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. Patron saints, because they have already transcended to the metaphysical, are believed to be able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges.

Saints often become the Patron saints of places where they were born or had been active. However, there were cases in Medieval Europe where a city which grew to prominence and transferred to its cathedral the remains of a famous saint who had lived and was buried elsewhere, and made him or her the city's Patron saint - such a practice conferring considerable prestige on the city concerned. In Latin America, Spanish and Portugese explorers often named location for the Saint on whose day the place was first visited - that Saint naturally becoming the Patron saint of a town or city which developed there.

Professions sometimes get a Patron saint who was himself of herself involved in that profession. Lacking such a saint, a profession would get a saint whose conspicuous acts or miracles in some way recall the profession. For example, when the hitherto unknown profession of photography appeared in the 19th Century and needed a Patron saint, this role was assigned to Saint Veronica. According to Christian tradition, Veronica gave Jesus her veil to wipe his forehead as he was being taken to Golgotha and the image of his face became miraculously impressed upon it.

The concept of a Patron saint can be considered a Christianization of the Tutelary deity, common in pre-Christian culture and religion.

Lists of patron saints

Patron saints of ailments, illness and dangers

Patron saints of occupations and activities

Patron saints of places

See also

Calendar of saints

List of blesseds

List of saints

Saint symbology

Slava

Tutelary deity

References

External links

Catholic Forum: Patron Saints Index

Catholic Online: Patron Saints

Category:Sainthood Category:Tutelary Category:Christian terms

af:Beskermheilige an:Santo patrón bg:Светец-покровител ca:Sant patró cs:Patron cy:Nawddsant da:Skytshelgen de:Schutzpatron el:Κατάλογος πόλεων και πολιούχων αγίων es:Santo patrón ko:수호성인 id:Santo pelindung is:Verndardýrlingur it:Patrono he:קדוש מגן lb:Patréiner hu:Védőszent nl:Beschermheilige ja:守護聖人 no:Skytshelgen nn:Vernehelgen pl:Patron (chrześcijaństwo) pt:Orago ro:Hram ru:Святой покровитель sco:Patron saunt simple:Patron saint sr:Светац заштитник sh:Svetac zaštitnik fi:Suojeluspyhimys sv:Skyddspatron uk:Святий покровитель zh:主保聖人

name	Regina Spektor
background	solo_singer
born	February 18, 1980
origin	New York, U.S.
birth place	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
instrument	Piano, Vocals, Guitar, Bass Guitar
genre	Anti-folk, indie rock, baroque pop, blues, pop
voice type	Mezzo-Soprano
occupation	Singer, songwriter, record producer
years active	1999–present
label	Sire/Warner Bros. Records
associated acts	Sondre Lerche, Ben Folds, Kill Kenada, the Strokes, Dufus
website	http://www.reginaspektor.com
notable instruments	Steinway & Sons piano Epiphone Wildkat guitar}}

Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (, , ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered in New York City's East Village.

Early life

Spektor was born in Moscow, USSR in 1980 to a musical Russian Jewish family. Her father, Ilya Spektor, is a photographer and amateur violinist. Her mother, Bella Spektor, was a music professor in a Russian college of music and now teaches at a public elementary school in Mount Vernon, New York. She has a brother Barry (Bear), who was featured in track 7, "* * *", or "Whisper", of her 2004 album, ''Soviet Kitsch''.

She learned how to play piano by practicing on a Petrof upright that was given to her mother by her grandfather. She was also exposed to the music of rock and roll bands such as The Beatles, Queen, and The Moody Blues by her father, who obtained such recordings in Eastern Europe and traded cassettes with friends in the Soviet Union. The family left the Soviet Union in 1989, when Regina was nine and a half, during the period of Perestroika, when Soviet citizens were permitted to emigrate. Regina had to leave her piano behind. The seriousness of her piano studies led her parents to consider not leaving the USSR, but they finally decided to emigrate, due to the ethnic and political discrimination that Jews faced. Spektor is fluent in Russian and reads Hebrew, and has since paid tribute to her Russian heritage, quoting the poem ''February'' by the famous Russian poet Boris Pasternak in her song ''Après Moi'', and stating “I’m very connected to the language and the culture.”

Traveling first to Austria and then Italy, the family was admitted to the United States as refugees with the assistance of HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) and settled in The Bronx, where Spektor graduated from the SAR Academy, a Jewish day middle school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. She then attended high school for two years at the Frisch School, a yeshiva in Paramus, New Jersey, but transferred to a public school, Fair Lawn High School, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where she finished the last two years of her high school education.

Beginnings as a songwriter

In New York, Spektor studied classical piano with Sonia Vargas, a professor at the Manhattan School of Music, until she was 17; Spektor's father had met Vargas through her husband, violinist Samuel Marder. Although the family had been unable to bring their piano from Russia, Spektor found a piano on which to play in the basement of her synagogue, and also practiced on tabletops and other hard surfaces.

Spektor was originally interested only in classical music, but later became interested in hip hop, rock and punk as well. Although she had always made up songs around the house, Spektor first became interested in more formal songwriting during a visit to Israel with the Nesiya Institute in her teenage years when she attracted attention from the other children on the trip for the songs she made up while hiking and realized she had an aptitude for songwriting.

Following this trip, she was exposed to the work of Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, and other singer-songwriters, which encouraged her belief that she could create her own songs. She wrote her first a cappella songs around the age of 16 and her first songs for voice and piano when she was nearly 18.

Spektor completed the four-year studio composition program of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College within three years, graduating with honors in 2001. Around this time, she also worked briefly at a butterfly farm in Luck, Wisconsin, and studied in Tottenham, ( a suburb of London) for one semester.

She gradually achieved recognition through performances in the anti-folk scene in downtown New York City, often as a duo with drummer Anders Griffen, and most importantly at the East Village's Sidewalk Cafe, but also at the Living Room, Tonic, Fez, the Knitting Factory, and CB's Gallery. She also performed at local colleges (such as Sarah Lawrence College) with other musicians, including the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. She sold self-published CDs at her performances during this period: ''11:11'' (2001) and ''Songs'' (2002). In 2004, she signed a contract with Warner Brothers' record label Sire Records to publish and distribute her third album ''Soviet Kitsch'', originally self-released in 2003.

Style

Spektor has said that she has created a great number of songs, but that she rarely writes any of them down. She has also stated that she never aspired to write songs herself, but songs seem to just flow to her. Spektor's songs are not usually autobiographical, but rather are based on scenarios and characters drawn from her imagination. Her songs show influences from folk, punk, rock, Jewish, Russian, hip hop, jazz, and classical music. Spektor has said that she works hard to ensure that each of her songs has its own musical style, rather than trying to develop a distinctive style for her music as a whole.

Spektor has a broad vocal range and uses the full extent of it. She also explores a variety of different and somewhat unorthodox vocal techniques, such as verses composed entirely of buzzing noises made with the lips and beatbox-style flourishes in the middle of ballads, and also makes use of such unusual musical techniques as using a drum stick to tap rhythms on the body of the piano or chair. Part of her style also results from the exaggeration of certain aspects of vocalization, most notably the glottal stop, which is prominent in the single "Fidelity". She also uses a strong New York accent on some words, which she has said is due to her love of New York and its culture.

