and crown. This famous stone was originally brought from Sj)ain to Ireland, from whence Fergus came, and had been preserved at Argyle and Scone for many centuries. It is claimed by some, as being the veritable Jacob's Pillow, brought to Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah, afterwards known as St. Patriarch or St. Patrick. It is quite a large marble block fitted in the chair, below the seat, and is fully exposed to view. It is now in the Chapel of St. Edward, in Westminister Abbey, and is known as the coronation chair in which all the reigning sover- eigns uf Entrland have been crowned since Edward the First. When in London m 1873, I '^^^^ ^^"'^ privilege of inspecting this ancient rehc.

In the records of the duchy of Burgundy it is mentioned that the cross of St. Andrew, made of Olive wood, was removed from Achaia, the place of the Apostle's crucifixion, and deposited in a nunnery at VVeaune, near Marseilles ; but was lost during the Moorish invasion, and subsequently rediscovered by Hugues, a monk, and placed in the Abbey of St. Victor in Marseilles in the year 1250, where it is now venerated. A part thereof enclosed in "a silver case, gilt," was carried to Brussels in 1433, by Phihp the Good, Duke of Burgundy, who obtained at great cost " the precious relic." In honor of it he instituted his famous order of chivalry, known as the "' Knights of the Golden Fleece," and placed it under the protection of the Apostle ; his knights wearing as a badge the figure of a cross which is called St. Andrew's cross or the cross of Burgundy. On tbe occasion of the Duke's marriage, January 10, 1433, the order was consecrated to the Virgin Mary and the Apostle Andrew. This por- tion of the supposed cross is now at Tourney, in Belgium.

There are many improbable stories by frivolous authors ; but the student of history can collect from the church antiquaries authentic accounts concerning the Apostles and their contemporaries. It is to be regretted that many of the ancient ecclesiastical works to which reference is made by the early writers, are not now extant, but many credible and unquestioned sayings have been transmitted to us. Gregory, Bishop of Tours, reported that on the anni- versary day of St. Andrew's martyrdom, there was wont to ilow from his tomb, " a most fragrant and precious oil, which according to its quantity denoted the scarceness or plenty of the following year ; and that the --ick being anointed with the oil were restored to their former health." It has been suggested that if any semblance of truth attaches to the story, it was merely an " exhalation and sweating forth at some time of those rare and cosdy perfumes and oint-

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