From Persecution to Integration: The Scottish Catholic Experience as seen from Perth 1685-2007

Volume Two: A New History of the Catholic Community and Parish of Perth

Editor: Harry Schnitker

From Persecution to Integration:

The Scottish Catholic Experience as seen from Perth 1685-2007

Editor Dr. Harry Schnitker, University of Glasgow

Scientifi c Advisor Stephen Clayes

Parish History Group

Brian Foley, chair Ivan Carnegie Tom Monaghan

The Aquhorties Press Edinburgh

Page ii Published by The Aquhorties Press Columba House 16 Drummond Place Edinburgh Scotland

Editor: Dr. Harry Schnitker

Contributors: Very Rev. Jim McManus, C.Ss.R. JM Rev. Fr. Martin Regan MR Ivan Carnegie IC Stephen Clayes SC Brian Foley BF Norma Guilianotti NG Richard Jackson RJ Anne Lauraitus AL Anne Mitchell AM Tom Monaghan TM Dr. Harry Schnitker HS

© 2007 The editor and the contributors ISBN 978-0-9557501-1-6

Typeset and organisation of layout: Andrew Mitchell

Printed and bound by Danscot, Perth Page iii Contents

Introduction 1

Part One: The History of Community and Parish 2

1685 to 1831: ‘A Time of Essentials’ 3-6 1832 to 1981: From Mission to Parish 7-10 1982: The Visit of Pope John Paul II to Scotland 11-12 1982 to 2007: The Modern Parish 13-14

Part Two: Clergy and Community 15

The Clergy of the Mission and the Parish 16-17 Eight Representative Priests 18 Fr. John Ambrose Cook, O.S.B. 19 Abbé Paul McPherson 20 Fr. William Wallace 21 Fr. John Geddes 22 Fr. James Mackay 23 Bishop George Rigg 24 Fr. John McPherson 25 Fr. John Stewart McCorry 26 Priests of the Mission and the Parish 27-29 Immigration and the Catholic Communities 30-31 The Italian Connection 32-33 Polish Connections: The Story of Irene and Felix Jackson 34-35 Church Societies and Organisations 36-37 Scottish Catholic Education 38-39

Part Three: Devotional Life 40

Continuity and Adaptation of Worship, 1685-2007 41-44 The Sacred Heart of Jesus 45-46 Devotion to Mary 47-48 Pilgrimages 49-50

Part Four: Artistic Achievement 51

The Building of the Church of St. John the Baptist 52-53 St. Mary’s Monastery, Kinnoull 54 Artistic Endeavours 55-56

Page 1 Introduction

he last history of the community who risked their lives to re-establish and parish of St. John the Baptist the Catholic Church in the wake of the Tis celebrating its centenary this fi asco of the Reformation were given year. Fr. Michael Lavelle’s, Historical their due. The fourth Earl of Perth, Sketch of the Perth Mission: 1831- Fr. John Ambrose Cook, O.S.B., and 1907, was published in Perth. He was the priests and community of the the missionary in St. John’s at the late seventeenth- and eighteenth time, and, on the occasion of the 75th centuries deserve some recognition. anniversary of the foundation of the This, then, is a history that pushes church, he did what this book also sets the boundaries of time: backwards out to do: namely, to record the past of into the seventeenth century, and the community. However, Fr. Lavelle forwards to our own day, to 2007. It also decided that, with the exception of pushes the boundaries of geography. a few notes on the community at This community has not only grown Stobhall, he was not going to look numerically since the days of Fr. much beyond the date that Bishop Cook’s fi rst conversions, but it has Paterson ordered Fr. Geddes to go also fl uctuated much in its borders. to Perth. Such decisions matter. They At times, the mission encompassed matter because they determine the the whole of Perthshire, and even way in which we examine the past, extended beyond. At other times, it and they determine that way in which was confi ned to the boundaries of the we perceive our own story. city of Perth, and, since the 1960s, There was much that was has seen a new parish arise within that tendentious in Fr. Lavelle’s work, a city. In addition, the city of Perth has good deal of hearsay was reported as another Catholic institution, besides ‘The Truth’. This was, in many ways, its two parishes: the Redemptorist inevitable. He was writing in a time monastery in Kinnoull. It is not quite when Catholicism in Perth was hardly as old as the parish of St. John the embraced by the wider community. Baptist, but has, nevertheless, made One can forgive some combatative a major contribution to Catholic life in and innovative history writing on the the city. It will not do to be restrictive part of Fr. Lavelle. However, it is clear in this type of book: restrictiveness that there is some considerable need blinds us to many aspects of the for an update and revision of his book. past. Since its publication, another one The aim of the contributors to this hundred years have past, a hundred book has been to show the rich years in which the community that past of the community, to highlight he served has changed a good deal. its main artistic achievements, but, Indeed, the Church that he served has above all, to explore some of the changed almost as much. In addition, aspects that combine to create that it is high time that the men and women community. Thus, the organisations Page 2 within the parish are highlighted, an hallmark of the Catholic ‘experience’. exploration is offered on the role of In short, an attempt has been made migrants, and particular attention is to present the past as a dynamic and paid to the experience of some of layered reality, as opposed to a static these migrants or migrant groups. concept. This, in turn, should assist Change and continuity in the life of an understanding of what has shaped the Church, both sacramental and the community of St. John’s of 2007. institutional is looked at, as well as some of those ‘typical’ devotional practices that have always been a HS

Part One: The History of Community and Parish

1685 to 1831: the rich trappings of St. John’s were all removed, and the religious ‘A Time of Essentials’ houses torn down. Almost all the artistic accomplishments of the past centuries were simply wiped out. When, in May 1559, John Knox There was some initial reluctance came to Perth to preach in the church amongst some to embrace the new of St. John the Baptist, the Catholic doctrines. There are one or two reports Church in Scotland entered the from Perth that Mass was still being greatest crisis in its entire history. said, although we know tantalisingly This is not the place to examine the little about this. In the wider region, circumstances of its collapse, nor is incidences of pilgrimage or the it the place to enter the discussion on veneration of saints continued, in what exactly caused that collapse. some places well into the eighteenth Suffi ce to say that it took very little century. At Dunkeld, for example, effort to overthrow the whole edifi ce Christians of all denominations still of the Catholic Church in Scotland. went to a local holy well as late as Probably most of its priests and the 1650s. However, there was no many of its religious just adapted organised resistance, and, perhaps to the changing times, and became most importantly, there remained ministers or readers in the new very few priests who could continue Church of Scotland. This was also true the Faith. Only around Murthly Castle in Perth. With the exception of some was there any attempt to re-organise, of the Carthusians, Franciscans, and with the arrival of Jesuit fathers Dominicans, there was no resistance related to the Abercrombie family. to the message preached to such A few of the priests of the cathedral effect by Knox that May. The crowd chapter at Dunblane, and the took it upon themselves to destroy all incumbent in Muthil continued to say the symbols of the Catholic Church: Mass into the 1570s, and the Bishop Page 3 of Dunkeld stayed loyal to Rome, and assisted in the persecution of without, however, initiating any overt the Covenanters during the reign of resistance to the new settlement. Charles II. In his service, and in that By the 1610s, there is no further of the future James VII, James and report on any Catholic activity; nor is his brother, John, Earl of Melfort, this very surprising, as the number made rapid careers. When James of priests still active in Scotland succeeded to the Scottish crown in numbered fewer than ten. The 1685, the two Drummond brothers situation of Catholics in the country were effectively running the country. during the reign of Charles I and under That same year, they both converted the Cromwellian Commonwealth has to Catholicism. been called ‘pitiable’, but it would A lot of ink has been spilled on the seem that in Perthshire there was depth of their conversion. Many have really no Catholic to be pitied. The seen it as an attempt to ingratiate decision by the Holy See to restore themselves with the Catholic James independence to the remnant of VII. However, it has to be said that they Scotland’s Catholic Church in 1653, remained loyal to the Pope after their after it had resided under English conversion, and that their children archpriests since 1603, would not all grew up to be devout Catholics. have made much of an impact in the Indeed, one of Melfort’s sons became region. When Fr. William Leslie, S.J. a priest. On the Drummond estates, wrote his report to Propaganda fi dei the conversion caused the rebirth of a in 1677, there were, according to him, small Catholic community, the direct no Catholics in Perthshire at all. predecessors of the Catholic parishes It is against the background of in Perth and Crieff. Once more, the this total collapse of the Church in question of the genuineness of the Perthshire that the conversion of the conversions may be questioned, fourth Earl, later fi rst Duke, of Perth but, the priests in the household of needs to be seen. The Drummond the fourth Earl were successful at family, of which James Drummond, attracting some of the leading families Earl of Perth, was the head, was one on the estates to the Church. The of the most important in the county, man who was mainly responsible for indeed, in Scotland. They owned these conversions was John Ambrose vast tracts of land in Strathearn and Cook, a Benedictine from the Scottish to the north of Perth, and had long, Abbey of Würzburg. A letter from 1690 and intimate, associations with the tells of his successes around the two Stewart royal family. James was main seats of the Earl, Drummond born in 1648, to a Protestant father. Castle and Stobhall Castle. The His mother, Lady Anna Gordon, was earliest of these conversions may be a daughter of the staunchly Catholic dated to 1688, when the Earl reported George, second Marquis of Huntly. converts to Rome. An intelligent man, James studied at The revolution of 1689-90 cut St. Andrews University, and lived for short this favourable climate for the some time in Paris to acquire ‘culture’. Church. William of Orange’s regime He had strong Episcopalian leanings, cracked down on the Church, and

Page 4 the Earl of Perth was imprisoned from the Battle of Sheriffmuir, but and subsequently exiled to Paris. spared the homes of Catholics. In the In both Cargill (Stobhall) and Muthil wake of the collapse of the uprising, (Drummond) parishes, in the the second Duke escaped to Paris. meantime, the local minister refused to There, his father died in 1716, soon recognise the new regime. Supported followed by the second Duke, in by the Drummond family and their 1720. Both were buried in the Scots Catholic factors, they held out until College, the Catholic seminary for 1698, when both parishes became Scottish priests, in Paris. vacant. It was not until 1708 that That the Church did not collapse Presbyterian ministers fi nally gained for a second time is largely due to access to the parishes. Perhaps the infl uence of Lady Jane Gordon, signifi cantly, the minister at Cargill widow of the second Duke. Another was reported by Bishop Gordon to be member of the Huntly Gordons, inclined towards Catholicism. By this she was steadfast in her faith. In time, a Catholic priest had been active many ways she was typical of the on the estate since 1698, named strong female aristocrats who kept Alexander Drummond, and a convert the fl ame of the Faith alive between of Fr. Cook. Consolidation came 1560 and the 1790s. On behalf of in 1700, when Drummond Castle her young children, she administered became an offi cial mission station. the Drummond estates – which were Six years later, 27 adult Catholics are briefl y confi scated but regained mentioned at Stobhall, with another when she appealed to parliament. 24 around Drummond. She also protected the Church, and All this had happened under the stimulated its mission. Her sons protection of the second Duke, who had she had smuggled to Paris, to be returned from exile in 1695. By 1710, educated in the Scots College, as the some 40 adult Catholics are reported government had proclaimed that all from the Stobhall part of the estate children of Catholics should be taken alone, and it is clear that the Church from their parents and be educated was successful at attracting converts. as Protestants. Upon the coming of This is all the more remarkable as age of the third Duke, she assisted this occurred against the backdrop him in his work on the estate. When, of the last severe extended famine in in 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie landed the region, which actually saw a drop in Scotland to start the fi nal Jacobite in population due to starvation, as uprising, he received whole hearted well as some of the worst persecution support from the Drummonds, mother suffered by the Catholic Church since and sons. The third Duke fought 1560. Indeed, the rest of the Scottish valiantly in several of the battles, and Mission suffered a sharp decline commanded the left wing at Culloden. during the same period. The Jacobite He died on board of a ship trying to uprising of 1715 could easily have escape to France in the aftermath of undone all of this. The Jacobite army, the battle. His brother, John, the fourth including the second Duke, burned Duke, refused to surrender, and had much of Strathearn as it retreated all his estates confi scated.

