Scottish Catholic Observer

Leading members of the Scottish Catholic hierarchy have highlighted the importance of the feast day of Scotland’s patron saint.

Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow (above right) called today for St Andrew’s Day to be made a national holiday but said such a move must not be an ‘empty gesture.’

Cardinal Keith O’Brien (above left) has also called for a national holiday, saying that he believed St Andrew’s Day was assuming greater significance in Scottish life.

In a message for this year’s feast day, the Glasgow Archbishop said it was a great joy to celebrate the feast of Scotland’s national patron with Mass in the newly restored St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow.

“And so it seems logical that we should mark our dear saint, the first of the apostles to be called by Christ, through a properly recognised national holiday,” Archbishop Conti said. “St Andrew’s Day should remind us of the Christian heritage of our society; of its history which is formed and forged on the anvil of Christian life,” he said. “It is a day for remembering with pride our nationhood, but also for remembering with pride our Christian culture which crafted it.”

Cardinal O’Brien, who celebrated Mass on St Andrew’s Day at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh, also spoke of the importance of recognising the feast day.

“On this St Andrew’s Day, let us never forget the Christian heritage of our country—with our patron saint being one of the first apostles of Our Lord,” he said. “Let us never forget the long Christian tradition of our country from the time of St Ninian, the first apostle to our land, right down to our own time with our present Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, handing on that same Christian message.”

The cardinal said he had noted other Christians also increasingly celebrated the feast day.

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