Whatever Happened to James the Less? by Chris White

Very little is known about James the Less within the pages of scripture much less outside of it.  He is believed to be the brother of Levi or Matthew who wrote the first Gospel.  Some ancient sources have suggested that James the Less looked so much like Jesus in appearance that this is why Judas was forced to identify the Lord with a kiss.  After Pentecost it is believed that James was stoned to death in Jerusalem while preaching the Gospel to the Jews.  In the middle of the 6^th century when the Eastern Roman Empire started to become destabilized,  the remains of James the Less were removed from Jerusalem and taken to Rome for safekeeping.  Today, they are kept in the church of Santi Apostolii.

Whatever Happened to Andrew? by Chris White

Andrew was believed crucified on an "X" hence the St. Andrew's Cross

Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist before Jesus, and was the brother of Simon Peter.  In fact, it was Andrew who made the fateful introduction of his brother to the Lord Jesus which resulted later in a call to apostleship.  The last we read of Andrew in the Bible he is among the apostles in Jerusalem.  He is believed to have gone to Asia Minor and further north to southern Russia and then finally central Greece where he was martyred in 69AD.  The tradition the ancient church is that the governor Aigeatis had him killed out of revenge for converting his wife.  St. Regulus is credited with bringing some of Andrew’s relics (and by this I mean skeletal remains) to Scotland and building a church over them.  Ever since, Andrew has been the patron saint of Scotland even though he never visited the country during his earthly life.  Another tradition has the remains of Andrew being interred at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.  When the city was on the verge of falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, they were spirited away to Rome for safekeeping.  They were returned by the pope to the metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Church in 1964 as a goodwill gesture thus showing that even in death, it seems Andrew still has the knack for bringing people together.