Page 5 This left Lady Jane Gordon once the estate to rent a barn on behalf of more as the sole protector of the the Church, which was barred from Church. She had received Stobhall owning or renting property by the as her dower, and this was, therefore, Penal Act of 1700. not subject to confi scation. As a There is no need to discuss the result, the mission could continue, but minutiae of the foundation of the not until she had served nine months Park chapel. Initially, Mass was in prison for entertaining Bonnie said in an old barn, and even this Prince Charlie at Drummond Castle was threatened in 1778, when, in 1745. Only one man, Alexander in response to a proposal to end Cumming senior, is marked as a discrimination against Catholics, ‘Papist’ amongst those who joined a mob had marched from Perth to the Duke in the uprising, although burn the barn. They were turned the list is far from complete. We know back by the local gentry. Agricultural that some 200 tenants from around improvements, which were beginning Drummond accompanied the Duke, to cause migration in the Highlands, many of whom came from Catholic hit the Park mission around this time. parts of the estate. There is a tradition A report from Bishop Hay in 1780, that more than a few of these families shows that there were now only 118 fl ed to France and called at the Scots adult Catholics in the mission, down College in Paris in the wake of the from 300 seventeen years before. It defeat at Culloden. was Abbé Paul McPherson, who was The Church in Perthshire did not later to become the second founder suffer much, though, particularly of the Scots College in Rome, who when compared to other parts of placed the mission on a more secure Scotland, for which Lady Jane footing. The lease was secured, and Gordon was mostly responsible. Her the barn converted into a proper small excellent rapport with Lord Kames chapel, with a priest house next to it. at the forfeited estates commission This could not prevent the continued ensured that the Church was left decline in numbers: the Abbé served alone. Growth still occurred and a eastern Perthshire, Angus including note to Propaganda fi dei from 1763 Dundee, and northern Fife. For this shows around 300 adult Catholics in whole region he reported only 160 the mission of Stobhall, with another adult Catholics. 168 in Drummond. That same year, The position of the Church was Stobhall and Drummond both received about to undergo serious change, new missionaries, effectively splitting however. The fi rst came in the the mission in two. Lady Jane Gordon form of increasing toleration. The would continue to support the Church alliance between the Papacy and until her death in 1773. Within four the United Kingdom during the wars years, the Church was told to vacate with Revolutionary France made the the small chapel from which it had Faith more acceptable to many, whilst operated in Stobhall Castle. Once gradually the Church of Scotland more Lord Kames came to the rescue, came to share the antagonism of and he allowed a Catholic farmer on the Catholic Church towards the

Page 6 revolution. A Catholic emancipation a Catholic chapel. In 1824, Fr. Rattray bill was passed for Scotland in 1793 moved to Dundee, to be closer to which removed the most serious where the majority of Catholics in the restrictions. In addition, destitute region now lived. He still occasionally Catholic Highlanders were beginning said Mass at the chapel at Park, but to arrive, and would soon be followed even this came to an end when he by even more destitute Irish Catholics. died, in 1827. The Old Statistical Account of 1799 By now, the Catholic population in shows that this infl ux would have Perth numbered around 500, mostly to wait until the new century. In the Irish with quite a few Highlanders, Park mission it shows only 34 adult and Mass was occasionally said in the Catholics in Perthshire, almost exactly hall of the Free Masons. Two years the same number as those left by later, in 1829, the Catholic Relief Act the work of Fr. John Ambrose Cook, was passed, which ended almost all O.S.B. a century earlier! In Dundee, restrictions on the Catholic Church. there were a further 30 Catholics. The presbytery in Perth had been By the 1820s, the tidal wave had less than happy with this: in 1828 it overwhelmed what was left of the had collected a massive petition to original Catholic community. In the government in a forlorn attempt Dundee by this time, there were over to retain the status quo. Fr. John 400 Catholics. In Perth the fi gure is Geddes received a letter from Bishop less clear, and complicated by the Paterson that year, ordering him to occasional Irish regiment stationed the new mission in Perth. Fr. Geddes, in the city. However, the community always in poor health, tried to delay there numbered at least 250 around his arrival, but dutifully went anyway. the same time. The chapel at Park He started the construction of the was no longer the obvious centre of church of St. John the Baptist, but the mission. In 1816, the priest, John would not live to see its inauguration: Forbes, complained that the walls of he died in 1831, aged only 24. the house were sagging, and that the fl oor in the chapel had been eaten by insects. This ramshackle heart of HS the community received an organ in 1820, with Fr. William Rattray fi nally agreeing to have music in his chapel; the fear of detection by the Protestant neighbours lingered for a long time. Fr. Rattray knew that he could not stay at Park. In 1821, a piece of ground was bought in Perth with an eye to constructing a chapel there, although nothing came of this for a considerable time. Since 1803, when Fr. Pepper, O.S.B. left, Dundee had been without a resident priest, although it did have

Page 7 1832 to 1981: in Perth, mainly from Ireland. They were attracted by the employment From Mission to Parish opportunities provided by the expanding railroad, and driven from The Catholic presence in Perth their homes by the horrors of famine. had been rather ephemeral prior to The latter years of the 1840s saw the the construction of a chapel. The number of Catholics treble in size. construction of a highly visible, solid Initially, only a small portion of these stone church in Melville Street in late people attended Mass, but from the 1832 provided a focus for the religious early 1850s this started to change. and social life of Catholics in the As the congregation grew, the need town. Although the evidence for the for an extension to the church arose, initial cultural make-up of the mission and this duly occurred in 1855-6, from is rather contradictory, the church which period stems the oldest picture soon found itself at the centre of a of St. John’s. The growing community large, Irish community, mostly very had its own voluntary school at High poor. Their arrival initiated a period Street-Meal Vennel, in the vicinity of religious, social, and economic of which the vast majority of Perth’s isolation, in part of their own choice, in Catholics lived. The school offered part imposed by the host community. day and evening classes. The Vennel Gathered around the church were itself was known for years in Perth as people scared of losing their religious the ‘Irish Channel’. and their cultural identity, in what they The isolation of Catholics in Perth regarded to be a hostile Presbyterian was to affect their political direction: environment. it prevented them from becoming part Like the Catholics from the Highlands of the Trade Union movement for a and the north-east of Scotland before considerable time. Indeed, it was them, they had been drawn to Perth not until the 1890s that Catholics by the employment opportunities started to join the unions in any offered by the agricultural and numbers. This was further infl uenced industrial innovations of the early by the ideological opposition towards nineteenth century. Gradually, these organised labour by the Scottish people, a mixture of victims of the bishops, which expressed itself in a Clearances, people forced off the land campaign to discourage Catholics by agricultural change, Europeans, from getting involved in the unions. and Irish settlers of all hues, would Another source of political and merge into one homogenous Catholic economic disenfranchisement came community. Even more gradually, they from the open hostility towards the would begin to form a constituent of community from their Protestant the wider community in Perth. Much neighbours. Sectarianism resulted in water would pass under the bridge Catholics being discriminated against, over the Tay before that happened, and it would take decades before they though. were to gain access to skilled jobs. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, When the community did become more and more migrants arrived politically active in the late nineteenth

Page 8 century, the outlet was found in Irish The character of the Catholic nationalism. St. John’s had its own Church in Scotland was to be heavily branch of the United Irish League infl uenced by the Irish infl ux. In the in the 1880s. The close association central urban and industrial areas, between Irish national and Scottish Irish Catholicism, with its less rigid Catholic identity was born around approach to the Faith, and its more this time, at least as far as self- fl orid cultural expressions thereof, identifi cation goes; for the Protestant replaced the austere, almost community, this had been the case Protestant face of the eighteenth- since the start of mass immigration. century Church. At the same time, In Scotland, the community tended there was a defi nite Presbyterian to vote Liberal, but this could change infl uence on the new Catholic depending on the candidate’s stance congregations: priests did their on Irish Home Rule. utmost to make their congregations Although not overly political for a long conform to middle class values, and time, Catholics were concerned with struggled to get them to understand self-help and personal improvement. such concepts as ‘Sunday Best’. Societies began to appear, which, in Sociologically, the most important the main, mirrored institutions in the aspect of the huge Irish immigration Protestant churches. For example, to Scotland was that it transformed St. John’s had a Temperance Society. the Catholic Church in the country Also present was the League of the from a small minority into a major Cross, a branch of the Irish National denomination. The apogee of this Foresters, which was a friendly rapid expansion, and in spite of society, insuring people against Presbyterian opposition, was the illness and death. For the poor there restoration of the Scottish hierarchy in was the Society of Saint Vincent de 1878, 28 years later than in England Paul, whilst a Catholic Young Men’s and Wales. This gave the country a Society provided a wide range of recognisable Catholic infrastructure. activities from its hall in the High Street One of the restored dioceses was near the school, as an alternative to Dunkeld, with George Rigg as its fi rst public houses and gambling. Their new Bishop; he set up his new seat billiard room was reputedly one of in Perth. Growth continued for some the best in Perth, and they had their time, and, in 1892-3, this resulted in a own swimming club, a sign that the renewed extension of the church. Victorian concerns over health also From around that time, the affected the Catholic community. integration of the Catholic community The fi rst stirrings of integration may began to gather pace. This process also be seen: the CYMS entered the was marked by a decline in Irish Perth Billiard League and the Domino sentiments, and a slow move away League. Football teams associated from a denominational organisation of with the mission, like Perth Celtic social activities. However, one would and Erin Rovers, represented Perth’s do well not to regard this as a rapid Catholics in the local league from the process: the period from 1907, when 1880s. the 75th anniversary of the foundation

Page 9 of St. John’s was celebrated, right John’s had fought for their country up to the 1980’s saw a very gradual in other confl icts. James Fisher, who move away from isolation and died in 1923, for example, had joined rejection towards integration and the 79th Cameron Highlanders in acceptance. Crucial amongst this 1857, and was a veteran of the Indian was the integration of the school Mutiny. John Kerrigan had served in system. Since the early 1900s the the Boer War with the Scottish Horse hierarchy had been in discussion Yeomanry, and held the Queen’s with the government with regard to Medal with four clasps. He was killed the incorporation of Catholic schools whilst serving in the Black Watch in the mainstream state education in 1918. He was not the only one. system. This would relieve them of a As in the rest of Scotland, Perth’s huge fi nancial burden, but they would Catholics enlisted and died in rather only countenance such a move if their large numbers. When the confl ict infl uence on education in Catholic ended, the community had lost 65 schools was to be safeguarded. of its men, a very large portion. A Catholic voluntary schools, which window and plaque were created to provided post-primary education, honour their memory in 1925. The had been discriminated against sacrifi ce made by the much-maligned in the 1872 school reforms, which religious group allowed them some introduced local government fi nance access to the membership of a wider, in place of fees. Scottish or British, national identity. It Even though Catholics who sent is at this point that one can perceive their children to St. John’s School a fi rst shift from ‘Irish Immigrant’ were rate payers, their school to ‘Scottish Catholic’, both in self- had been excluded from receiving perception and in the opinion of the government grants. This anomaly wider community. was removed by the 1918 Education The war had also enabled Catholics Act. Interestingly, this move towards to move up the social scale by integration had acknowledged the offering them skilled employment, continuous infl uence of the bishops whilst a sense of class solidarity over the Catholic schools, and had created by the confl ict opened the thereby safeguarded a specifi c doors to political participation. State- Catholic identity. Integration, but not funding for Catholic schools attracted assimilation, was to be the underlying better teachers, and would, in the theme of the next few decades. long-term, begin to create a better Appropriately in this slow-moving educated segment in the community. process, the full integration of the This led in turn to the slow emergence Catholic schools in the new system of a Catholic middle class, although would not occur until 1928! the vast majority of Perth’s Catholics The impact of the First World War were still fi rmly working class. The on the growing level of acceptance economic crisis of the 1930s was to of the Catholic minority by the wider halt this process in its tracks. Irish community cannot be overestimated. immigration slowed down to a trickle, Of course, parishioners from St. whilst Scots of all denominations,

Page 10 including Catholics, emigrated in loss of life. For some members of the droves to escape grinding poverty at community, this was a rather fraught home. The Catholic community was time: Catholics of Italian birth were particularly hard hit by the crisis, which interred as enemy aliens. On the other destroyed innumerable manual jobs. hand, the Catholic population not only In turn, they became the scapegoats benefi ted from an increase in standing for what was happening: these ‘alien’ as the result of their contribution to and ‘racially inferior’ people were the war effort, but also increased in blamed for the economic ills affecting size. The arrival of co-religious from the country, an offensive which was a variety of countries, but especially led by the Church of Scotland. This from Poland, caused Perth’s Catholic turned back the clock, and re-equated community to swell. Poles serving in Catholic and Irish all over again. the Free Polish Army were stationed By this time, the Catholic community all over Scotland, but were particularly had associated itself closely with the well represented in and around Perth. socialist movement. As seen, this They attended Polish Mass in St. began in the 1890s, but the Liberals John’s, and, in gratitude, donated the could still count on the Catholic vote brass Sanctuary Lamp to the church as long as they supported Home on their national feast day, in May Rule in Ireland. In 1910, they won the 1941. elections in Perth due to the Catholic In the aftermath of the Second vote. Independence in Ireland and World War, the Scottish Catholic the collapse of the Liberal party community saw its numbers swell to put an end to this. And so, after an an all-time high. The economic boom 11 o’clock Mass in 1921, members of the 1950s and ‘60s allowed new of the Independent Labour Party churches to be built, and increased marched up to Perth prison and held wealth saw the once geographically a demonstration in support of the close-knit Catholic community large number of Sinn Fein members disperse. The Polish presence, which being held there without trial. It was the government had encouraged, not only in the eyes of other Scots and which communist hostility in their that Irishness and Catholicism were country necessitated, meant that the one-and-the-same-thing. The 1920s identifi cation between Irishness and saw the Catholic vote in Scotland Catholicism in the eyes of many Scots turning solidly in favour of the Labour became less tenable. Polish clubs and Party. Many lapsed Catholics joined associations were formed, and Polish the Communist Party, which added to priests served their needs. Yet the Irish the general distrust of the community, dimension was also strengthened: the and which allowed Protestants to fi nal large immigration from Ireland equate ‘popery’ with atheism. took place during the war, and in its The Second World War saw aftermath, when labour was needed Catholics from the mission in Perth for the vast hydro-electric schemes. once again joining the national cause, In some cases, these labourers this time against the evil of Nazism. actually constructed new churches, This resulted in further, if less severe, as, for example, in Pitlochry, where