Her lyrics are equally eclectic, often taking the form of abstract narratives or first-person character studies, similar to short stories or vignettes put to song. Spektor usually sings in English, though she sometimes includes a few words or verses of Latin, Russian, French, and other languages in her songs. She also plays with pronunciations, which she said on a NPR interview to be a remnant of her early years when she listened to pop in English without understanding the lyrics. Some of Spektor's lyrics include literary allusions, such as to F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway in "Poor Little Rich Boy", ''The Little Prince'' in "Baobabs", Virginia Woolf and Margaret Atwood in "Paris", Ezra Pound and William Shakespeare in "Pound of Flesh", Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' in "The Virgin Queen", Boris Pasternak in "Après Moi", Samson and Delilah in "Samson", and ''Oedipus the King'' in "Oedipus", Billie Holiday in "Lady" and Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome in "2.99 cent blues". She alludes to The Beatles and Paul McCartney in the song "Edit". She also used a line from Joni Mitchell's California in her song "The Devil Came to Bethlehem". Recurring themes and topics in Spektor's lyrics include love, death, religion (particularly Biblical and Jewish references), city life (particularly New York references), and certain key phrases have been known to recur in different songs by Spektor, such as references to gravediggers, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the name "Mary Ann". Spektor's use of satire is evident in "Wasteside," which refers to ''The Twelve Chairs'', the classic satirical novel by the Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, and describes the town in which people are born, get their hair cut, and then are sent to the cemetery.

In Spektor's early albums, many of her tracks had a very dry vocal production, with very little reverb or delay added. However, Spektor's more recent albums, particularly ''Begin to Hope'', have put more emphasis into song production and have relied more on traditional pop and rock instruments. Spektor says the records that most impact her are those of "bands whose music is really involved", specifically naming The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Radiohead, Tom Waits, and Frédéric Chopin as primary influences.

In her songs, "Eet", "Us" and "Après Moi" the titular sounds are used as the focal point throughout. (In "Dance Anthem of the 80's", the sound "eet" is also used often, on words such as "meat", "street", and "eat").

Performances

Spektor's first nationwide tour was accompanying The Strokes as the opening act on their 2003–2004 ''Room on Fire'' tour, during which she and the band performed and recorded "Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men". Kings of Leon were the second opening act on that tour, and they invited Regina to open for them on their own European tour right after The Strokes tour. In June 2005, Spektor was the opening act for the English piano rock band Keane on their North American tour, during which she performed at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2005. During her 2006 headlining tour in support of the ''Begin to Hope'' album, Spektor sold out a performance at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, and two shows at Town Hall Theater in New York City on September 27 and September 28, 2006.

Spektor has appeared on ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' (once), ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (three times), ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' (twice), ''Jimmy Kimmel Live'' (twice), ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' (five times), ''Late Show with David Letterman'' (twice), ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' (twice), ''CBS News Sunday Morning, Good Morning America'' (twice), ''Australia's Rove Live, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (twice). On October 10, 2009 she performed on ''Saturday Night Live''.

Since January 2005, Spektor has performed on a bright red Baldwin baby grand piano. At the present time she uses exclusively Steinway & Sons pianos. She plays a seafoam Epiphone Wildkat archtop hollow-body electric guitar.

Although she generally only performs original material, Spektor occasionally performs covers. Most famous of these covers were her performances of songs by Leonard Cohen and Madonna, for the 2nd Annual Jewish Music & Heritage Festival at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. In 2006 and 2007, Spektor embarked on a headlining tour of the U.S. and Europe, selling out numerous clubs and theaters. She covered John Lennon's "Real Love" at the performance arts center of her alma mater, State University of New York at Purchase, on March 28, 2007, at a benefit concert for the Conservatory of Music. In 2007, Spektor recorded "Real Love" for the ''Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur'' CD, which was released in June of that year. She recorded a version of the song for Triple J's Like a Version radio segment which was shown on jTV.

On March 8, 2007, Spektor appeared on the British ITV network's ''Loose Women'', promoting and performing "Fidelity" live, and on April 20, 2007, she performed on the ''Late Show with David Letterman''. On Saturday, April 28, 2007, she appeared at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. On Friday, May 18, 2007, she appeared on BBC1's ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross''. On June 16, 2007, she performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival and later performed at the 2007 Lollapalooza on August 4, 2007 and Virgin Festival on August 5, 2007 in Baltimore, Maryland. On September 16, 2007, she performed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival and recorded a set for the Austin City Limits TV show the following day. She performed acoustic at the Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheatre on October 27 and October 28, 2007.

On November 14, 2007, at her concert at Ryman Auditorium, in Nashville, it was announced that Spektor collapsed during the sound check and was taken to a local emergency room. According to the statement given to the audience, Spektor was fine, but doctors said that she could not perform that night. It was later reported that the cause of the collapse was an inner ear infection which caused intense vertigo. The show was initially rescheduled for December 6, 2007, but the date was once again rescheduled, and the concert finally occurred on February 29, 2008. After her initial collapse in Nashville, she was able to perform in concerts at Mountain Stage on November 18, 2007, and at Duke University on November 19, 2007.

In conjunction with the release of her 2009 album ''Far'', Spektor was headlining at Serpentine Sessions, a series of concerts London's Hyde Park on June 29, 2009. Other European performances in 2009 include Glastonbury Festival, Hultsfred Festival, Oxegen 2009, T in the Park, Paradiso (Amsterdam), Latitude Festival, and Rock Werchter. Spektor has invited Brooklyn-based rock band Jupiter One to open concerts on her 2009 North American tour. As a part of that tour, on October 14, 2009 Spektor headlined a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

On July 7, 2010, Regina performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland. Her cellist, Dan Cho, drowned the day before while swimming in Lake Geneva near the Chillon Castle. She was described as distraught, shaken, and in tears and took several breaks to regain her composure.

Media coverage

Since 2005, Spektor's music has been used in various television programs and commercials. In late 2005 "Us" (from ''Soviet Kitsch'') was used in a commercial as part of the ''What Do You Want To Watch?'' series for the United Kingdom's British Sky Broadcasting. The advert features a clip from a documentary on skateboarder Danny Way. In the summer of 2006, a clip from "Us" was used for the teaser website for Microsoft's Zune project at ComingZune.com, as well as for a promotional campaign for MtvU. The same track is used by Dutch telecom company KPN in a commercial. "Somedays" was used in a 2005 episode of ''CSI: NY'' and "Samson" was used in a 2006 episode of the same series. "On the Radio" was used in an episode of ABC's ''Grey's Anatomy''. "Field Below" was used in a 2006 episode titled "The Last Word" of CBS's ''Criminal Minds''. "Fidelity" has also been used in an episode of ''Grey's Anatomy'' titled "Six Days, Part 2", ''Veronica Mars'' titled "Wichita Linebacker", ''Brothers & Sisters'' titled "Sexual Politics", during the end credits of ''Love and Other Drugs'', and in the Brazilian telenovela ''A Favorita''. "Better" is currently being used in a commercial for XM Satellite Radio, an episode of "How I Met Your Mother", and the popular film ''My Sister's Keeper''. Her song "Music Box" is currently being used in a commercial for JC Penney. Spektor also sang the title song "Little Boxes" of Showtime's television series ''Weeds'' in the episode "Mile Deep and a Foot Wide" (2006) and her "Ghost of Corporate Future" was used both at the beginning and end of the episode. On January 21, 2007, she was featured on ''CBS News Sunday Morning''.

