St Andrew's head: Paul VI returned to the Greeks - Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio, 27 November 2014)

Pope Francis on Wednesday said he was going as Successor of Peter to the land of his Brother Andrew, a reference to his forthcoming Apostolic journey to Turkey from November 28th to the 30th. The Saint's feast day falls on Novermber, 30th.

With a stretch of imagination, in a related story of sorts, our popular 'Latin Lover' Carmelite Father Reginald Foster tells how Pope Pius II, had part of the cranium of Saint Andrew brought back to Rome in 1461 and placed in Saint Peter's Basilica.

Listen to our Popular 'Latin Lover' Carmelite Father Reginald Foster in a programme produced by Veronica Scarisbrick at the link below.

In this conversation Father Foster tells Veronica Scarisbrick how in 1964 Blessed Pope Paul VI returned the head to the Orthodox Church of Patras in Greece, from where it had been removed, "in fulfilment of a centuries old promise and as a sign of respectful love for the Greek Orthodox Church".

At the time the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council was in full swing and a solemn celebration to mark the occasion took place in Saint Peter's Basilica on September 26th of that year. While across the sea in Patras a procession wound through the streets of the city led by the Metropolitan and the Bishops and clergy of the Orthodox Church together with the Catholic delegation.

St Andrew's head: Paul VI returned to Patras - Vatican Radio