Page 11 the church is dedicated to the very of 1954, celebrating the centenary of Irish St. Bride. the proclamation of the dogma of the Reconstruction and urban planning Immaculate Conception, was widely resulted in the building of housing celebrated, and the parish participated schemes on green fi eld sites, to in the national pilgrimage to Lourdes which were moved large numbers of in 1956. The social changes of the people. New homes and better living late ‘60s were mirrored by the impact conditions lured them away from their of the Second Vatican Council, which formerly close-knit communities. New saw the church of St. John’s closed parishes were created to coincide to redesign the interior to comply with this process, thus further with the Council’s directives on the loosening existing bonds. In Perth, celebration of the Mass. Much of Letham and Craigie were the main the old interior was destroyed in the destinations. In the new Letham process. Housing Scheme, the church of Our At the same time, the integration Lady of Lourdes was built, soon process gathered pace. In 1969, to be joined by a primary school. Archbishop Grey became the fi rst In Craigie, St. Mary Magdalene’s resident Cardinal in Scotland since was opened. Accompanying this the sixteenth century, refl ecting the geographical upheaval was a social increased standing of the Scottish change of similar magnitude. The province in the wider Catholic break-down of the geographical Church. Four years earlier, Canon ‘ghetto’ of the vennels was mirrored John Coogan, the parish priest of in a break-down of the social ghetto St. John’s, had been honoured with in which the majority of the Catholic a civic reception, a far cry from the community had found itself. True, 1930s. The gale that hit the Church for wealthy Catholic landowners and in the 1970s did not pass Scotland well-educated priests, these ghettos or Perth by, and caused some had always been relative: now, with loss of direction. This was soon to Catholics entering universities and be remedied, however: in 1982, the professions, they were joined by Scotland would witness the fi rst visit their co-religionists. This was backed- by a reigning Pope, and the Catholic up by better secondary education, community from Perth would turn out and, in Perth, St. Columba’s was built en masse to greet him. In the wake of in 1967 to provide an alternative to this visit, new purpose and direction the overcrowded St. John’s School. was found. All this fl ux saw the demise of older social institutions within the SC community, and the creation of new ones. The Union of Catholic Mothers was formed in 1947, but the parish lost the Knights of St. Columba around the same time. Yet this was also still the period before the storms of the late 1960s and ‘70s. The Marian Year

Page 12 admiration or because they became The Visit of Pope John nervous. All Popes bring their own Paul II to Scotland, particular blessings to their role of successor of St. Peter, but most would 1982 agree that John Paul II was one of the most formidable Popes in history. He was on a par with the true giants: with “A day made memorable by Innocent III, Gregory the Great, or the Lord” is the caption which the Leo III. Like Gregory, many, including Bishops of Scotland chose to recall the author of this article, would argue the incredible scenes that occurred in that he warrants the appellation of Scotland during May and June 1982. ‘Great’. The line is taken from a remark made One of the ways in which one can by the Holy Father during his visit: measure this greatness is in the fact that his visit to Scotland lasted for only “this is a day made memorable by the two days, but made an impact that can Lord – what immense joy for us!” (Ps still be felt to this day. During those 118:24) days, the Holy Father met a very large section of the Catholic population of And memorable it was. Never had a Scotland. At Bellahouston, no fewer reigning Pontiff set foot in Scotland. than 300,000 of the faithful gave The nearest the country had come to meaning to the notion of a Catholic a papal visit was during the fi fteenth community in Scotland. Amongst century, when the later Pope Pius them were many from the city of II had been shipwrecked off the Perth. Another 45,000 had welcomed coast of Berwickshire. He walked the Pope in Edinburgh, where they on pilgrimage to Saint Andrews, fi lled Murrayfi eld Stadium. Of course, or possibly only to Whitekirk, and the Pope knew exactly where to go to kept an unpleasant memento of his make the maximum impact. In those trip: the Holy Father suffered from brief hours that he spent in Scotland, chilblains for the rest of his life. Even he made two major statements just more remarkable, some of the locals by being present. One was when doubted that he was a Christian! he visited St. Joseph’s Hospital for John Paul II’s memories will have the severely handicapped. Naturally, been rather more enjoyable. There he gave a speech, but his presence was a moment during his Mass at was all that was needed. He was the Bellahouston Park in Glasgow when great advocate of the Sacredness of he could not make himself heard Life, of respect for all human life, and above the joyful cheers of the vast his own suffering in later years gave crowd. The late Holy Father has been further witness to this advocacy. The likened to a pop star in the impact visit provided eloquent witness to his that he made when he appeared: he teaching and commitment. was, indeed, blessed with incredible The second visit was of greater charisma. His presence was enough historic importance. Whereas the for those present to fall silent, either in Church has always emphasised

Page 13 the value of human life, she has not with this exhibition. For many the always been close to those Christians suffering that was endured by those who have broken communion with her. who went before us is at best a In Scotland, this broken communion vague notion. Yet the suffering was had caused suffering for those who real, and there can be no doubt that had stayed loyal to the Holy Church. the Holy Father was correct when he The late Holy Father knew all too well said that they valued their and our that division was and is a cause of Catholic faith above everything else. scandal, and worked throughout his It is incumbent upon us to follow their long pontifi cate to repair some of the example, Yet there can also be no damage. During his visit to Scotland doubt that the challenges that we face he met leaders of the various are just as diffi cult as those faced by denominations, and visited the the Catholics in Perthshire and in the courtyard of the Church of Scotland rest of Scotland during the centuries Assembly Hall. He stated that, of persecution and discrimination. Twenty-fi ve years ago, John Paul II “In particular I have been pleased to put it as follows, learn of the fruitful dialogue in which the Catholic Church in this country “We fi nd it harder to follow Christ today has been engaged with the Church than appears to have been the case of Scotland, the Episcopal Church in before. Witnessing to him in modern Scotland and other Churches, and also life means a daily contest … As of its collaboration with the Scottish believers we are constantly exposed Churches’ Council in many aspects of to pressures by modern society, its work….we are only pilgrims on this which would compel us to conform earth, making our way towards that to the standards of this secular age heavenly Kingdom promised to us … at the risk of compromising our as God’s children. Beloved brethren Christian conscience”. in Christ, for the future, can we not make that pilgrimage together...” These feel like prophetic words today. The Bishops’ Conference has listed In the context of this exhibition, few four key points as being particularly remarks can be more poignant. under attack: Sacredness of Life, At Bellahouston, John Paul II the Family, Catholic Education, and reminded his audience that they Freedom of Conscience. They added that “we cannot live in a ghetto”. “are the heirs to a sacred heritage. Quite. Nor should we be daunted. We Your forefathers have handed on to may feel as if we are under pressure, you the only inheritance they really but no-one these days will be put in prized, our holy Catholic faith! From prison because they educate their heaven their heartfelt appeal to you children as Catholics, no-one will be would be this: ‘Set your hearts on his imprisoned for attending Mass. This Kingdom’” (Luke 12,31). exhibition has provided evidence of the strength and resilience of our This exhortation, too, fi ts in perfectly faith over the centuries: too often has

Page 14 it been written of. Cardinal Newman precisely to prepare and fortify you once stated that crisis is the normal for the challenge of life. Not one of state of the Church. In that, he only you is without him! No one must ever echoed the words of Our Lord, who feel alone! The Spirit of the Lord has warned that his followers should been given to you!”. expect the disdain of the world around them. One can do no better than quote the HS, based in part on the SCMO words of John Paul the Great, spoken publication Pastoral Refl ections on during that historic visit twenty-fi ve the 25th Anniversary of the Papal Visit years ago: to Scotland.

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow... nothing is impossible to God. This is the one same Holy Spirit who came to you at Baptism and …at Confi rmation,

1982-2007: met in each other’s houses. There, by prayer, refl ection, and discussion, the The Modern Parish members of each group sought to fi nd enlightenment and new insights into

Following the visit of Pope John Paul their faith. The Renew Programme is II in 1982, there was a lot done to build well documented and has been used on the enthusiasm brought about by worldwide by the Church to develop the Papal event. In the Diocese, the and propagate the faith and spiritual RENEW programme was launched life of Catholics. on 25th September 1987, in the Caird Currently, the parish is engaged Hall, Dundee. This was a programme in Proclaiming Our Faith. This of prayer, refl ection, and action, which programme was introduced to the sought to energise the diocese. Each Diocese after a comprehensive parish had a team of volunteers to consultation exercise carried out lead the community in the renewal by Bishop Logan, who asked all of commitment to God’s Call and to parishes to highlight priorities for each encourage our response to the Lord’s parish. Five initiatives were originally Call. St. John’s, of course, was no identifi ed: Youth Work, Pastoral Care, exception, and vigorously adopted the Adult Formation, Clergy Formation, activities, though the death of parish and the development of a Pastoral priest, Fr. Edward Durkin, at the start Centre. In St. John the Baptist’s, of the programme saddened the the Pastoral Council leads the way parish greatly. There were activities in refi ning and implementing these for all groups and ages. The schools initiatives. Funding has been provided participated fully, and small groups by voluntary contributions and some Page 15 of the exciting prospects include the well as the county in a broad range Duc in Altum Travel Scholarships, of sports. Ian McCann, who coached which offer young people the a highly successful St. John’s Boys opportunity to work overseas for the Team playing in the Perth Leagues Church, and the World Youth Day in the 1970s and 1980s, has Events, held annually, and attended provided details of other individuals by representatives of each parish. who excelled in their chosen sport: In 2008, two young pilgrims from St. Gavin Rumgay, currently No.1 in John’s will go to Sydney, Australia, to Table Tennis and in the Olympic take part in the next event. For adults squad for 2008; brothers Charlie in the parish, the Evangelisation and Anthony Gallagher, Badminton Group has organised evenings internationalists in the 1980s; the under the banner of CaFE, where Gavigan sisters, Edith and Betty, people meet in the hall and have the represented Scotland at Swimming, opportunity to explore aspects of their Netball and Hockey in the 1950s and faith and share them with others. Betty’s family did likewise in Curling. The community of St John’s is not, There are many others, too many, in and has never been, an inward looking fact, to mention in this short article. one; rather it has sought to be open Another fi eld in which the parish to others, and to welcome them to the has made a notable contribution to Church. There are many examples of public life is through the church choir. parishioners taking part in public life This is notable not only for the Music with the roll call including John Flynn Liturgy each Sunday and on special and Archie McLellan, who serve on occasions, but also for its success in Perth and Kinross Council. They consecutive competitions within the are the latest parishioners from St. annual Perth Musical Festival. The John’s to fulfi l that function. Michael choir has often been commended by O’Malley, another parishioner, was the judges for its achievements given it is fi rst Labour Provost of Perth. Besides relatively small in number. politics, the community of St. John’s A recent phenomenon has been makes signifi cant contributions to life the infl ux of other nationalities into in the city of Perth. Its volunteers work the parish. There have always been for Churches Action for the Homeless communities of Irish, Italian, and (CATH). This is an interdenominational Polish nationals in the parish, but organisation. One of St. John’s recently the numbers have increased parishioners in particular, Mary dramatically, both from the European Carroll, is synonymous with CATH. Union and beyond. All fi nd the She was a founder member and still worldwide unity within the Church contributes through the Management conducive to integration within wider Committee. Her contribution resulted society, both in Perth and in Scotland. in the award of the M.B.E. The parish has been able to provide In the fi eld of sport there are many accommodation for immigrants by examples of Catholics contributing to releasing several under-used Church the public life. Several parishioners buildings for that purpose. There is have represented their country as also provision for Mass in Italian and

Page 16 Polish at regular intervals. St. John’s here that he gives particularly strong has become a truly international expression to the true meaning of community, and the new migrants Christian charity. Under his spiritual have ensured that it is actually guidance the community of St. John growing in numbers. the Baptist looks forward to the future As a community, the parish of St. with considerable hope and trust. John the Baptist has been fortunate in its priests, and this continues to be the BF case. Mgr. Charles, Provost Hendry, has served the parish for many years. His ministry is manifold, but his work within the hospitals stands out: it is

Part Two: Clergy and Community The incumbent missionaries and The Clergy of the priests also refl ect the history of the Mission and Parish Catholic clergy in post-Reformation Scotland. This is especially the case when one refl ects upon the role In many respects, the history played by the regular clergy in the re- of the Catholic community in establishment of the community. For Perthshire forms a microcosm of much of the period between 1560 and that wider Catholic population in the mid-eighteenth century, regular Scotland. It shared its fate during the clergy made up the majority of the Reformation, for there were precious personnel of the Church in Scotland. few areas where the Catholic Church Unsurprisingly, therefore, we fi nd that survived in any meaningful way. the three earliest priests known to us Perhaps more unusually, the Church were members of religious orders. regained a toehold here during the The two Jesuit fathers followed the later seventeenth century, somewhat normal procedure of their order, later than in other regions where she and concentrated on converting the managed to stage a comeback. From landed aristocracy. John Seton, S.J., then on, all the characteristics of the in particular, paid for his close ties wider Church may be found here: to the Drummond family: he spent dependence on a powerful local fi ve years in prison and died within family, chapels in their castles, bouts months of being released. It was of persecution alternated by periods left to a Benedictine, John Ambrose of tolerance, slow growth combined Cook, to carry out the missionary with rather swift decline by the end work on the ground. This takes us to of the eighteenth century, and then Germany, and to the Schottenkloster. rebirth through migration. These Benedictine houses had