Spektor received increased attention in 2006 when her video for "Fidelity" was viewed over 200,000 times in two days on YouTube. On Sirius Radio's Left of Center channel, her single "Fidelity" was voted by listeners as the #1 song of 2006. Towards the end of 2006, VH1 showcased her as part of their "You Oughta Know: Artists on the Rise" featurettes: they played clips from the "Fidelity" music video and showed parts of an interview with Spektor during commercial breaks on the channel. Spektor was recently named #3 on VH1's Top Artists Charts.

Peter Gabriel recorded a version of "Après Moi" on his 2010 release ''Scratch My Back''.

In Australia, Spektor's music has rapidly gained popularity in mainstream culture primarily due to ''Begin to Hope'' being played on the nation-wide radio station Triple J, where it eventually became a feature album. Prior to ''Begin to Hope'', Spektor had only a small following in Australia in comparison to the US and Europe.

Spektor reached #33 on ''Blender'' magazine's top 100 of 2006 and was also listed as one of the "Hottest Women of...Rock!". "Fidelity" was also used in a 2007 television commercial in New Zealand advertising Yahoo!Xtra, a new partnership between Yahoo! and Telecom's Xtra ISP. Also in 2007, the mobile phone company Vodafone used her lyric, "Come into my world..." from the track, "Hotel Song" on ''Begin to Hope'', in an extensive TV advertising campaign in the UK and Ireland.

On October 1, 2007, Spektor's new video for "Better" was released on VH1 and YouTube, where it was viewed more than 100,000 times within the first 24 hours. "Fidelity" was used in the trailer for the film ''27 Dresses'', released on October 3, 2007.

Her song "The Call" appeared prominently in ''The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'', as part of the film's finale sequence. Spektor's song "Better" was used in the movie ''My Sister's Keeper'', loosely based on the novel of the same name by Jodi Picoult. A section of "That Time" was featured in the film ''In Bruges''. Additionally, "Us" and "Hero" are both featured on the soundtrack for the film ''(500) Days of Summer''. ''Spin'' magazine profiled Spektor in their July 2009 issue, where she discussed her just-released album ''Far''. The story was released in their digital edition that month, as well. In August 2009, the song "Two Birds" was used in the 2009 Fall Campaign of the Polish TV station TVN. Also Regina's song "Eet" debuted on the show ''90210'' in April 2010.

On September 16, 2009, it was announced that Spektor would write the music for the musical ''Beauty'', a modern adaptation of the Grimms' fairy tale ''Sleeping Beauty'', which is set to open during the 2011–12 Broadway season.

In May 2010, Spektor performed for President Obama and his wife Michelle along with hundreds of other guests at the White House reception in honor of Jewish Heritage Month. She sang "Us" and "The Sword & the Pen," receiving a standing ovation begun by Michelle Obama.

The song "Human of the Year" featured prominently in the trailer and first episode of the 2011 HBO series ''Enlightened''.

Philanthropy

In 2007, she covered John Lennon's "Real Love" for ''Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur''. The following year, she participated in ''Songs for Tibet'', an initiative to support the human rights situation in Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama. The album was issued on August 5, 2008, via iTunes and on August 19 in music stores around the world. On January 22, 2009, Spektor performed at the third annual Roe On The Rocks gig at the Bowery Ballroom to raise money for Planned Parenthood New York City. Also, continuing with her support for Tibet, Regina Spektor played for Tibet House's annual concert at Carnegie Hall on February 26, 2010. Less than one month later, on March 23, 2010, Spektor gave a concert at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City to raise funds for the work of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. Also, on April 27, she released a cover of Radiohead's song "No Surprises" with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders to help the earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.

Discography

2001: ''11:11''

2002: ''Songs''

2004: ''Soviet Kitsch ''

2006: ''Begin to Hope''

2009: ''Far''

2012: ''What We Saw From The Cheap Seats''

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions	Album
!style="width:1em"	!style="width:1em"	!style="width:1em"	!style="width:1em"	!style="width:1em"	!style="width:1em"	!style="width:1em"
"Your Honour / The Flowers"
	"Laughing With"								align="left" rowspan="2"
"Eet"
									charity download

Awards

''Begin to Hope'' – Shortlist Music Prize (nominated)

Studio8's Female Voice of August 2009 (won)

References

External links

Official site

"Regina Spektor" interview by Noel Murray (from ''The A.V. Club'', 21 June 2006)

Interview from ''Soundcheck'', WNYC, 13 September 2005

Interview from ''All Things Considered'', National Public Radio, 28 June 2006

Strangers Almanac Column on Regina Spektor from Glide Magazine

NPR - All Songs Considered 7/22/2009 - Regina Spektor: When Every Sound Sings

Category:1980 births Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American mezzo-sopranos Category:American pianists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Female rock singers Category:American Jews Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Living people Category:Musicians from New York City Category:Russian emigrants to the United States Category:Musicians from Moscow Category:People from the Bronx Category:American people of Russian descent Category:American musicians of Russian descent Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:State University of New York at Purchase alumni Category:Soviet emigrants to the United States Category:Anti-folk musicians Category:Sire Records artists Category:Russian singers

bg:Регина Спектор ca:Regina Spektor cs:Regina Spektor da:Regina Spektor de:Regina Spektor et:Regina Spektor es:Regina Spektor fr:Regina Spektor ga:Regina Spektor it:Regina Spektor he:רג'ינה ספקטור lv:Regīna Spektore nl:Regina Spektor ja:レジーナ・スペクター no:Regina Spektor pl:Regina Spektor pt:Regina Spektor ro:Regina Spektor ru:Спектор, Регина simple:Regina Spektor sk:Regina Spektorová fi:Regina Spektor sv:Regina Spektor tr:Regina Spektor uk:Регіна Спектор zh:蕾吉娜·史派克特

name	Rolf Harris, CBE, AM
background	solo_singer
born	March 30, 1930Bassendean, Perth, Australia
instrument	Vocals, stylophone, didgeridoo, wobble board
genre	Folk music, rock and roll, comedy
occupation
years active	1950–present
label	Various
website	Official site }}

Rolf Harris, CBE, AM (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.

Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the characters. He also began a musical career initially with the piano accordion. He wrote the famous song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", and when performing in Canada he introduced his popular routine ''Jake the Peg''. He often uses unusual instruments in his performances: he plays the didgeridoo, has been credited with the invention of the wobble board, a rhythmic percussion instrument, and was associated with the Stylophone, a small electronic keyboard instrument.

