Saint Regulus
Encyclopedia
Saint Regulus or Saint Rule (Old Gaelic: Riagal) was a monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

 of Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...

 who, in the fourth century, according to a Scottish legend that became current during the twelfth century (National Archives of Scotland), fled to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

  with the bones of Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...

, and deposited them at St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....

. His feast day in the Aberdeen Breviary
Breviary
A breviary is a liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office...

 is October 17.

Saint Regulus was galvanized into action by a visionary dream that Emperor Constantine had decided to remove Saint Andrew's relics from Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...

 to Constantinople. Warned by an angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...

, he was to move as many bones as far away as he could to the 'ends of the earth'
Finisterre
Finisterre, Finisterra, Fisterra, or Finistère may refer to:Places* Cape Finisterre , headland in Galicia, north-west Spain, the Southern landfall of the Bay of Biscay...

 for safekeeping.

He was shipwrecked on the shore of Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

 at the spot called Kilrymont, which is now St. Andrews, and was welcomed by a Pictish king, Hungus or Angus, who was actually of the eighth or ninth century. The monastery claimed to have three fingers of the saint's right hand, the upper bone of an arm, one kneecap, and one of his teeth. Within the grounds of the cathedral is the tower of St Regulus, which is all that remains of a late pre-Norman
Church architecture
Church architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of Christian churches. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by imitating other architectural styles as well as responding to changing beliefs, practices and local traditions...

 church.

The legend served to authenticate the apostle Andrew as patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

 of Scotland. "The Regulus legend was publicised by Scottish kings, nobles and churchmen from the 12th century onwards for political reasons. Scottish independence had come under threat from England since the late 11th century, and the Scottish Church was contesting a claim to primacy by the archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...

. In the medieval world precedence was important. By promoting the story of Saint Andrew's choice of Scotland in the 4th century, the Scots acquired a top-rank patron saint, a separate identity from England, and a date for the supposed foundation of the Scottish Church, predating the conversion of England and Ireland to Christianity by several centuries." (National Archives of Scotland)

See also

  • Saint Regulus or Rieul, bishop of Reims, died 698.
  • Reuel
  • Saint Regulus (San Regolo), a 6th century North African who became a bishop in Italy (see Cerbonius
    Cerbonius
    Saint Cerbonius was a bishop of Populonia during the Barbarian invasions. Saint Gregory the Great praises him in Book XI of his Dialogues.-Traditions and legends:...

    ).
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