Page 17 managed to escape the Reformation, St. John the Baptist’s in Perth did and were among the few surviving the same. So far, none of the priests links between the pre-Reformation have attended the newer seminaries Church and the one that came after. in Scotland. Finally, the erudition of Once the seeds had been sown, the some of the incumbents stands out. secular clergy took over. Here, too, John Thompson became the superior many of the trends visible in the rest at Scalan, Paul McPherson the of Scotland may be found. To begin rector of the Scots College in Rome, with, there is the predominance of William Rattray was professor at the priests from those parts of Scotland Royal Scots College in Valladolid, where the Church had survived William Wallace served in the same the Reformation. The north-east is function there and later at Aquhorties. typically over-represented, providing Dr. McPherson was professor at no fewer than twelve of the priests. Aquhorties, and later became the After the 1830s, there are a few Irish rector at Blairs. Thomas Welsh taught priests. Perthshire provided three at Blairs, as did William Smith. priests, rather few, and the rest of the More than a few of the priests have diocese another six. Education wise, held the honour of being appointed too, the careers of the priests who Domestic Prelates, and even more have served here are typical, perhaps have been appointed Canons with the exception that the Scots of Dunkeld and Provosts of the College in Paris is under-represented, cathedral chapter. Some rose to even and those in Rome and Valladolid higher offi ce, and became Bishops, (Spain), over-represented. As one and in this respect one cannot avoid would expect, the earlier incumbents mentioning George Rigg, the fi rst all spent time at the Scots seminaries post-Reformation Bishop of Dunkeld, or colleges on the Continent, either who had his seat at Perth. There has in Douai, Paris, Rome, or Valladolid. even been a black sheep; William Hay Later priests attended Issy or St. was removed from duties in 1783, and Sulpice. This Continental link is very left for the USA. One cannot do more important. It reminded the priests that than sum up the contributions made they were part of a global Catholic by the clergy to the community over Church, and especially during times the past three centuries and more. of persecution, provided them and It is now impossible to evaluate the other Catholics with a place to escape pastoral role of more than a handful to. In addition, they could experience of them, for example, although a more intensely Catholic culture, perhaps for some of the priests which was lacking at home. this was the role they considered In Scotland, one can trace the to be the most important, and the changes of the local seminaries, one that would have brought them from the small house in the hills at closest to their community. A priest Scalan, to its rather more luxurious like John Geddes may serve as an replacement at Aquhorties, to St. example. He began the construction Mary’s at Blairs, which opened its of St. John’s, but died as the result of doors in 1829, three years before administering to his sick fl ock. Others

Page 18 were real organisers. William Rattray emphasise the desire of ordinary was described by Bishop Alexander Catholics to receive the Sacraments. Cameron as being ‘no light’, this in The priests of Drummond Castle, spite of his becoming professor at Stobhall Castle, Park chapel, and Valladolid. He was fi rst and foremost St. John the Baptist’s have facilitated a practical man, though, who began the survival of the community, and the move from Park to Perth, and have often provided leadership for who organised the Church in Dundee, it. The following pages will examine as well as founding the fi rst Catholic the lives and contributions of some church in Paisley. of them. They have been singled What is clear is that without the out as representing different strands priests, there could not have been of pastoral care for both the local a Catholic community, for without community and the wider Church. priests there is no Eucharist, and there are no Sacraments. The early HS missionaries understood this well, and, in their letters, constantly

Page 19 Eight Representative Priests

These eight men have been chosen here as they each represent a specifi c element of the clerical contribution towards the building of a Catholic community in the region. Their lives are also refl ections of some of the pressures and problems that have faced the community over the centuries, and, importantly, their education and careers Fr. John Ambrose Cook, as a monk, taking the name Ambrose. His Abbot, Maxwell, thought him to be O.S.B. “a youthe of good expectation”. Cook would not disappoint, at least not at John Cook was born either at this point in time. He was ordained in Prestonpans in East Lothian, or near 1686, and was sent to the Scottish Duns in the Borders, in 1660. We Mission in the following year. He know little of his early life, except that arrived in heady atmosphere, for he graduated from university, probably things had never looked more positive that of Edinburgh, and joined the for the Faith in Scotland since 1560. French army as a soldier. Attending Since 1685, James VII had been a Scottish university was impossible on the throne, who was a practising for a Catholic in this period, and so Roman Catholic. He had made we can be certain that he was a some tentative steps to increase the Protestant at this time. Perhaps his freedom of worship for his Catholic experiences in France led him to the subjects, raising expectations – and Church, but whatever the reason, we fears – that more would follow. What know that he converted to Catholicism is more, in Scotland his regime rested around this time. His soldier’s career on the shoulders of the convert, subsequently took him to Rome. James Drummond, fourth Earl of Again one may speculate that what Perth. Upon his arrival, Fr. Cook he encountered there deepened his joined the household of the Earl of spiritual longing, for we next see him Perth. This meant that he resided in at that most remarkable of Scottish either Drummond Castle or Stobhall Catholic places, the Benedictine Abbey when the Earl was there, and we of Würzburg. Cook entered the abbey know that he was, for some time, a as a novice in July 1681. Würzburg, missionary on the Perthshire estates with Ratisbon, were remarkable in of the Drummond family. that these so-called Schottenkloster, Unlike his protector, Fr. Cook or Scottish Monasteries, had never managed to escape the violence that been touched by the Reformation. As followed the overthrow of James VII such, they were the only part of the in 1689, the episode known as the pre-Reformation Catholic Church in Glorious Revolution. He made his Scotland to survive into the period of way back to Würzburg. In July of that the missionary Church. year, he was elected its Abbot, aged Cook made an immediate impact at only twenty-nine. He presided over a Würzburg, where he soon professed fl ourishing establishment, hampered Page 20 only by the fact that several of its now in exile, was not disappointed monks were incarcerated in Britain in by the lavishness of his reception the wake of the ‘Glorious Revolution’. in the abbey in January 1695. Cook Cook was a great improver of the returned to Scotland in 1697, but only abbey, and reformed its discipline in for a short visit. The fi nal and rather line with the great movement at the sad chapter of his life came in 1703, Abbey of St. Maur in France. For two when the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, years he seemed to have been a in whose diocese the abbey was, model abbot, but the darker side of his deposed him for misconduct. We character soon emerged. He began do not know when he died. To the to drink and to live well above the Catholic community in Perth, Fr. Cook limited means of the abbey, possibly represents nothing less than rebirth. infl uenced by the lavish establishment of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, HS who had entrusted Cook with several important tasks. The late Abbot, Mark Dilworth, O.S.B., put it aptly, when he wrote that Cook was a man pulled in two directions. At least one can be assured that the Earl of Perth,

Abbé Paul McPherson Gordon, dowager Duchess of Perth. He renovated the old barn at Park used as a church, and constructed Paul McPherson was born in a house for the priest. Thus, he Glenlivet, that stronghold of the Faith forms the link between the end of in the north-east, in 1756. By common the Drummond patronage of the consent he was one of the most Catholic Faith in Perthshire, and the remarkable priests ever to serve the establishment of a church in Perth, Scottish Church. He was educated the current St. John the Baptist’s. at Scalan, but fi nished his studies at He left the mission at Stobhall the Scots College in Rome, and in the on a secure footing, although not Scots College in Valladolid, Spain. As even his talent could counter the such, the period of his formation as a economic pressures which were priest combined the elements of the driving the Catholic population of the eighteenth century Catholic Church old Drummond estates to migration. in Scotland: intensely local and at In 1791, he became Procurator in the same time very international. His Edinburgh, but his real vocation ordination took place in 1779, and he commenced only when he was came back to Scotland to serve as a asked to return to Rome in 1793. missionary, mainly at Stobhall. There, There, he quickly took over the he was responsible for putting the running of the Scots College, one of mission on a secure footing after the the main seminaries for the Scottish upheavals following the death of Jane Church, then as now. As the French Page 21 Revolution was forging a close college from the Scottish secular alliance between the British state and clergy. He remained in Rome during the Papacy, McPherson could foster the confl ict between Pope Pius VII closer ties with the representatives and Napoleon, risking his life, but of the British crown in Rome. As the quietly studying the past of the Scots Papal state came close to collapse College and writing its history. After under French pressure, McPherson the fall of Bonaparte, the Scottish kept his cool. In 1798, Rome fell bishops felt they no longer required to the French, the Pope became the seminary in Rome. McPherson a prisoner, and the Scots College disagreed. He set about ensuring was occupied. McPherson took it its survival, and with Papal support, upon himself to evacuate not only forced the bishops to acquiesce. the Scottish students, but also those In 1820, the fi rst students since the from the English and Irish colleges, French Revolution arrived, and the leading twenty-four seminarians college is to this day an important back to safety in Britain. His trek pillar of the Scottish Catholic Church. through Revolutionary France made McPherson lived on until 1846, his him a short-lived celebrity, who last years spent as the honorary head was feted by government ministers of an institute of which he has been and by the Prince of Wales. Yet described as the second founder. He again, McPherson’s life mirrored saved the mission at Park, and his the experience of the wider Scottish life illustrates the link between small Catholic community: the French Catholic communities such as that at Revolution had brought toleration Park, and the international Church in and, occasionally, acceptance for Rome. Catholics in Britain. He returned to Rome in 1800, and became the fi rst rector of the HS

Fr. William Wallace

William Wallace was born in the Seminary at Scalan in Banffshire. parish of Kinnore, near Huntly, into After a study period of just over a farming family. His father was an three years, he was sent to the Episcopalian, who died when he was Scots College in Douai, in northern an infant, whilst his mother was a France. He arrived in 1788, but the Catholic, who survived his father by French Revolution soon disturbed his only a few years. As a youth, on the studies, and he escaped with some intervention of Fr. William Guthrie, diffi culties and experiencing some the missionary at Mortlach, and of danger, in March 1793. The following Fr. Charles Maxwell, the missionary September, he was sent to the Royal at Huntly, he was admitted into the Scots College in Valladolid, Spain, to Page 22 complete his studies. At Easter 1798 personal belongings, which raised he was ordained, and he remained £115 towards the project of building a at the college, fi rst as Procurator, church in Perth. and then as junior Professor for the Fr. Wallace spent only two years following ten years. in Spain, and returned in 1818 to The Napoleonic invasion of Spain head the mission in Edinburgh. Then, in 1808 threatened the continued in 1821, he became chaplain at existence of the Scots College. The Traquair House, one of the remaining next year, Fr. Wallace was sent back noble patrons to the mission. It was to Scotland in charge of the fl eeing a position which he would occupy students. Upon his arrival, he spent for nearly 33 years, in sharp contrast some months at the new seminary of to his early wandering life. For most Aquhorties, before being appointed as of this time, he was the only priest chaplain and preceptor to Mr. Leslie of between Edinburgh and the English Balquhair’s three sons in Fetternear. Border. Even as an elderly man, The famous Fetternear Banner, a rare he would travel great distances to relic of pre-Reformation Scotland, was administer the sacraments to the sick probably taken there by Fr. Wallace and dying. He collected funds for the from Valladolid. He resigned from his construction of a church in Hawick, teaching post in 1812, and was sent where the Catholic population was to Park, to take charge of the mission increasing. there. When he died, his obituary stated It was Fr. Wallace who was the fi rst that he had a full and active life, to acknowledge the need to build a a statement few would have any church in Perth, due to the growing quarrels with! His learning, which numbers of Catholic migrants in Alexander Cameron had disparaged the city. Consequently, he initiated in Valladolid, was praised, as were the plan to move the base of the his writing skills. During his life he mission from Park to Perth. He had written polemic tracts: “His career wrote a number of letters to Bishop was long, but not unprofi table”. Fr. Alexander Cameron in 1813, offering Wallace represents the link between various locations suitable for a new Park and Perth, and between the church. Financial restraints were Scottish Church and the Catholic the main reason for these plans not world of Spain. being followed through. Bishop’s Cameron notorious inactivity, which Fr. Wallace, who had served under SC him when Cameron was Rector at Valladolid, must have known about, also contributed. Fr. Wallace was to serve at Park for another four years, but, when the Valladolid College re-opened for students in 1816, he returned there as Vice Rector. Before leaving Park, he had sold some

