St. Andrew, Apostle - Dec. 1

"St Andrew, the elder brother of St. Peter, and, like him, a fisherman of the lake of Galilee, on hearing St. John the Baptist proclaim that Jesus was the Lamb of God, was moved to follow Our Lord, who chose him to be one of the twelve apostles. It is believed that aft the Resurrection St. Andrew labored in spreading the Gospel in Eastern Europe, and made many converts. At the last he was crucified in Patras in the Greek manner.-SM"

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You can read more about St. Andrew here, in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Or here, for young readers (and not so young!)

Advent always starts on the 1st Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Andrew. It can begin as early as Nov. 27th and as late as December 3rd.

It's also worth noting that on ferias (a "feria" is a day) the commemorations (i.e. the Collect, Secret, and Post Communion Prayers of the preceeding Sunday are added to the feast day commemorations.. Ember days (about more later) have a special Mass. In the case of Advent, the Ember days are the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after the 3rd Week in Advent (Gaudete Sunday.)