From the 1960s he has become a popular television personality, presenting shows including ''Rolf's Cartoon Club'', ''Animal Hospital'' and various programmes about serious art. In late 2005 he painted an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, which was the subject of a special episode of ''Rolf on Art''.

Early life

Named after Rolf Boldrewood, an Australian writer his mother admired, he was born in Bassendean, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, to Cromwell ("Crom") Harris and Agnes Margaret Harris (née Robbins) who had both emigrated from Cardiff, Wales. He is the nephew of Australian artist Pixie O'Harris (1903–1991). As a child he owned a dog called Buster Fleabags. A book of the same name was written for Quick Reads in 2010.

As an adolescent and young adult Harris was a champion swimmer. In 1946 he was the Australian Junior 110 yards Backstroke Champion.

He was also the Western Australian state champion over a variety of distances and strokes during the period from 1948 to 1952.

Harris attended Perth Modern School in Subiaco, and the University of Western Australia.

Whilst just 16, and still a student at Perth Modern School, his self-portait in oils was one of the 80 works (out of 200 submitted) accepted to be hung in the Art Gallery of New South Wales as an entry in the 1947 Archibald Prize.

He met his wife, the Welsh sculptress and jeweller Alwen Hughes, while they were both art students, and they married on 1 March 1958. They have one daughter, Bindi Harris (born 10 March 1964), who studied art at Bristol Polytechnic and is now a painter.

Music and art

Harris moved to England as an art student at City and Guilds Art School, Kennington, South London at the age of 22, getting into television with the BBC in 1953, performing a regular ten-minute cartoon drawing section with a puppet called "Fuzz", made and operated on the show by magician Robert Harbin. He illustrated Robert Harbin's ''Paper Magic'' (1956). He also had a few acting roles in British television programmes and films as Harry in The Vise and as Pte Proudfoot in the 1955 Tommy Trinder film ''You Lucky People''.

When commercial television started in 1956 Harris was the only entertainer to work on both BBC and ITV, performing on BBC with his own creation, "Willoughby", a specially made board on which he drew Willoughby, (voiced and operated by Peter Hawkins). The character would then come to life and hold a comedic dialogue with Harris as he drew cartoons of Willoughby's antics.

On Associated Rediffusion he invented a character called Oliver Polip the Octopus which he drew on the back of his hand and animated, as well as illustrating Oliver's adventures with cartoons on huge sheets of card.

He had drifted away from art school as a slightly disillusioned student and had luckily met his longtime hero, Australian impressionist painter Hayward Veal, who took Harris under his wing and became his mentor, teaching him the rudiments of impressionism and showing him how it could help with his portrait painting.

At the same time Harris was entertaining with his piano accordion every Thursday night at a club called the Down Under, a haunt for homesick Australians and New Zealanders. Here, over the next several years, he honed his entertainment skills, eventually writing the song which was later to become his theme song, 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport'. He also appeared regularly at Clement Freud's "Royal Court Theatre Club" in Sloane Square, where he sat at the piano and entertained débutantes and their escorts.

Harris was headhunted to return to Perth when television was introduced there in 1960. There he produced and starred in five half-hour children's shows a week, as well as starring in his own weekly evening variety show. During that year he recorded in the TVW studios the song he had written for the Down Under Club in London, 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport'. It was released by EMI and became his first recording and his first number one. At the end of 1960 he toured Australia for Dulux paints, singing his hit song and doing huge paintings on stage with Dulux emulsion paint. While painting on stage, one of his catchphrases was, "Can you tell what it is yet?"

He and his wife Alwen went to Vancouver in Canada by mistake, and had a huge success there, working two shows a night at the Arctic Club, where he was held over for 31 weeks until the club accidentally burnt down on Christmas Eve, 1961. He was immediately transferred to the huge "Cave" theatre restaurant to great critical acclaim.

He returned to the United Kingdom early in 1962 and was introduced to George Martin, who re-recorded all Harris's songs including "Sun Arise", an Aboriginal-type song Harris had written with Perth naturalist Harry Butler. The song went to number 2 in the UK charts, losing the number 1 spot to Elvis Presley. He met and worked with the Beatles when they started recording with George Martin, and compèred their Christmas show in Finsbury Park Empire in 1963.

He and his wife have lived permanently in the United Kingdom since 1962, and he has regularly returned to Vancouver to entertain ever since. He has also regularly returned to Perth over the years for family visits and to the rest of Australia where he has spent as much as four months every year touring with his band.

In 1973 Harris performed the very first concert in the Concert Hall of the newly completed Sydney Opera House, to huge acclaim.

Since the late 1960s Harris had been performing top-rated variety television shows on the BBC in London, shows which were also shown in Australia and New Zealand, creating great support for his many tours in both countries as well as in South Africa.

Harris has been credited with inventing a simple homemade instrument called the wobble board. This discovery was accidentally made in the course of his work when he attempted to dry a freshly painted hardboard with added heat, from hearing the sound made by the board as he shook it by the short edges to cool it off. He suggests the effect can best be obtained through faint bouncing of a tempered hardboard or a thinner MDF board between the palms of one's hands.

In 1960 he worked on TVW-7's first locally produced show ''Spotlight''. During his time at TVW he recorded his hit ''Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport''. The song was recorded on a single microphone placed above him in the television studio. The song was sent to record company EMI in Sydney and it was soon released as a record. Harris offered four unknown backing musicians 10% of the royalties for the song, but they decided to take a recording fee of ₤7 each because they thought the song would be a flop. The novelty song was originally titled "Kangalypso" and featured the distinctive sound of the "wobble board", which was played by bouncing it up and down.

The original 1960 single release recording of the song issued in Australia was considered controversial by some listeners because of the lyrics of the fourth verse. The verse appears to refer to Aboriginal servitude and captivity in a whimsically approving manner. In addition, the word "abo" was beginning to be seen as a term of abuse at the time. Most of the rest of the song refers to pet Australian animals.

The offending verse did not feature in later versions of the song. In 2006, four decades after the song's release, Harris expressed his regret about that original lyric. Harris also performed this song in 2000 with Australia's children's supergroup The Wiggles.

Harris sang "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" (with The Beatles singing backing vocals) in the first edition of the ''From Us to You'' BBC radio shows, in December 1963. Harris completely customized the original lyrics to a version that was specially written for The Beatles:

''Cut yer hair once a year boys,'' (repeat), ''If it covers your ears you can't hear boys, so'' (repeat first line). :''Don't ill-treat me pet dingo, Ringo,'' (repeat). ''He can't understand your lingo, Ringo, so'' (repeat first line). :''George’s guitar's on the blink, I think,'' (repeat), ''It shouldn't go plinkety plink, no,'' (repeat first line). :''Prop me up by the wall, Paul,'' (repeat), '''Cause if you don't I might fall, Paul, so'' (repeat first line). :''Keep the hits coming on, John,'' (repeat), '''Til long long after I've gone, John, just'' (repeat first line).

It was after this recording that Harris gave Ringo his first Wobble board of which Starr now has the largest collection outside Australia.