Page 23 Fr. John Geddes of persecution and occasional anti- Catholic violence. He, therefore, urged Bishop Paterson to allow him to John Geddes was born in the Enzie, build a house on land bought in 1821, Banffshire, in 1807, a district that for in which Mass could be celebrated. It centuries had been solidly Catholic. would not look like a Catholic place of He was a grand-nephew of Bishop worship and could always be altered Geddes. He attended the seminary later. He was raising funds, but, the ill at Aquhorties, and, like Fr. William health that had beset him all his life Wallace before him, was sent to the returned during his short period in the Royal Scots College in Valladolid to city. fi nish his studies. His poor health, His sense of duty and his intense which was to plague him all of his pastoral commitment saw him travel short life, forced him to return home widely around the city, and work in without completing his studies. These some of the worst slum conditions he fi nished once he had recovered imaginable. Catholics in Perth in the somewhat, in the brand-new seminary 1830s were amongst the poorest at Blairs. There he was ordained, in of the poor. In the early hours of 8 October 1829. January 1831, he was found dead Fr. John Geddes, or, in keeping with in his lodgings. The obituary which the period, Mr. Geddes, was the fi rst claimed that the Catholics in Perth resident Catholic priest in Perth since had ‘lost a zealous pastor’ could the Reformation of 1559. He was sent not have been more correct. His there by Bishop Paterson in 1830, but interment in the Greyfriars Cemetery not after he had protested his ill health. in Perth drew quite a crowd. According It is a sign of Fr. Geddes’ deep humility to the Perthshire Courier, ‘A great and willingness to serve, that he went concourse of people attended in the regardless when ordered to do so. The expectation that rites and obsequies congregation that he was appointed of an uncommon description would to look after was predominantly poor. take place’. A revealing phrase, which It is no longer clear whether it was shows just how alien Catholicism was also predominantly Irish, although to most; it also shows that curiosity there was undoubtedly a large Irish was stronger than hostility. Fr. John element. Geddes was in every respect the There was no church, nor a church model of a pastoral priest. house, so he continued the practice of his predecessors who had served the Catholic community in Perth from Park or Dundee, and celebrated Mass in rented premises, notably in the hall of the Freemasons; he also lived in rented accommodation. Fr. Geddes was a cautious man, imbued with the spirit of the Scottish Church which had been marked by centuries Page 24 Fr. James Mackay years, he was the sole missionary in Perthshire, and in his person re- united the two missions that had James Mackay was born at Nether begun on the Drummond estates all Clashnore, in Glenlivet, on 25 March those years back in 1685. He walked 1802. He was yet another priest to miles to celebrate Mass, not only in have come from the north east. Indeed, Crieff, but in Blairgowrie as well. In his very place of birth was near the addition, he taught the rudimentaries seminary at Scalan, training ground of the Faith, and administered the of the so-called Heather priests. He sacraments. In 1837, he secured a entered the seminary at Aquhorties, feu in Blairgowrie, and two houses Scalan’s successor, in 1821. He was were constructed. On the upper fl oor yet another of the priests who served of one of these a chapel was opened. the Catholic community in and around Members of the local Catholic landed Perth after having studied at the Royal gentry, usually converts, opened Scots College, Valladolid. There, he house chapels, increasing his work. developed a reputation of high virtue, This occurred at Murthly, Grandtully and was ordained in 1829. in Strathtay, Tullymet and Woodhill in From Spain, he returned home to the distant Strathardle. Braes of Glenlivet, where he served Murthly was by far the grandest of as missionary for a few months in these. Sir William Drummond-Steuart Abbé McPherson’s old home. He was had returned from his adventures subsequently stationed in Edinburgh, in America, where he had been from where he came to Perth in 1832 received into the Church, in 1840. to replace the deceased Fr. John Some years after, his sumptuous Geddes. The task facing Fr. Mackay chapel was opened. Fr. Mackay and was daunting, but he undertook the eccentric Sir William held each it with characteristic vigour. He other in great esteem. Perhaps Fr. completed the construction of the Mackay’s reputation as an exorcist church of St. John the Baptist, which appealed to the laird. Fr. Mackay sat was opened on 18 November 1832, on the commission managing the and dedicated on 16 December of Murthly estates, and even received that year. This was followed by the a sizeable farm near the castle. One opening of a school. Lacking funds wonders what he made of the buffalo for either building or teacher, he that Sir William had brought back from assembled the children in the church America. In 1846 the lure of an easier and taught them himself daily for four life brought Fr. Mackay to accept hours. His circumstances became a a post as chaplain in Murthly, from little more comfortable in 1834, with where he also served Blairgowrie the completion of the presbytery. until the mission there received a The mission grew, and, in 1837, priest in 1849. upon the death of the octogenarian For reasons unknown today, he Fr. Alexander Macdonald in Crieff, ceased to have a fi xed charge in 1862, Fr. Mackay began to say Mass and wandered around the country. at St. Fillan’s as well. For several Then, in April 1863, he knocked at Page 25 the door of the Cistercian abbey of of his Faith. Fr. Mackay was the true Mount St. Bernard near Leicester in founder of the mission in Perth, and England, where he eventually died in the man who is responsible for the 1884. He was buried in the cemetery existence of the church of St. John of the abbey. It is unclear if he ever the Baptist. entered the abbey as a monk, but the abbot was as impressed as all SC those who ever met Fr. Mackay with his piety and the strict observance

He was responsible for the building Bishop George Rigg of new schools, for equipping these, for training the staff, and for George Rigg was born at Crochmore, encouraging parents to make full use in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, on of the opportunities offered. A Catholic 19 July 1814. Like the north east of Industrial School was established to Scotland, the Stewartry had been a assist poor and neglected children to stronghold of the Faith for centuries, develop skills. The result of his efforts where, under the protection of the was that fi nances for Catholic schools local nobility, the Reformation had trebled, and school attendance not made great headway. An only doubled. Such was his success, son, he lost his father at a young that HMS Inspectorate came to age; perhaps this increased his regard these schools as the model desire to be a priest, an idea that his for Catholic education in the rest of family initially resisted quite strongly. Scotland. They fi nally gave in, and, in 1829 he From Edinburgh, he was transferred entered the brand-new seminary at to Dundee, where he served for a Blairs. As almost every priest that has short time in 1856, before being made an outstanding contribution to posted onwards to the Perth mission. the community in and around Perth, He took up residence on the Feast George Rigg fi nished his education at of All Saints that year. For nearly the Royal Scots College in Valladolid, eight years, he led the mission, and, where he was ordained in 1838. characteristically, he was instrumental He returned to Edinburgh, where in the opening of the new school in he joined a number of priests based the High Street in 1860, for which at what is now St. Mary’s Cathedral. he managed to get government Unlike most of his contemporaries, assistance. His efforts in educating Fr. Rigg would spend an incredible the Catholic community in Perth were 32 years in the capital. In 1845, he later to be praised by the Inspectorate. became the senior priest. While While stationed in Perth, Fr. Rigg he was in Edinburgh, Fr. Rigg also secured another important developed his organisational and concession from the government: he administration skills, specifi cally received offi cial recognition as visiting with regard to Catholic education. chaplain to Perth General Prison. Page 26 He returned to St. Mary’s in a marked increase in the number of Edinburgh in 1864, and was involved missionaries working in the region. in a project for the benefi t of Catholic For the Catholic community in orphans. He also edited the works of Perth he remained available to hear Bishop Hay, and sat on the School confession, and he visited the sick and Board. All his life as a priest, Fr. Rigg the schools, continuing a life-time of had displayed a deep compassion dedication to the vulnerable. He died for the weakest members of his in 1887, after a long illness. His life community: children, orphans, and may be summed up in the dying words prisoners. It is, therefore, good to see of St. Martin: Non recuso laborem. that this man was elected to become He life was not just the confi rmation the fi rst post-Reformation Bishop that the Catholic Church in Scotland of Dunkeld upon the restoration of had weathered the Reformation, it the Scottish Catholic hierarchy in also represents the compassion that 1878. His consecration took place in priests need to have for the weakest Rome, and he must have rather liked members of their community. Perth, for it was there that he took up residence. As Bishop, he oversaw a rapid expansion of his diocese, with SC new churches being constructed, and

Fr. John McPherson, D.D. to the rigors of St. Sulpice one year later. He was ordained in 1827, some 13 years after entering the seminary. His fi rst sermon was in French. John McPherson was born three He returned to Scotland, and was miles outside Tomintoul, on 29 a natural choice to become Professor August 1801. Once more we have at Aquhorties, although he gained a priest serving the Perth mission some pastoral experience in the who was born in the north east. His mission at Huntly. Soon he was back, father died within months of his birth, and he oversaw the move of the and he was raised by his very pious seminary students to Blairs in 1829. mother. She must have been a major Since the previous year, he had been infl uence on his decision to study for compiling information on the fast- the priesthood. Also infl uential was his changing Church in Scotland, which near-relative, Abbé Paul McPherson, resulted in the fi rst Catholic Directory, who, as Rector of the Scots College printed at Blairs that year. It grew into in Rome knew how to attract young the standard guide to the Church in men to join the clergy. He entered the Scotland, and was soon taken on by seminary at Aquhorties in 1814, and an Edinburgh-based printer. It is the went to Paris four years later. The oldest directory for the Church in the Scots College there was no longer world, and still forms the only guide to in existence, so he studied at St. its infrastructure. Nicholas. A precocious intellect, he In what the bookish Fr. McPherson went on to Issy in 1823, transferring must have found a rather unsettling Page 27 move, he was ordered to Edinburgh 1863, his peace was shattered when in 1830, which by then had a Catholic he moved to the laborious mission population of some 14,000. Two years in Perth. It was Fr. McPherson who later he found himself in Dundee, introduced the fi rst religious order where 3,000 Catholics lacked a in Perth since the Reformation: in school, and had only 400 places 1865 he brought the Ursulines of in the tiny church in Meadowside. Jesus from Edinburgh. They took Here, Fr. McPherson was to show charge of the schools and visited the that he had an organisational talent. prisons. He bought Stormont House By 1836, Dundee boasted a Catholic from the Episcopalians, and turned school and a brand-new church. For this into St. Joseph’s Convent. He most of this time, he had been the was in Perth for six years, and was only priest in Dundee. He must have then moved back to Dundee, where felt some considerable satisfaction he died in 1871. In his obituary his at his achievements, but there can sense of duty was praised, and this also be no doubt that he must have is undoubtedly justifi ed. A man of his been elated when he was recalled to intellect must often have felt isolated Blairs. in his missions, but he never refused In November 1847, he was made to go where he was needed most. Fr. President of the seminary, and spent McPherson stands out as the greatest a further eleven years there. In 1858, intellectual amongst the priests who he received a Doctorate in Divinity have served in Perth. in Rome. He was moved back to Edinburgh in 1861, but soon went to the sinecure of New Abbey. Then, in SC

Fr. John McCorry in Scotland, but swiftly moved on to Aberdeen. In 1842, he received charge of the ancient mission at John McCorry was born in Glasgow, Braemar, where he became engaged 25 January 1812. That a priest should in a controversy with a resident have come from the then still very Presbyterian minister. This set him on small Catholic community there, is, to a life-long path of pamphlet writing, say the least, rather unexpected. He public debating, and general defence went to the seminary at Aquhorties in of the Catholic Church. 1826, and went to Blairs with all the His pamphlets cover an incredibly other students under the guidance wide range of issues, but all share of Fr. John McPherson in 1829. He the apologetic style of his century, fi nished his studies at the Scots exemplifi ed by the writings of Cardinal College in Rome, and was ordained Newman. He feared none, and spared in the Eternal City in 1837. His fi rst none. In Perth, he attacked the Lord mission in Scotland was at Preshome, Provost and the combined Protestant which, during the eighteenth century, establishment. The latter had attacked had been the centre of the Church ‘Popery and the Jesuits’ in a speech

Page 28 in the City Hall in 1853, and came the news that he was to become under sustained fi re. Fr. McCorry’s the missionary in Leith. Having logic and his structured responses subsequently worked in Dalkeith, were irresistible. His defence included Bathgate and Arbroath, he returned answers on being a Catholic, on to Perthshire to serve as chaplain in being a priest, and on the merits of Murthly. the Society of Jesus, who had taught All this time, he kept on writing him in Rome. It was the second time articles and books, more than 15 in that he had felt compelled to defend all. When he received a Doctorate the Church in Perth. In 1851, he had of Divinity he got no more than he given a series of lectures in St. John deserved. He was moved to work the Baptist’s, reviewing a series of in Glasgow, and the combination talks given in the Free West Church of continual moves, work in diffi cult by Presbyterian ministers, in which missions, and continued study and they had launched scathing attacks writing cannot but have contributed on ‘Popery’. to the stroke which he suffered in His connections with Perth were the mid-1860s. He was allowed to long-standing. He had moved to retire in 1870, and moved to London, Inverness from Braemar in 1844, and, from there, to Rome, where before transferring to the Eastern he spent the fi nal years of his life. District in 1846 and coming to Perth. He died there in 1880. Whereas Dr. He would spend the next decade in McPherson embodies the ivory tower the Fair City. It was under his guidance of academic clergy, Dr. McCorry that the church was extended, and stands here as a representative of the one cannot be surprised that this practical application of his learning in fi ery defender of his Faith managed the wider world. to increase the number of Catholics attending Mass. He was raising funds for the reconstruction in Perth in Ireland in 1856 when he received SC

Page 29 Priests of the Mission and the Parish

In the household of the fourth Earl of Perth, 1686-1688

John Seton, S.J., 1686-1688 Robert Widdrington, S.J., 1686-1688

At Drummond Castle, 1685-1689

John Ambrose Cook, O.S.B., 1687-1689.

