The Dioceses of Orlando and Pensacola-Tallahassee celebrated the feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle on social media earlier this week with calls for prayer and remembrance.

Both Dioceses posted to their Facebook pages about the first century saint on his feast day, this year on Tuesday, Nov. 30.

"St. Andrew, Apostle and patron saint of fishermen, pray for us!" the Diocese of Orlando said in its Facebook post.

The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee recalled in its Facebook post that St. Andrew was an apostle and martyr, in addition to being the brother of another Saint, St. Peter, the "rock" upon whom the Church was built.

"This former fisherman from Bethsaida became a devout follower of Jesus," the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee said in its Facebook post. "It is said that he helped spread Christianity in Russia and Asia minor after Pentecost. He was crucified by the Romans in Greece, but on an X-shaped cross. This shape is now the distinctive symbol for St. Andrew and Scotland, of which he is the patron. St. Andrew, pray for us!"

There are a number of ways that Roman Catholics mark the Feast of St. Andrew and it doesn't have to end on Nov. 30. Some participate in a special novena, praying the St. Andrew Christmas prayer 15 times per day from his feast day until Christmas on Dec. 25. The prayer is, "Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment at which the Son of God was born of a most pure Virgin at a stable at midnight in Bethlehem in the piercing cold. At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, to hear my prayers and grant my desires. Amen."

St. Andrew was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus, who recruited him and his brother while they were fishing in the Sea of Galilee. Saint Andrew is thought to have been very close to Jesus during his ministry. After Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection and ascension into Heaven, St. Andrew traveled throughout what today is Greece and Turkey preaching the Gospel. He was martyred in about died 60/70 CE at Patras by crucifixion but, unlike Jesus and St. Andrew's brother, he was crucified on an x-shaped cross, now known as the "St. Andrew’s Cross." Tradition says that St. Andrew himself requested the X-shaped cross because he did not believe himself worthy of crucifixion on the same type of cross upon which Jesus was crucified.

In addition to Scotland, St. Andrew is the patron saint of Russia.