As well as his trademark beatboxing, similar to eefing, Harris went on to use an array of unusual instruments in his music, including the didgeridoo (the sound of which was imitated on ''Sun Arise'' by four double basses), Jew's harp and, later, the stylophone (for which he also lent his name and likeness for advertising). Harris has played the didgeridoo on two albums by English pop singer Kate Bush, 1982's ''The Dreaming'' and 2005's ''Aerial''. Harris went on to create one of his most famous roles in the 1960s, Jake the Peg but his biggest hit was in 1969 with his rendering of the American Civil War song "Two Little Boys", written in 1902. It was only recently that Harris discovered a personal poignancy to the song because the story bears such a resemblance to the World War I experiences of his father Crom and Crom's beloved younger brother Carl, who died at the age of 19 after being wounded in battle in France, just two weeks before the Armistice of November 1918. Two Little Boys was the Christmas Number One song in the UK charts for six weeks in 1969. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

In 2000 Harris, along with Steve Lima, released a dance track called "Fine Day" which entered the top 30 in the UK charts at that time. A "Killie-themed" version was recorded and scheduled for release in March 2007 to coincide with the Scottish football club Kilmarnock's appearance in the Scottish League Cup final after the song was adopted by the fans in 2003. One of the lyrics referred to the hypothetical situation in which Kilmarnock could be 5-0 down, which ironically was similar to the final score of 5-1.

In November and December 2002, under Charles Saumarez Smith's direction, London's National Gallery exhibited a collection of Harris's art. He was also commissioned to paint a portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II for her 80th birthday, which was unveiled by Rolf Harris on 19 December 2005 at Buckingham Palace. In his words, it is an impressionistic rather than photographic depiction. Some commentators found it to be offensive and unbecoming of the Queen, but the Queen herself expressed her approval at the painting after her final sitting, particularly with the way in which Harris had painted her smile. The story of the painting featured as a special edition of ''Rolf on Art''. The special, called ''The Queen by Rolf'', was broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2006. In his painting of the portrait of the Queen, Harris was following a family tradition  — Harris's grandfather painted a portrait of the Queen's grandfather, King George V (in which the King was inspecting the troops). The portrait was exhibited in the Australian National Portrait Gallery in Canberra for six months, after Harris gave the prestigious annual lecture there in 2008.

In 2005 Harris played the didgeridoo on Kate Bush's album ''Aerial'', contributing vocals to the songs "An Architect's Dream" and "The Painter's Link". In the late 1980s he was touring in Australia and was asked to sing his own comedy version of "Stairway to Heaven" on a television programme "The Money or the Gun". He did this with his own small group and had great success. Several years later it was released as a single in the UK and went to number 4 in the charts, causing a great furore among "Led Zeppelin" fans, and great enjoyment for everyone else. As a result of this success he appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in 1993 and was later named the best entertainer ever to have appeared at Glastonbury. He has since appeared four more times at subsequent Glastonbury festivals and most recently appeared there on 27 June 2009 on the Jazz World Stage to a packed crowd.

In September 2010 Harris appeared at the Bestival Festival on the Isle of Wight, and played on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival on Friday 25 June 2010, during the festival's 40th birthday.

On 5th August 2011, Harris played at Wickham Festival in Hampshire.

1982 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony

Matilda, a winking kangaroo was the mascot for the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. When Matilda arrived at the stadium, she 'winked' to the crowd as she went around the stadium track — then her 'pouch' opened and several young children (about 5 to 7 years old), dressed as joey kangaroos, rushed out (then ran to — and jumped on — a number of trampolines which had been set up specially for them).

Harris, who was standing, complete with wobble board, at the back of a small truck, then sang a special rendition of his hit song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", which included some lyrics specially written for the Opening Ceremony: :''Let me welcome you to the Games, friends'', :''Welcome you to the Games'' : ''Look, I don't know all of your names, friends'', :''But let me welcome you to the Games''.

Following his singing of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", Harris sang "Waltzing Matilda". As well as a videotape recording of the Opening Ceremony being released, the music for the Opening Ceremony was released as an album and an audio tape, with Harris as one of the featured artists.

"Stairway to Heaven"

Harris's career received a boost in 1993 when his cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" became a hit, reaching number 7 of the UK singles chart. Harris originally performed the song, live, during an appearance on the television comedy show ''The Money or the Gun''. Each episode of ''The Money or the Gun'' featured a rendition of ''Stairway to Heaven'' but in the idiosyncratic style of another performer. Harris's version of the song recreated the song in the style of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", complete with wobble board and didgeridoo solos. Although he had the sheet music, Harris claims that he had not heard the original version when he recorded his; as such, he disavows any claim that his version was intended to be irreverent or humorous. Harris's version was one of 28 versions of the song performed on the show — and his version is one of the 25 versions of the song which was released on the ''The Money or the Gun's Stairways to Heaven'' videotape and CD (Harris's single comes from the same recording of his version of the song). A wobble board Harris used to perform "Stairway to Heaven" on Top of the Pops is now part of the National Museum of Australia collection.

Recordings and appearances

Harris is known for Channel 7 Perth's jingle "Children's Channel 7".

Harris also recorded a version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" around this time. He performed The Divinyls' "I Touch Myself" — accompanied only by his wobble board — for Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge on the MMM Breakfast Show (the recording was released on the first Musical Challenge compilation album in 2000). Later that year he made his first appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in what was seen as a novelty act. He played there again in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2009 and 2010.

Harris has also recorded an Australian Christmas song called Six White Boomers, about a joey Kangaroo trying to find his mother during Christmastime, and how Santa Claus used six large male kangaroos (Boomers), instead of reindeer "because they can't stand the terrible heat" to pull his sleigh and help the little joey find his "Mummy".

In October 2008 Harris announced he would re-record his 1969 hit "Two Little Boys", backed by North Wales's Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir, to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I. Proceeds from the new release went to The Poppy Appeal. Harris was inspired to make the recording after participating in ''My Family at War'', a short series of programmes in the BBC's Remembrance season, which was broadcast in November 2008. He discovered that the experiences of his father and uncle during the Great War mirrored the lyrics of the song.

A sampling of Harris saying "You've just heard one of the most remarkable applications in modern electronics", grabbed from a Stylophone instruction disc, appears at the end of the Pulp hit "Countdown".

Television career

Harris has had a long career on British television, making his debut in 1953 on a five-minute spot with a puppet called 'Fuzz' in a one-hour children’s show called 'Jigsaw'. The following year he was a regular on a BBC Television programme called ''Whirligig'', with a character called 'Willoughby', who sprang to life on a drawing board but was erased at the end of the show.

Although he chiefly appeared on the BBC, he was also on ITV with his 'Oliver Polip the Octopus' character on ''Small Time'' on Associated Rediffusion. He was the presenter of ''Hi There'' and ''Hey Presto it’s Rolf'' in 1964. Consequently he was already well-known face on television when ''The Rolf Harris Show'' was broadcast from 1967-1974 on BBC1. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s this series in various formats remained a popular light-entertainment staple, latterly being broadcast on Saturday evenings as ''Rolf on Saturday OK?'' Harris was also the commentator for the United Kingdom in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. On 31 December 1976, Harris performed his hit song ''Two Little Boys'' on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee.

