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Scotland's Premier Saint
After the Kingdom of Alba was created, Columba was surpassed as Scotland’s premier saint.
St Andrew was in a different league from Columba: not only did he appear in the Bible, but he was
an apostle of Jesus.
His relics appeared in Scotland under mysterious circumstances, and were placed in a Pictish monastery at Kinrymont (the church of the King’s Muir) probably founded by the Pictish warrior-king, Unust, in the mid eighth century.
In the 11th century, as the Kingdom of Alba expanded
across Scotland, St Andrew’s popularity with
royal patrons increased. St Andrew was a useful
unifying symbol for a kingdom of diverse devotions
to different saints and was free of any taint
of unorthodoxy. Kings like Malcolm Canmore and
his queen, Margaret, actively promoted the town
of St Andrews, as Kilrymont is now known, as a
major centre for pilgrimage and the home of the
Scottish Church.
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