The Priory of St Andrew was first established in May of1982 as the Priory of the Cumberland and Tennessee Valleys in Nashville Tennessee.  Later that year it was renamed to St Andrew since a number of our founding members were especially proud of their Scottish heritage.  Our arms feature St Andrew with his X barred cross and is topped with a Black Bear (our link to the Cumberland).

Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, as well as fishermen, singers, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Patras.  His feast day is November 30.  

The New Testament tells us that Andrew was originally a follower of John the Baptist.  Andrew was one of the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus called Andrew and his brother Simon (later called Peter) to be “fishers of men” and the brothers were two of the original twelve disciples.

After Jesus’ resurrection, Andrew preached the gospel around Greece and the Black sea region, and was martyred in Patras Greece around 60 A.D.  He said he was unworthy of being crucified as was Jesus, and requested a “crux decussata,” which is an X-shaped cross.  This “saltire” is now often called a St Andrew’s Cross.    

 According to legend, some of Andrew’s relics were transported by a Patras monk to “the ends of the earth” for safe keeping.  He was shipwrecked off the coast of Scotland where he established a church (now the town of St Andrews).  Around 832 a Pictish king, Oengus II pledged to make Andrew patron saint of Scotland if he was successful in an upcoming battle.  An X-shaped cloud appeared in the sky and he was victorious – so the Scottish flag is a white cross on a blue background.