Fr. Cook’s missionary work in Perthshire gave birth to the post-Reformation Catholic community. He was active on the Drummond estates, both around Drummond Castle and Stobhall.

Note: in the wake of the persecution of the Catholic Church by the Orangist regime, there were no priests in Perthshire between 1689 and 1698.

At Drummond Castle, 1698-1788

Alexander Drummond, 1698-1704 and 1706-1742 William Stuart, 1710-1717, as assistant Andrew Hacket, 1725-1739, as assistant

Note: technically the mission was split in two in 1731, when the Vicariate of Scotland was divided into a Lowland and Highland Vicariate. The lands of the Drummonds lay across the new boundary. Stobhall, the hunting lodge of the Dukes, was chosen as the seat of the new mission, but incumbents at Drummond Castle continued to also serve Stobhall with some frequency.

George Gordon, 1739-1763, as assistant until 1742

George Cruickshank, 1748-1749.

Fr. Cruickshank came to Drummond Castle to recover from his ordeal during the ’45, when he was chaplain to the Duke of Perth.

Robert Grant, 1763-1764. Fr. Grant was the missionary for Angus, and served both Drummond Castle and Stobhall as well in this year.

Note: from 1763 there were permanently resident priests in Stobhall Castle. This marks the effective separation of the two missions.

Page 30 At Stobhall Castle, 1731-1777

George Duncan, 1734-1738

Between 1734 and 1763, the mission was served from Drummond Castle. From 1747, however, the resident priest in Perthshire, Fr. George Gordon, was often in the company of Jane Gordon, dowager Duchess of Perth, who resided on her own estates at Stobhall Castle.

Alexander Gordon, 1763-1776 William Hay, 1776-1783

Note: in 1777, some four years after the death of the dowager Duchess of Perth, Hay moved the mission to a farm at Park. Mass was said in one half of a converted barn. Bishop Hay had received support for this move from the Commission for Forfeited Estates, and, more particularly, from Jane Gordon’s kinsfolk, Lord and Lady Kames, who were prominent members of the Commission.

At Park Farm, 1777-1829

John Thompson, 1778-1779.

Fr. Thompson was assistant to Fr. Hay for a short period before he became the superior of the seminary at Scalan.

Abbé Paul McPherson, 1783-1791 William Reid, 1792-1812

William Rattray, 1796-1797. Fr. Rattray was assistant to Fr. Reid before becoming professor at the Scots College in Valladolid, Spain.

James Cameron, 1789-1813. The mentally unstable Fr. Cameron was effectively looked after by Fr. Reid, and, for the last year of his life, by Fr. Wallace.

William Wallace, 1812-1816 John Forbes, 1816-1818 William Caven, 1818-1819

William Rattray, 1819-1824. Fr. Rattray returned to serve at Park once more. In 1824, with the number of Catholics in the cities growing very fast, he decided to move the seat of the

Page 31 mission to Dundee. Fr. Rattray had been saying Mass in Perth, since 1821.

Served from Dundee, 1824-1831.

The chapel at Park was closed in 1827. Mass was continued to be said in Perth, with the mission there offi cially opened in 1830.

At St. John the Baptist’s, Perth, 1830-now

John Geddes, 1830-1832

Very briefl y, between January and June 1832, the new mission was served from Crieff.

James Mackay, 1832-1846

Note: the church of St. John the Baptist was opened towards the end of 1832

John Stewart McCorry, 1846-1856 George, later Bishop, Rigg, 1856-1864 Dr. John McPherson, 1864-1869 Patrick McManus, 1869-1871 Dr. William Smith, 1871-1877 Joseph Holder, 1877-1878 William Geddes, 1878-1885 John Turner, 1885-1902 Michael Lavelle, 1902-1913 Thomas Welsh, 1913-1920 John McDaniel, 1920-1939 John Coogan, 1939-1971

Note: in 1946 the mission offi cially became a parish

Darby Melloy, 1971-1981 Edward Durkin, 1981-1987 Charles Adamson, 1987-1992 Charles Hendry, 1992-now

In addition, a total of 62 priests have served in St. John’s as curates

HS and SC, with thanks to the Dunkeld diocesan archivist, Fr. Michael Milton

Page 32 from the records of the church of Immigration and St. John the Baptist in Perth, one of the Catholic which is on display in the exhibition. They commence in 1831, and give Communities an exhaustive list of those new-born babies receiving the sacrament of baptism. Naturally, the names of the For most of the past century parents are also entered, and these and a half, anyone who mentions provide much information on the Catholicism and immigration would ethnic or regional origins of the early immediately have been confronted by community. the word ‘Irish’. To some extent, this For the 1830s, and even for the immediate association was a justifi ed early 1840s, Irish names do not one; in 1829, for example, as the predominate. Instead, one fi nds Catholic emancipation act was being a large number of names from passed, there were a reported 500 the traditional Catholic regions of Irish Catholics in the city of Perth, or, to Scotland: Macdonalds from the be precise, 500 Irish Catholic adults. lands of Glengarry and Clanrannald, There are, however, many serious Gordons and McPhersons from the problems with this assessment, north-east. These predominate, and it and there have been some serious is no coincidence that the fi rst Perth- challenges to the prevailing equation born priest to be ordained since the that, in Scotland, Catholic equates Reformation, Fr. Archibald Macdonald, Irish. These challenges are very new. carries an Highland name. There are As recently as 1996, one of Scotland’s also a rather large number of Italians, leading historians could still claim that, which is perhaps rather surprising. It by the 1840s, the Catholic Church in seems that the Italian community of Scotland was almost entirely made Perth has longer antecedents than is up of Irish immigrants. traditionally assumed. Also present One has no intention of minimising are a few French names, possibly the Irish contribution to the Catholic those connected with the exiled Church in Scotland. Indeed, without French court resident in Edinburgh at the enormous infl ux of Irish settlers in the time, or descendants of refugees Scotland between the 1790s and the from the Revolutionary wars. To 1950s, the Church would have been these, one can add a sprinkling much poorer culturally, and much of German names, most probably smaller. The 228,000 Catholics who merchants or, less likely, associates put down ‘Ireland’ as their country of the Schottenkloster. There are, of birth in the census of 1861 speak of course, quite a few Irish names, volumes, particularly when one and, as one may expect, they came considers that there were about two mostly from the six northern counties to three children per adult at this of Ulster. date. Let us return to those 500 ‘Irish’ How to explain this seemingly Catholics in Perth, however, and anomalous situation? Well, it examine the facts as they emerge may not be as anomalous as one

Page 33 expects. Initial studies into the proper research has been done on the ethnic composition of Catholics in Italian presence in Scotland before Edinburgh around this time show a the middle of the nineteenth century, similar profi le. Irish Catholics were but the fi gure of 119 Italians in 1861, frequently resident for short periods which has been widely accepted, of time, many of them employed must be wrong. There were at least in seasonal farm work. In addition, thirty Italians in Perth alone in the there was the well-known friction 1830s, and the census must have between Irish and Scottish Catholics, missed many of the itinerant Italians. particularly between Irish immigrants The census of 1901 is more useful. and Scottish priests. These revolved It reports over 4,000 Italians, and is around signifi cant differences in at least an indication that real growth interpretation of Catholic worship and had taken place. Intensely Catholic in culture between the immigrants and both religion and culture, this group the native priests. Irish Catholicism did not always fi t in well. Like the lacked some of the more sober traits Irish Immigrants, they faced hostility that marked the Church in Scotland. from some Protestant quarters, and In addition, it would not have been there was also some friction within unusual for Irish Catholics to take the Catholic community itself. This communion in an inebriated state. reached its crescendo during the For Continental immigrants, the Second World War, when many from Scottish priests were rather less alien: this community were imprisoned as the ones serving the Perth mission had enemy aliens. Since 1945, this group all studied in Continental seminaries, has become a more accepted part of where they had imbued elements of the Catholic and Scottish community. an international Catholic culture. One The second group came in two explanation for the relative dearth of waves. Polish migrants fi rst reached Irish names in the baptismal register Scotland in the 1830s, fl eeing the may be that rather few Irish Catholics oppression by Czarist Russia. This attended Mass: the Church calculated was only a small group, and the fi rst that only three out of every ten Irish real wave of Poles began to arrive Catholics partook of the Eucharist during the 1930s. The 1931 census in the mid-nineteenth century. This reveals a total of 40,000 Poles in would climb gradually to a peak of the UK, with a small proportion in around 65 to 70 percent in the mid- Scotland. They arrived in numbers twentieth century, but that fi gure in Perth only during the Second encompassed all Catholics, of every World War, when the Polish exiled cultural background. In Scotland, army had camps around the city. In the ethnic mixture of Catholics was total, 120,000 stayed on in the UK relatively simple until fairly recently. after the war ended, and they never Four other groups stand out suffered the same discrimination amongst the migrants in terms of as other Catholic groups had done. numbers and cultural cohesion. The The respect which they had earned fi rst amongst these has already been during the war made sure of this. mentioned: the Italians. Very little The second wave has come since

Page 34 their country joined the EU. There the numbers of the cultural variety of are now an estimated 100,000 Poles Perth’s Catholic community. These living in Scotland, the largest infl ux of range from Filipinos and Indians to Catholics for a century. To what extent Hong Kong Chinese; from Ugandans these will stay and integrate into the to Ghanese and people from the wider community remains to be seen, Caribbean, and include a wide but the Polish presence has certainly variety of Europeans. Immigration altered the public perception of the has not only assisted the growth of Catholic Church. the Catholic community in Scotland, Finally, and at the same time it has enriched it culturally, and it has as the Poles, a small group of ensured that it is a refl ection of the Ukrainian Uniate Catholics arrived, global family of Christ. refugees from dreadful persecution in the USSR. They were never very numerous, and their liturgy is centred HS on the Cathedral in Dundee. The last forty years has seen further immigrants arriving to strengthen

area and progressed to selling roast The Italian chestnuts in the streets in the winter Connection months and selling ice-cream from freezers attached to bicycles in the summer. Italians are very family orientated, The fi rst Italian immigration to so it was only natural to them that they Britain took place about 150 years should send home to their village for ago, although there have always help from their brothers and sisters been Italians resident in the country. or their sons, daughters and more In Perth, for example, Italian names distant relatives or friends. The fi rst appear in the baptismal register of male member of a family to come to 1831. In the Perth area, the Italian Britain was known as “Padroni” and families came from the North of he would be assisted by “garzoni”, a Italy, the Parma (Emilia) Region North-Italian dialect word for the boys in particular. The people from this who were sent for later. Most of the Region initially came to the London Italians who arrived at this time came area to blast the tunnels for the initially to London as “garzoni”, but London Underground, as they had eventually branched out on their own already been doing this work in their by going to other towns and opening own area of Italy. When their work their own shops and businesses. The was completed, they sent home to Italians have always been noted as Italy for sack-loads of chestnuts from good cooks, so they adapted their the countless forests in the Parma catering skills to new types of food. Page 35 Although the “Fish & Chip” concept immigrants. For instance, all Italian came from London where this was children are given their “holy medal” already an accepted “fast food”, the at birth. The girls receive a gold medal ice cream association came directly and chain of Our Lady, and the boys, from Italy. Even today, many Italians one of Our Lord with the inscription are still in the catering trade, others, “Dio Ti Protega” (May God Protect however, have moved on to other You) on the reverse. Most Scots- trades and professions. Italians eat “Italian” at home. They In the Perth area, most of the First keep connection with their roots, often Immigration Italians arrived around retaining their family home, and tend 1860 – 1896. Most of these immigrants to holiday in Italy with their family or were men who went back to their extended family. towns and villages in North Italy such Their Catholic religion and their as Borgotaro, Albareto, Rovinaglia, Church is very important to them. The Valdena, and Sarzara, to bring back name of the Italian Club attached to their childhood sweethearts as their St John’s is Circolo Italiano Religioso, brides. Others, such as my grand- or the Italian Religious Circle. It parents Severino Guilianotti and undertakes a pilgrimage every year, Assunta Corvi, who were married in one year in Scotland, and the next St John’s church, Perth, on 6th July abroad. Its patron saint is St. Anthony 1908, chose to have their weddings of Padua, one of Italy’s most popular in Scotland. Their descendants are holy men. In 2007, the pilgrimage was now third or fourth generation Scots to Assisi. Integration has always been and are fully integrated into the a prime feature of the Association; community, notwithstanding the rather all their events, which include the unpleasant experience of internment aforementioned pilgrimages, the during the last war. annual trip to the Mass celebrated by The Second Immigration occurred Archbishop Mario Conti and Bishop between 1947 and 1952. Most of Philip Tartaglia on 2nd November for these immigrants were young girls the dead of the Italian Community, who came from the South of Italy Christmas dinner-dance and so on, on government-assisted grants, are open to all members of the parish and who ended up marrying Scots. community. Whereas the fi rst immigrants tended There has been a Third Immigration to concentrate on integrating into the of Italians to Britain. They did not have local community, the second wave to walk from the North of Italy like the tended to form social clubs. The Perth fi rst infl ux, nor did they come from Italian Club started in a little upstairs the South on government-assisted room in the old High Street round passage like the second group. about 1972. It has been functioning in They are part of the new Europe its present form, with the addition of which allows its citizens to move Scots of Italian descent, in St John’s freely from country to country within Church Hall since 2003. the European Union. In the Catholic Many of the Italian customs have Church in Scotland today we have been brought to Scotland by the several Scots-Italian priests, notably

Page 36 Archbishop Mario Conti and Bishop Philip Tartaglia, an indication of just how much the Italian immigrants have altered the make-up of the Catholic community in the country. It is worth refl ecting that in 1861 there were only 119 Italian-born persons in Scotland, and that their number had risen to over 4,500 by 1911. Numbers have continued to rise ever since, bringing valuable skills and abilities with them.