On many of his television appearances he painted pictures on large boards in an apparently slapdash manner, with the odd nonsense song thrown in, but with detailed results. This was often accompanied by the phrase "Can you tell what is it yet?" just before the painting became recognisable. These appearances led to a string of television series based on his artistic ability, notably ''Rolf Harris's Cartoon Time'' on BBC1 in the 1980s and ''Rolf's Cartoon Club'' on ITV between 1989-1993. On the children's show he also gave out tips to children on how to draw and create easy animation techniques, like flickbooks. The latter programme witnessed another Harris catchphrase, "See you on Ro-o-o-o-o-o-lf's Cartoon Club, next week!" He also hosted a successful variety television series in Canada, which was a second home to Harris during the 1960s.

From 1994-2004 he was the host of the reality television programme ''Animal Hospital'', which chronicled the real-life activity of a British veterinary practice. Harris then adopted a greyhound that had been abandoned at the vet's, named Rocky. Harris presented 19 series of ''Animal Hospital'' for BBC One. It was five times winner in the ''Most Popular Factual Entertainment Show'' category of The National TV Awards. In an Australian Times article, journalist Kris Griffiths wrote of Animal Hospital: “One scene of Rolf’s tearful breakdown as a dog is euthanised became forever ingrained in fans’ memories, a spontaneous display that boosted the next episode’s ratings to a zenith of 10m.” When referring to a dead or dying animal on the programme, one of his catchphrases was, "The Poor Little Blighter".

More recently he presented ''Rolf on Art'', which highlighted the work of some of his favourite artists, including van Gogh, Degas, Monet and Gauguin. ''Rolf on Art'' which made television history when it gained the highest television ratings ever for an arts programme, is now in its sixth year. On 26 September 2004 Harris fronted a project to recreate John Constable's famous ''The Hay Wain'' painting on a vast scale, with 150 people contributing to a small section. Each individual canvas was assembled into the full picture live on the BBC, in the show ''Rolf on Art: The Big Event''. He was named as one of the ''Radio Times'''s list of the top 40 most eccentric television presenters of all time in July 2004.

The story of Harris's 80th birthday portrait painting of Queen Elizabeth II featured as a special edition of ''Rolf on Art'', broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2006. Harris's portrait of The Queen was voted by readers of the ''Radio Times'' the third favourite portrait of Her Majesty. The royal portrait was exhibited at Buckingham Palace, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, and was exhibited on a tour of public galleries in the UK.

In September 2006 the Royal Australian Mint launched the first of the new 2007 Silver Kangaroo Collector's Coin series. Harris was commissioned to design the first coin in the series. For the third year running, Harris designed and painted the official Children In Need Christmas card. Harris has presented three series of the BBC art programme ''Star Portraits with Rolf Harris''. In 2007, a documentary ''A Lifetime in Paint'' about Harris's work as an artist - from the early years in Australia to the present day - was screened on BBC One, followed by a ''Rolf On Art'' special titled ''Rolf on Lowry''.

In November 2007 at exhibition of Harris's new paintings was held at Portland Gallery, London. In December 2007 a new DVD titled ''Rolf Live!'' was released through his website.

''Rolf on Art: Beatrix Potter'' was screened on BBC One in December 2007.

Harris appeared with a wobble board in a Churchill Insurance advertisement in 2009, and hosted the satirical quiz show ''Have I Got News for You'', aired on 15 May 2009.

Harris is narrator of the 2010 Australian documentary series ''Penguin Island'', a 6-part natural history documentary about the life of the Little Penguin.

Harris appeared as himself on the Christmas special of ''My Family'' aired on 24 December 2010.

In 2011 Harris made a guest appearance on BBC 1 show The Magicians hosted by Lenny Henry.

In September 2010 - October 2010, Rolf Harris took part in 'Jamies Dream School' teaching Art to a class of 20 students. His personality inspired many of the students, and set a creative spark alight in the classroom. Widely respected by the students, he was seen as one of the favourite teachers at the school in Mill Hill. One of his most memorable scenes on the Channel 4 programme was when Rolf and one of the students called Ronnie sat together in a one to one Art session, when everyone else had left the class and created a masterpiece together.

Honours

Harris was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) on 17 June 2006, having previously been created a Member (MBE) in 1968 and an Officer (OBE) in 1977.

On 26 January 1989 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

In 1975 he was appointed ''King of Moomba''

On 8 November 2007 Rolf Harris was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of East London.

On 1 July 2008 Harris was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. He was joined onstage by The Seekers to perform "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" and his Jake the Peg routine.

On 26 January 2010 he was awarded an honorary doctorate at Liverpool Hope University.

Styles from birth

Rolf Harris, (1930–1968)

Rolf Harris, MBE (1968–1977)

Rolf Harris, OBE (1977–1989)

Rolf Harris, AM, OBE (1989–2006)

Rolf Harris, CBE, AM (2006–present)

References

External links

The Official Rolf Harris Web Site

Biography of Rolf Harris as a fine Artist

http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/55463 BFI Database: Rolf Harris

Some examples of Rolf Harris's art

Walker, John A. (2005) "Rolf Harris: Celebrity artist" ''Jamani/artdesigncafe'', February 2005

Rolf Harris collection at the National Museum of Australia

BBC raw words Quick Reads - Buster Fleabags by Rolf Harris

Category:1930 births Category:ARIA Award winners Category:ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Category:Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Australian painters Category:Australian people of Welsh descent Category:Australian television personalities Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Didgeridoo players Category:Living people Category:Members of the Order of Australia Category:People educated at Perth Modern School Category:People from Perth, Western Australia Category:Recipients of the Centenary Medal Category:University of Western Australia alumni Category:Western Australian musicians

cy:Rolf Harris de:Rolf Harris fr:Rolf Harris la:Radulphus Harris fi:Rolf Harris sv:Rolf Harris

Name	Saint Andrew the Apostle
Birth date	early 1st century AD
Death date	mid- to late 1st century AD
Feast day	November 30
Venerated in	All Christianity
Birth place	Bethsaida
Death place	Patras
Titles	Apostle, First-called
Attributes	Old man with long (in the East often untidy) white hair and beard, holding the Gospel Book or scroll, sometimes leaning on a saltire
Patronage	Scotland, Ukraine, Russia, Sicily, Greece, Romania, Diocese of Parañaque, Philippines, Amalfi, Luqa (Malta) and Prussia; Diocese of Victoria fishermen, fishmongers, rope-makers, golfers and performers
Major shrine	Church of St Andreas at Patras, with his relics
Prayer attrib	}}

Saint Andrew (; early 1st century—mid to late 1st century AD), called in the Orthodox tradition ''Prōtoklētos'', or the ''First-called'', is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" (Greek: manly, brave, from ἀνδρεία, ''Andreia'', "manhood, valour"), 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. He is considered the founder and first bishop of the Church of Byzantium and is consequently the patron saint of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Life

The New Testament states that Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter, by which it is inferred that he was likewise a son of John, or Jonah. He was born in Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. Both he and his brother Peter were fishermen by trade, hence the tradition that Jesus called them to be his disciples by saying that he will make them "fishers of men" (Greek: , ''halieĩs anthrōpōn''). At the beginning of Jesus' public life, they were said to have occupied the same house at Capernaum.

