State flag and the cross of St. Andrew
The state flag of Mississippi is not only beautiful but also highly significant in its design.
Andrew and Simon were brother fishermen when Jesus called them to follow him. They immediately dropped their nets and became his first-called disciples.
Andrew went to Greece and even Russia preaching the gospel. However, the Romans sought him out, captured him in the city of Patras and sentenced him to death by crucifixion.
He prevailed on his captors not to crucify him on a cross like Jesus’ since he didn’t warrant such an honor. So they crucified him, spreadeagled, on an cross in the shape of an “X”, called a saltire.
His relics were considered holy, and a monk, Regulus, had a dream telling him to take Andrew’s relics to the end of the earth.” With the relics, Regulus boarded a ship that was eventually wrecked on the coast of Scotland. This place is now St. Andrews, Scotland.
The Scots adopted St. Andrew as their patron saint and created a banner with the saltire on it. This was adopted as the official flag of Scotland … a white cross in the shape of an X” on a blue background. This flag can be seen in almost every Presbyterian Church around the world attesting to the founding of that church by John Knox, a Scott.
And, since many, if not most, white southerners in the 1800s were of Scottish descent, it was natural to use the saltire on their battle banners.
The Army of Northern Virginia created a banner using the saltire. The battle flags of many corps were similar to the flag of the northern aggressors resulting in some armies firing on their own troops.
In an effort to create a battle flag easily seen as different the Army of Northern Virginia adopted a design which today we call the Rebel Flag. This flag was not the official flag of the Confederacy, as it was absent the cross of St. Andrew.
However, Mississippi incorporated the cross of St. Andrew into their flag, as did Alabama and Florida.
So, what the State Flag of Mississippi means to me is an acknowledgment of my Scottish heritage and thereby tracing it all the way back to the first called of Jesus’ disciples, the martyr, St. Andrew.
Thus, I say, “Keep it flying.”
C.T. Carley
Starkville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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