One fi nal note: the Scots-Italians now have their own tartan which has been registered with The Tartan Society and is worn with pride on formal and sporting occasions.

Page 37 there was no bread so we had to go Polish Connections: hungry. Thanks to General Sikorski [the leader of the Free Polish Army The Story of Irene and Felix red.] my father and uncle joined Jackson (Jureczko) The Polish Free Army under British Command: we were then able to get out of “Hell.” [After the Nazi invasion of the USSR, Stalin allowed Poles to Irene Wieczorek was born on 15 join the armed struggle against the May 1931 in Poland. Her mother, Germans, red] Jadwiga, and her father, Cheslaw, Irene’s journey to Perth started lived in a place called Bialowieza, from the moment she, her mother a highly forested area in the north and brother left Siberia in 1941. They eastern side of Poland. Jadwiga Suma all travelled fi rst to Teheran and were was born on 1 August 1914, and was there for years. Richard, the young sent to Siberia twice, once during the boy, caught typhoid and dysentery First World War, and once during the and died at the age of three. His small Second World War. Irene, only eight grave remains in Teheran and his years old at the time, remembers mother, Jadwiga, was heartbroken at when she and her mother, Jadwiga, the loss of her beloved little son. father Cheslaw, her one year old Irene ate the food that was available brother Richard, and uncle Romek, and her mum tried to obtain little jobs were disturbed by a knocking on the of sewing to provide for her daughter door: when they opened the door, and herself. Irene remembers that three Russian soldiers told them to many people became ill because pack a few things and dress in warm when they were hungry they ate fatty clothing as the weather was very cold. foods which she did not like. This may They were to go with the soldiers, but have saved her life; however the lack were told they would be back home in of food affected her wellbeing for the about two weeks. rest of her life. That was 10 February 1940. They Irene remembers that she and her were put into a sledge and taken to mother went to India to a place near a railway station and put in cattle Goa, where they spent fi ve and a half wagons which were then sealed, it years at Camp Valivade. She had took them three months to get to their some of the best years of her life with destination: Siberia. The reason they other young Polish girls who were in were taken from their home was that the same position as herself, growing Irene’s father, Cheslaw, was a Civil up through their adolescence. Servant working as a Forester in Although the displaced Polish people the National Park of Bialowieza. The were living in camp conditions, it was Soviet authorities wished to remove very well organised and they always all traces of an independent Polish practised their Catholic religion; it nation. was never forgotten. Regular masses “My father was made to work in were said and celebrations were a gold mine and if there was no gold enjoyed with the meagre luxuries they

Page 38 may have had. Jadwiga, Irene’s mum Irene Wieczorek was married to trained as a seamstress and was able Felix Jureczko on 8 November 1952, to earn a little money sewing clothes in St. John the Baptist’s church, Perth, for those who were in the camp. by Fr. Lewandowski. The service In October 1947, at the age of took only 15 minutes and there were 16, Irene left India with her mum 38 guests present. Irene remembers for Liverpool, from where she that her bridesmaid was Christine travelled onwards to Cirencester, to McLeod who was a parishioner of St. Lancashire, to Wrexham, and then on John’s, and was a friend she had met to Aberargie, where her father, who through working as a nurse at Bridge had been re-united with his wife and of Earn Hospital. Irene remembers daughter in Wrexham, would be able that, when she worked in Bridge of to gain employment in the forests Earn Hospital, a Polish priest used which he had been told about. Irene to come to the hospital and say mass met her husband, Felix Jureczko, on on a Sunday for staff who could not a “Blind Date” when she and a friend attend mass if they were working travelled to North Berwick to meet up shifts. At that time Polish mass was with two Polish ex-servicemen. Felix also celebrated at St. John’s once a fell in love with Irene straight away. month. Felix Jureczko was born on 26 On 8 December 1953, Irene had a May 1925, and had lived in a place son, Richard Jureczko, at Perth Royal in southern Poland called Czarkow, Infi rmary. Richard was baptised in with two brothers, three sisters, St John’s on 26 December 1953 on and his parents. His father was a a very cold and wintry Boxing Day. master builder. Felix was taken by Irene could not be present at the the Germans at the age of 14 to baptism as she was very unwell at work as a farm labourer. Felix heard the time. Their family are parishioners about the Free Polish Army when he at St John’s Church to this day. was liberated by the Americans. He joined the Free Polish Army in 1944. Editor’s note: this moving story reveals He came to the UK to be trained in just a little of the immense human Catterick, moving on to be stationed tragedies that hide behind the arrival in North East Scotland, at Montrose. of so many Catholics in Scotland. When he was deployed to Holland to Poles of this generation were mainly the 24th Armoured Division he was the victims of confl ict. Others, like wounded near Breda on 10 March the Irish, Italians, and the current 1945, and was sent to a military generation of Polish immigrants, hospital in Ormskirk in Cheshire to have come to fi nd work, often fl eeing be treated for shrapnel in his hand. desperate poverty. For all of them, He did not return to active service the parish of St. John the Baptist in and never returned to his family in Perth has provided one element of Poland. [Those who had fought in comfort: a place to practise their faith, the Free Polish Army were barred and a reminder that we are, after all, from entering the country by the pilgrims on earth. Communist regime, red] RJ, with notes by HS

Page 39 of marriage and the family life, and Church Societies the promotion of vocations to the and Organisations religious life. It meets in the Church Hall on Tuesday evenings, except during school holidays. It has a varied Catholic social life is marked by a programme of talks, visits, musical variety of organisations, which can and social evenings, fund-raising go under a number of names, such events etc. It has 48 members. Its as sodalities, associations, or unions. President is Mrs. Diane Jeffrey. Some can be parish-specifi c, but that The Church Choir has been operating is very rare. Mostly, organisations since before the community moved to have a diocesan, national, linguistic, Perth. The fi rst time it is mentioned or even very often a global presence. is 1820, when music was introduced The following are all currently (2007) in the Mass in the chapel in Perth active in the parish of St. John the after fi erce resistance from a string Baptist. of incumbents who believed it would The St Vincent de Paul Society antagonise the local Protestants. was founded by Blessed Frederic These days, the choir forms an Ozanam, with its fi rst Conference integral part of the liturgical life of the being held in Paris, in 1833. The Parish. It provides the praise element fi rst Scottish Conference was held of the 11 am Sunday Mass. It has in Edinburgh in 1845, with the Perth a core membership of around 20 Conference being established in St. members, but can call on additional John’s in 1861, making it the second support when required. Choir practice oldest Conference in Scotland. The takes place on Monday evenings. The Society’s main aim is to relieve poverty Choir Mistress is Susan Cassidy. and suffering by a “person-to-person” The Perth Italian Association, the involvement of its members with successor of the Perth Italian Club, those in need. The Perth Conference has been running for over twelve meets in the Church Hall on Sunday years, and is open to Catholics evenings during the winter months, of Italian descent or with Italian and on Monday evenings during the connections. It holds its meetings on summer. It has fi ve active members, the last Saturday of each month at and new members, male or female, 1.30 pm, followed by a Mass in Italian, would be most welcome. Its President and concludes with a social gathering is John Joyce. in the Church Hall. It also hosts a The Union of Catholic Mothers was highly popular Christmas Dinner- introduced to Scotland in 1942, with dance. It has 57 members, with the Perth branch being established in Norma Giulianotti being its current 1947. It celebrated its 60th anniversary President. Its Chaplain is Canon Aldo earlier this year with a Special Mass Angelosanto. conducted by Bishop Logan, followed The Polish Link Association was by a dinner for members and invited formed in 1995 to provide support to guests. It is open to all Catholic families of Polish ex-servicemen who women. Its main aims are the support had settled in the Perth area after the

Page 40 Second World War. It is open to all Mary Carroll, M.B.E., Teresa Coull, persons of Polish descent. It holds and Maria Methven. between 5 and 6 meetings each year Over the past 20 years, the and has around 80 members. It has parishioners of St. John the Baptist’s recently been active in helping Poles church, together with those from St. who have emigrated from Poland to Mary Magdalene’s and St. Columba’s settle in Perth, by assisting in fi nding in Birnam, have supported the work of accommodation and jobs, fi nding the SPUC, both through their prayers school places for their children and and by giving most generously at the so on. There is Mass in Polish at 3.30 annual collection. pm each Sunday, provided by a priest The Justice & Peace Group has been from the Chaplaincy for the Polish operating for some time, and is part Community, based in Glasgow. The of a large network of Justice & Peace contact person for the Association is Groups. The common mission of all Anna Campbell. Justice & Peace Groups is to work For the younger parishioners, there with all who share a commitment to is an active Brownie Pack, which has bring the Good News of Christ’s love been in operation since at least 1974. to people who are poor, oppressed or Girls between 7 and 10 are eligible excluded. Although relatively inactive to join. The Pack has 20 members, at the moment, our Group has 5 who meet on Thursday evenings in members and was in the habit of the Church Hall for fun and games. meeting on the last Thursday of each Special activities and events are also month. Its main contact is Margaret organised throughout the year. The Garvie. Brown Owl is Fiona Watson. The Catholic Faith Exploration The 19th Perth Rainbow Unit Group, or CaFE, was set up by the was started in March 1991 with 15 Parish Evangelisation Team in 2007, members and 3 volunteer guiders. to allow parishioners to explore and Its purpose is to introduce girls aged deepen their faith using modern media between 5 and 7 years to the world- resources. There is a specifi c focus wide Guide Movement. Through on evangelisation, discipleship, and fun-fi lled activities each girl has the community. The Group has around opportunity to make new friends, 30 regular attendees and meets on build confi dence in a supportive Monday evenings in the Church Hall. atmosphere, and realise that she The Catenians were founded in has the potential to turn her hand to Manchester in 1908 and the Dundee anything. and Perth Circle came into existence St. John’s parish is a member of 73 years ago. The Circle meets PACT, or Perth Action of Churches monthly on the fi rst Thursday of each Together, which is an organisation with month and engages in a variety of an interdenominational membership social and charitable activities. It is of 26 churches in Perth and District. open to Catholic businessmen and It organises events celebrating meets at the Royal Perth Golfi ng Christian life, particularly at Christmas Society and the Invercarse Hotel, and Easter. Our representatives are Dundee. It has 40 members at

Page 41 present and would welcome anyone interested in joining. Its President is Archie MacLellan. The above show some of the rich tapestry of associations that mark St. John the Baptist’s communal life. Other organisations have come and gone, often as a need arose or vanished. The ones in existence at the moment refl ect the commitment to social justice, the strong spirit of ecumenical co-operation, a need for companionship, and concern for spiritual development. In addition, they show the continued strength of the two main cultural communities within the parish.

