30 November - André is born in Bethsaida, Galilee, on the shores of Lake Tiberias. With his brother Simon, he was a fisherman. Seeking God, he had first been a disciple of the preacher John the Baptist, who had certainly baptised him.

LWhen John the Baptist pointed to Jesus Christ and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (Jn 1, 29-40), he followed him and never left him again. He was thus the first disciple called by Jesus Christ. For this reason, ecclesiastical tradition gives him the title of Protocol or "First Called by the Lord". André often served as an intermediary. In particular, he introduced his brother Simon to Jesus; then, during the episode of the multiplication, he brought the young boy carrying the five loaves of bread and the two fishes; when the Greeks wanted to meet Jesus, they again turned to him.

After Pentecost, he set out to preach the Gospel during a long journey around the shores of the Black Sea. According to church tradition, his travels took him to Mesopotamia, Bithynia (Anatolian coast), Ephesus, Maritime Thrace (the region between the Bosphorus and Cape Kaliakra), Scythia Minor (from Tomis to the mouths of the Danube), Crimea, Byzantium and finally Achaia (the region north of the Peloponnese), where he ended up crucified under Emperor Nero in Patras in the year 60.

The Golden Legend reports that his torture was ordered by the proconsul of the region, whose wife St Andrew had converted and who offered him the following alternative: sacrifice to the Roman gods or die on the cross. Having chosen martyrdom, the apostle survived for two days, during which he preached to the crowd, who became indignant and threatened the proconsul with death. The proconsul then ordered him to be taken down from the cross, but he could not be untied and the saint died in a great light.