The Gospel of John states that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, whose testimony first led him and John the Evangelist to follow Jesus. Andrew at once recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and hastened to introduce him to his brother. Thenceforth, the two brothers were disciples of Christ. On a subsequent occasion, prior to the final call to the Apostolate, they were called to a closer companionship, and then they left all things to follow Jesus.

In the gospels Andrew is referred to as being present on some important occasions as one of the disciples more closely attached to Jesus,

Eusebius quotes Origen as saying Andrew preached in Asia Minor and in Scythia, along the Black Sea as far as the Volga and Kiev. Hence he became a patron saint of Ukraine, Romania and Russia. According to tradition, he founded the See of Byzantium (Constantinople) in AD 38, installing Stachys as bishop. According to Hippolytus of Rome, he preached in Thrace, and his presence in Byzantium is also mentioned in the apocryphal Acts of Andrew, written in the 2nd century. This diocese would later develop into the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Andrew is recognized as its patron saint.

Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion at the city of Patras (Patræ) in Achaea, on the northern coast of the Peloponnese. Early texts, such as the ''Acts of Andrew'' known to Gregory of Tours, describe Andrew as bound, not nailed, to a Latin cross of the kind on which Jesus is said to have been crucified; yet a tradition developed that Andrew had been crucified on a cross of the form called ''Crux decussata'' (X-shaped cross, or "saltire"), now commonly known as a "Saint Andrew's Cross" — supposedly at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus had been (though of course, the privilege of choosing one's own method of execution is a rare privilege, indeed). "The familiar iconography of his martyrdom, showing the apostle bound to an X-shaped cross, does not seem to have been standardized before the later Middle Ages," Judith Calvert concluded after re-examining the materials studied by Louis Réau. Andrew is the patron saint of the city of Patras.

The ''Acts of Andrew''

The apocryphal ''Acts of Andrew,'' mentioned by Eusebius, Epiphanius and others, is among a disparate group of ''Acts'' of the Apostles that were traditionally attributed to Leucius Charinus. "These Acts may be the latest of the five leading apostolic romances. They belong to the third century: ''ca.'' A.D. 260," was the opinion of M. R. James, who edited them in 1924. The ''Acts'', as well as a ''Gospel of St Andrew'', appear among rejected books in the ''Decretum Gelasianum'' connected with the name of Pope Gelasius I. The ''Acts of Andrew'' was edited and published by Constantin von Tischendorf in the ''Acta Apostolorum apocrypha'' (Leipzig, 1821), putting it for the first time into the hands of a critical professional readership. Another version of the Andrew legend is found in the ''Passio Andreae'', published by Max Bonnet (''Supplementum II Codicis apocryphi'', Paris, 1895).

Relics

The purported relics of the Apostle Andrew are kept at the Basilica of St Andrew in Patras, Greece; the Duomo di Sant'Andrea, Amalfi, Italy; St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland; and the Church of St Andrew and St Albert, Warsaw, Poland. There are also numerous smaller reliquaries throughout the world.

St Jerome wrote that the relics of St Andrew were taken from Patras to Constantinople by order of the Roman emperor Constantius II around 357 and deposited in the Church of the Holy Apostles. The head of Andrew was given by the Byzantine despot Thomas Palaeologus to Pope Pius II in 1461. It was enshrined in one of the four central piers of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. In September 1964, Pope Paul VI, as a gesture of goodwill toward the Greek Orthodox Church, ordered that all of the relics of St Andrew that were in Vatican City be sent back to Patras. The relics, which consist of the small finger, part of the top of the cranium of Andrew, and small portions of the cross on which he was martyred, have since that time been kept in the Church of St Andrew at Patras in a special shrine and are revered in a special ceremony every November 30, his feast day.

Amalfi

In 1208, following the sack of Constantinople, those relics of St Andrew which remained in the imperial city were taken to Amalfi, Italy, by Cardinal Peter of Capua, a native of Amalfi. The Amalfi cathedral (''Duomo''), dedicated to St Andrew (as is the town itself), contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still contains the rest of the relics of the apostle. On 8 May 2008 the relic believed to be Andrew's head was returned to Amalfi Cathedral.

Traditions and legends

Georgia

The church tradition of Georgia regards St. Andrew as the first preacher of Christianity in the territory of Georgia and as the founder of the Georgian church. This tradition was apparently derived from the Byzantine sources, particularly Nicetas of Paphlagonia (died c. 890) who asserts that "Andrew preached to the Iberians, Sauromatians, Taurians, and Scythians and to every region and city, on the Black Sea, both north and south." The version was adopted by the 10th-11th-century Georgian ecclesiastics and, refurbished with more details, was inserted in the Georgian Chronicles. The story of St. Andrew’s mission in the Georgian lands endowed the Georgian church with apostolic origin and served as a defense argument to George the Hagiorite against the encroachments from the Antiochian church authorities on autocephaly of the Georgian church. Another Georgian monk, Ephraim the Minor, produced a thesis, reconciling St. Andrew’s story with an earlier evidence of the 4th-century conversion of Georgians by St. Nino and explaining the necessity of the “second Christening” by Nino. The thesis was made canonical by the Georgian church council in 1103.

Malta

The first reference regarding the first small chapel at Luqa dedicated to Andrew dates to 1497. The pastoral visit of Mgr. Pietro Dusina affirms that this chapel contained three altars, one of them dedicated to Andrew. The titular painting showing "Mary with Saints Andrew and Paul" was painted by the Maltese artist Filippo Dingli.

At one time, many fishermen lived in the village of Luqa, and this may be the main reason behind choosing Andrew as patron saint. The titular statue of Andrew was sculpted in wood by Giuseppe Scolaro in 1779. This statue underwent several restoration works including that of 1913 performed by the Maltese renowned artist Abraham Gatt. The ''Martyrdom of Saint Andrew'' on the main altar of the church was painted by Mattia Preti in 1687.

Romania

The official stance of the Romanian Orthodox Church is that Andrew preached the Gospel to the Daco-Romans in the province of Dobrogea (Scythia Minor), whom he converted to Christianity. There are some archaeological evidences for this tradition found in a cave. The evidences were found in a cave called Basarabi, near Constanta harbour, in Romania. The cave contains carved symbols of ancient Christianity. The idea has been used in the communist era as part of the protochronism ideology, which argues that the Orthodox Church has been a companion and defender of the Romanian people for all of their 2000-year history.

Ukraine, Romania, and Russia

Early Christian History in Ukraine holds that the apostle Andrew is said to have preached on the southern borders of modern-day Ukraine, along the Black Sea. Legend has it that he travelled up the Dnieper River and reached the future location of Kiev, where he erected a cross on the site where the St. Andrew's Church of Kiev currently stands, and prophesied the foundation of a great Christian city.

It was in the obvious interest of Kievan Rus' and its later Russian and Ukraninian successors, striving in numerous ways to link themselves with the political and religious heritage of Byzantium, to claim such a direct visit from the famous. Claiming direct lineage from St. Andrew also had the effect of disregarding any theological leanings of Greek Orthodoxy over which disagreement arose, since the actual "indirect" proselytising via Byzantium was bypassed altogether. Still, as the same source quotes [7], Andrew only preached to the southern shore of the Black Sea (current Turkey).

Scotland

About the middle of the 10th century, Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland. Several legends state that the relics of Andrew were brought under supernatural guidance from Constantinople to the place where the modern town of St Andrews stands today (Gaelic, ''Cill Rìmhinn'').

The oldest surviving manuscripts are two: one is among the manuscripts collected by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and willed to Louis XIV of France, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, the other in the Harleian Mss in the British Library, London. They state that the relics of Andrew were brought by one Regulus to the Pictish king Óengus mac Fergusa (729–761). The only historical Regulus (Riagail or Rule) — the name is preserved by the tower of St Rule — was an Irish monk expelled from Ireland with Saint Columba; his dates, however, are c 573 – 600. There are good reasons for supposing that the relics were originally in the collection of Acca, bishop of Hexham, who took them into Pictish country when he was driven from Hexham (c. 732), and founded a see, not, according to tradition, in Galloway, but on the site of St Andrews. The connection made with Regulus is, therefore, due in all probability to the desire to date the foundation of the church at St Andrews as early as possible.

According to legend, in 832 AD, Óengus II led an army of Picts and Scots into battle against the Angles, led by Æthelstan, near modern-day Athelstaneford, East Lothian. The legend states that whilst engaged in prayer on the eve of battle, Óengus vowed that if granted victory he would appoint Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. On the morning of battle white clouds forming an X shape in the sky were said to have appeared. Óengus and his combined force, emboldened by this apparent divine intervention, took to the field and despite being inferior in terms of numbers were victorious. Having interpreted the cloud phenomenon as representing the ''crux decussata'' upon which Saint Andrew was crucified, Óengus honoured his pre-battle pledge and duly appointed Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. The white saltire set against a celestial blue background is said to have been adopted as the design of the flag of Scotland on the basis of this legend. However, there is evidence Andrew was venerated in Scotland before this.

Andrew's connection with Scotland may have been reinforced following the Synod of Whitby, when the Celtic Church felt that Columba had been "outranked" by Peter and that Peter's brother would make a higher ranking patron. The 1320 Declaration of Arbroath cites Scotland's conversion to Christianity by Andrew, "the first to be an Apostle". Numerous parish churches in the Church of Scotland and congregations of other Christian churches in Scotland are named after Andrew. The national church of the Scottish people in Rome, Sant'Andrea degli Scozzesi is dedicated to St Andrew.

Conclusions

Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Patras in Greece, Amalfi in Italy, Luqa in Malta, and Esgueira in Portugal. He was also the patron saint of Prussia and of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The flag of Scotland (and consequently the Union Flag which also features on the flags of Australia, New Zealand and the arms and flag of Nova Scotia) feature St Andrew's saltire cross. The saltire is also the flag of Tenerife, the flag of Galicia and the naval jack of Russia. The Confederate flag also features a saltire commonly referred to as a St Andrew's cross, although its designer, William Porcher Miles, said he changed it from an upright cross to a saltire so that it would not be a religious symbol but merely a heraldic device. The Florida and Alabama flags also show that device.

A statue of Andrew is an important element in the story of the 1956 Hollywood wartime romance ''Miracle in the Rain'', starring Van Johnson and Jane Wyman. When Ruth, played by Wyman realizes she has lost Art, the statue inside St Patrick's Cathedral, New York, becomes a focus of devotion for her.

The feast of Andrew is observed on November 30 in both the Eastern and Western churches, and is the national day of Scotland. In the traditional liturgical books of the Catholic Church, the feast of St. Andrew is the first feast day in the Proper of Saints.

See also

Saint Andrew of Patras

Andrew

Order of Saint Andrew

Patron saints of places

Roman Catholic calendar of saints

St Andrew's Day

St Andrews (disambiguation)

Santo André, an industrial town in Brazil

New Saint Andrews College

St. Andrew's College (Ontario), an all-boys independent school in Ontario, Canada named after St. Andrew. On the driveway to the main building, there is the St. Andrew statue.

Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina, named after the saint

University of St Andrews, named after the Royal Burgh of St Andrews, which was named after the saint

Notes

References

Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.

External links

The Life and Miracles of St. Andrew The Apostle

St. Andrew in the National Archives of Scotland

Andreas: The Legend of St. Andrew translated by Robert Kilburn Root, 1899, from Project Gutenberg

Paintings and Statues of Saint Andrew in Malta and around the world

National Shrine to St Andrew in Edinburgh Scotland

Scottish Government Celebrations of St. Andrew's Day

Grimm's Saga No. 150 about St. Andrew

Category:1st-century births Category:1st-century deaths Category:1st-century Romans Category:Eastern Orthodox saints Category:Christian martyrs of the Roman era * Category:Saints from the Holy Land Category:People executed by crucifixion Category:1st-century bishops Category:Saints of the Golden Legend Category:Anglican saints Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Category:Biblical apostles

ar:أندراوس an:Sant Andreu apóstol arc:ܐܢܕܪܐܘܣ ܫܠܝܚܐ be:Андрэй Першазваны bo:སྐྱེས་ཆེན་དམ་པ་ཨན་དྲི་ཡཱ། bg:Андрей Първозвани ca:Andreu apòstol cs:Svatý Ondřej cy:Andreas da:Apostlen Andreas de:Andreas (Apostel) et:Andreas el:Απόστολος Ανδρέας es:Andrés el Apóstol eo:Sankta Andreo eu:Andres (apostolua) fa:اندریاس fr:André (apôtre) ga:Naomh Aindrias gl:André Apóstolo ko:안드레아 hy:Անդրեաս առաքյալ hr:Sveti Andrija bpy:সান্টো আন্ডরে id:Andreas it:Andrea apostolo he:אנדראס הקדוש ka:ანდრია მოციქული sw:Mtume Andrea la:Andreas (apostolus) lv:Svētais Andrejs lt:Apaštalas Andriejus hu:András apostol mk:Апостол Андреј ml:അന്ത്രയോസ് ശ്ലീഹാ nl:Andreas (apostel) ja:アンデレ no:Apostelen Andreas nn:Apostelen Andreas pms:Andrea (apòstol) pl:Andrzej Apostoł pt:Santo André ksh:Andreas (Apostel) ro:Sfântul Andrei ru:Андрей Первозванный sc:Andrìa sco:Saunt Andra sq:Shna Ndreu simple:Saint Andrew sk:Ondrej (apoštol) sl:Sveti Andrej sr:Андрија Првозвани sh:Sveti Andrija fi:Andreas (apostoli) sv:Andreas (apostel) tl:San Andres ta:அந்திரேயா (திருத்தூதர்) th:นักบุญแอนดรูว์ tr:Andreas uk:Андрій Первозванний vec:Andrea Apostoło vi:Thánh Anrê wo:Andare zh:安得烈