IC and AM

Page 42 school buildings, and the schools Scottish Catholic were liable to be inspected by His or Education Her Majesty’s Inspectorate. In 1885, the Scottish Offi ce took over from the Home Offi ce and Public education in Scotland was became responsible for law and pioneered by the Church of Scotland, order in Scotland, as well as for the which handed over its network of various ‘Scotch’ or Scottish Boards. parish schools to the state in 1872. The Scotch Education Department, Immigrants from Ireland, who which had been formed in 1872, represented the majority of Catholics was renamed the Scottish Education in Scotland from the 1840s, were Department in 1918. That same year often denied access to the Scottish the Education (Scotland) Act (1918) education system before 1872 as a replaced the School Boards with result of the hostility of their Scottish County or City Education Authorities. neighbours. This led to Catholic Catholic schools were transferred to schools being created, funded by the the supervision of local authorities Catholic community, and linked to the with the agreement of the Catholic re-established diocesan structure. Church. Catholic schools were able In 1872, hundreds of School Boards to preserve their distinct religious elected by rate-payers were set up ethos, open access to schools by across Scotland to examine the priests, and the requirement that provision of elementary or primary school staff be acceptable to the education in their parish or district. If a Catholic Church. To this day, Catholic School Board came to the conclusion schools remain as faith schools, that there were not enough school whilst other state-funded schools are places, they had permission to build effectively secular and are known as and maintain schools out of the local ‘non-denominational’ schools. rates. Charitably-funded Catholic The Education (Scotland) Act schools remained independent of this (1918) did not confer special status system. on Catholic schools in Scotland. Before the outbreak of the Great The new law allowed all religious War in 1914, there were around denominations to sell or rent their 500,000 Catholics in Scotland; the schools to Education Authorities, number of Catholic schools had risen which were obliged to preserve the to 213. Government grants were paid religious status of those schools. annually to any schools, including This was not intended to benefi t only those under Catholic management, Catholics, whose leaders initially which were ‘effi ciently contributing to rejected the idea. Catholic dioceses the secular education of the parish were persuaded to move into the or burgh in which they are situated’. state system by the crippling cost The size of the grant was conditional of providing an education system on the attendance and attainment of for Scottish Catholics in a period of the pupils, the qualifi cations of the economic depression. At the same teachers, and the condition of the time, the state took control of the

Page 43 curriculum in almost all Scottish 125,000 pupils attend Catholic schools schools, and became responsible for in Scotland, or 20% of Scotland’s improving the quality of teaching and school population. More than 90% of learning in its schools. Catholic parents make use of Catholic R. A. Butler was the Minister of schools where they are available. Education in the wartime coalition Catholic schools are part of the state government formed by Winston system and are open to children of all Churchill. Butler’s 1944 Education Act faiths and none. Many non-Christian established the structure for Britain’s families choose a Catholic education post-war education system. The Act as all parents have the right to have raised the school-leaving age to 15. It their children educated according to guaranteed free secondary education their own beliefs. for all young people in schools that The schools have always formed would cater for the different academic part of the fabric of Scotland’s, and, levels and other aptitudes of children. by implication of Perth’s, Catholic Entry to these schools was based community. Schools were founded on the 11+ or ‘quali’ examination in almost as soon as a new church the fi nal year of primary education. was erected during the nineteenth In Scotland, primary pupils in the century, and many attempts were state system transferred either to made during the centuries before junior or senior secondary schools. to prevent children receiving a This system was reformed in the late Catholic education. For those who 1960s and early 1970s, by replacing could, this was available on the the selective two-tier structure with Continent, for others, in small, private comprehensive secondary schools. establishments. With the mission or At the same time, the school- the parish, and the family, the schools leaving age was raised to 16. These are part of the core of Catholic life in developments had a profound effect Scotland. This is why, for so many on all secondary schools in Scotland, Catholics, maintaining the Catholic and came at a time when the powerful ethos of ‘their’ schools is vital. Much infl uence of religious teaching orders has been made of the fact that this in state-funded Catholic schools in ethos has suffered a decline, but no- Scotland began to decline. Religious one would argue that Catholic schools teaching orders continue to play are not amongst the best providers of an important role in a number of education in the country. fee-paying Catholic schools in the independent sector. Between 1945 and 1965, the post- TM war ‘baby boom’ meant that many more schools had to be opened to educate Scotland’s young people. Today Scotland has nearly 400 state- funded Catholic schools and around half of these schools have been opened since 1945. Approximately

Page 44 Part Three: Devotional Life

Page 45 in stark contrast to what they had Continuity and experienced at home, where Mass Adaptation of was celebrated furtively, in hidden corners for the most part, and stripped Worship, 1685-2007 of many of the externals that would have been common prior to 1560 and the implanting of the reformed liturgy. At the time of the fourth Earl of However, at the heart of it all, Perth’s conversion to Catholicism the same action, the same words, in 1685, being a Catholic and public the same essentials were present, Catholic worship was not something to whether in the greatest Cathedral or be broadcast. The Catholic community in the smallest cabin. The priest did had dwindled, and the regular in remembrance of Jesus exactly hierarchy had been extinguished what had been done down through with the death of Archbishop James the centuries of the life of the Church. Beaton of Glasgow, in Paris, in 1603. He took bread and he took wine, he For fi fty years, even the Church in said the blessing and shared with the Rome seemed to have forgotten about people. The language of the liturgy Scotland before the appointment of was Latin and praise was given to a Prefect Apostolic in 1553. Yet this God. In the light of the documents of picture of decline is countered by the Trent, the understanding was of the growth of the Scots Colleges abroad. priest saying the correct words and There were seminaries in Paris, speaking all the parts, with a server. founded in 1325, and re-endowed The part of the people was to be by Archbishop Beaton and Mary, present at the celebration, and this is Queen of Scots, Douai, Ratisbon, what they did when they could, if or Rome, founded in 1600, and the when the priest came to visit an area. Scots College in Madrid, founded in The exhibition shows the survival of 1627. These all gave witness to a chalices from this penal time, when home community that was still alive, small vessels were carried about on and which was still sending its sons the person of the priest. Often a small for education abroad, some of them altar stone and missal were equally to be ordained as priests to return to part of his travelling pack. It was a Scotland and to serve the Catholic time of essentials. community. Gradually the Catholic community These men found in Europe a became more tolerated, church vibrant Counter Reformation Church buildings began to be created, producing great thinkers and saints, and worship became less hidden. where the glory of Catholicism could However, even in the late eighteenth be seen, and where the liturgy century, the tide could turn against as reformed and renewed by the the Catholic community. In 1779, in Council of Trent could be celebrated Edinburgh, the Catholic chapel was in its fullest forms. Elegant churches, burnt, and the meagre possessions music and ceremonial would have were lost. The chapel at Park only been part of their education. This was barely escaped a similar fate.

Page 46 Nevertheless, Catholicism was who would sing both the ordinary becoming more accepted and the last of the Mass, those parts that were years of the eighteenth century saw a the same each week, as well as the bill for Catholic emancipation passed singing of the proper of the Mass, in 1793, giving greater freedom to those parts which changed each Catholics and their worship. While the Sunday. However, this would have civil authorities were willing to grant touched only a small percentage of such freedom, the Church authorities, those attending Mass, since at best in the person of Bishop Hay, were only one Mass in each parish would much more reluctant to accept it. In be sung, and in many cases a sung July 1789, while the French were Mass would have been a rarity. Further storming the Bastille, Bishop Hay inroads to worship would have been was to forbid priests from having any singing at Mass, with hymns sung by music in their chapels whatsoever. the congregation during Mass, but This prohibition continued whilst Hay not necessarily linked to the action of remained in post and it was only with the liturgy. Such practice continued the advent of Bishop Cameron, who throughout the century, with some was acting Vicar Apostolic from 1803, infl uence coming from the priests that permission began to be given educated abroad, and major liturgical for the introduction of music into the celebrations of external pomp being worship of the Catholic community. interspersed with the quiet worship of In 1805, the fi rst public High Mass in parish communities. Scotland since the Reformation was Bishop Gillis of the Eastern celebrated in Aberdeen. It was some District was particularly fond of the fi ve years later that singing by the full panoply of Church worship, and congregation began to be permitted, the description of the funeral of John and over the following fi fteen years the Menzies of Pitfodels, one of the type of liturgy that would have been greatest benefactors of the Scottish familiar to the Catholics of Europe Catholic Church, refl ects Gillis’s began to be part of the experience care. Later in the century, the solemn of at least some of the Catholic reception of the relics of St Andrew community in Scotland. It would not after the restoration of the Scottish be until 1820 that this ‘innovation’ hierarchy refl ects that the hidden reached the community at Park. days of Catholicism were over. This From the early nineteenth century, coincided with the transformation of then, the liturgical life of the Catholic the Catholic community in Scotland community in Scotland grew steadily, from being a very small group to one along the lines that would also have greatly increased in number by the been familiar in Europe. The two infl ux of Irish immigrants from the styles of liturgy that grew side by middle of the nineteenth century. The side were the singing of the Mass Church moved from the countryside and the singing at Mass. The singing into urban centres, where its priority of the Mass was conducted initially was providing education to large by the clergy, but then, through the groups, so concentration on matters development of choirs, by lay people, liturgical was not central to the lives

Page 47 of many. after an event that was to affect the Scotland was never unaffected by worship of the Catholic community in the developments in Church worship, the most profound of ways. and so the appeal from Pope St. On 4 December 1963, the Fathers Pius X for a restoration of liturgy and of the Second Vatican Council in Church music in 1903 was heeded solemn session promulgated the in Scotland. The traditional worship decree Sacrosanctum Concilium on of the Church was infl uenced by the the Liturgy of the Church. The aim of work of men like Dom Gregory Ould the decree was to review the liturgy of Fort Augustus, a noted expert in of the Church and to adapt to the plainsong. The lowering of the age modern situation those elements of of First Communion, also during the Catholic worship that were open to reign of Pope St. Pius X, introduced adaptation, whilst at the same time children more completely into the remaining faithful to the tradition of sacramental life of the Church. The the past and leaving untouched those introduction of the dialogue Mass, elements that were not subject to where the congregation joined in change. the responses to the Latin with the In the years that ensued, a new server marked another stage of Missal was prepared, the Latin change towards greater involvement. version being published in 1970, Holy Week, following the restoration 400 years after Pope St. Pius V of that liturgy by Pope Pius XII, was promulgated the Missal after the celebrated in union with the rest of Council of Trent. This Missal was the Church, and the anomaly of the translated into the vernacular and Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday was the English Missal was published in suppressed. All of these elements 1973 and remains in use today. In the affected the life of the Catholic period from 1963 onwards, change in community in Scotland, while keeping the Mass and the language of Mass them anchored in the practice of the was introduced piecemeal, with fi rst Faith that has been handed down certain prayers and then the readings and for which their ancestors had being in the vernacular, whilst the suffered. great Eucharistic prayer, the Canon One specifi cally Scottish initiative of the Mass, remained in Latin. By for the liturgy at this point was the 1973, it was possible for the liturgy publication, in 1964, of the St. Andrew in its entirety to be celebrated in the Hymnal. This collection of music for vernacular, although the defi nitive the congregation had as its intention texts were always issued in Latin. to improve the repertoire and quality The immediate impact on parishes of congregational singing at Mass was profound. At many levels change and other services. It included a was not anticipated and so priests large number of Latin hymns as well and people had to learn what was as vernacular hymns, refl ecting the involved. Beyond the change of place of the classical language in the language and the need to learn new life of the Church. The hymnbook, responses, there was also a change in however, was published just months the internal layout of the Church. Mass

Page 48 celebrated facing the congregation continue to be reviewed. The Rite of became the general practice and all Christian Initiation of Adults, with its sorts of temporary arrangements were public journey into the Church, was made to permit this. The reception of one of the most notable changes. Holy Communion as an integral part At parish and diocesan level, those of being present at Mass increased, becoming Catholic are now introduced with the Eucharistic fast before Holy to the community at an earlier stage, Communion being reduced to only and through public celebrations mark one hour. Learning to sing the Mass their journey of faith. The initiation for all the congregation led to the of children has developed, and with introduction of more modern music, the restoration of the traditional not all of it of a high standard. order of the Sacraments of Baptism, Gradually, the understanding of Confi rmation and First Communion, what was required became clearer children are being introduced to and a new appreciation of the liturgy full membership of the Church at of the Mass took hold. It was seen, as an earlier age. The introduction of it always had been, as the hallmark of penitential services underlines the the Catholic community, but no longer communal nature of this sacrament, was simply being present enough. as well as the individual responsibility The call, fi rst issued by Pope St. for seeking forgiveness. Anointing of Pius X for full, active, and conscious the sick is celebrated both privately participation, was renewed. This and communally in the course of resulted in an increase in lay ministry, the year. All these elements show a readers, cantors, servers, male and community and a faith that is alive female, and extraordinary ministers and active. of Holy Communion became familiar Some of the more traditional sights in the churches. Music that was elements have, however, disappeared more fi tting began to be developed from the life of the community or and the singing of the Mass became are less frequent. Rosary and part of the repertoire of most parishes, Benediction, the standard evening particularly in the wake of the Papal service of sixty years ago, is rarely Visit of 1982. seen now, although both are still More permanent reordering of practised at St. John the Baptist’s in churches means that most churches Perth. May processions or Corpus are now adapted for the celebration Christi processions are equally rare. of the liturgy according to the vision To counter this, the First Saturday of the Second Vatican Council, which devotions to Our Lady of Fatima are was in continuity with what had gone strong in many places, and prayer before, but also sought to improve groups of the charismatic or other the worship of the community in the sorts, faith sharing groups, and present day. Although the change ecumenical services are now all parts to the liturgy of the Mass was the of the life of the Catholic community. alteration that had greatest effect The fourth Earl of Perth might on most parishioners, the other have diffi culty in recognising some of sacraments were also reviewed and the elements of the Church of today

Page 49 were he to return to its midst, but he would also know that it is only the accidentals that have changed. The essence of Catholicism is still the same: union with Christ through the sacraments, union with the visible Church on earth through communion with the successor of Peter in Rome, and a life of prayer and service. As St John the Baptist’s celebrates this anniversary, it shares the task of its patron, to prepare the way of the Lord.

MR

The Sacred Heart were used. It was well known and practised by many saints, including of Jesus St. Gertrude, St. Mechtilde, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux. On the feast of St. John the Evangelist, for example, Devotion to the Sacred Heart is a St. Gertrude was allowed to rest her special form of devotion to Jesus. It head near the wound of Jesus’ Heart, may be defi ned as devotion to the and she asked St. John if, on the adorable Heart of Jesus Christ, in night of the Last Supper, he, too, had so far as the Heart represents and felt the delightful pulsations, why he recalls His love. The visible wound, had never spoken of the fact. John made by the soldier as Jesus hung replied that this revelation had been on the Cross, should naturally recall reserved for subsequent ages when the invisible wound of His love. the world had grown old and become From the time of saints John and cold to the love of God, and it would Paul, there has always been in the need to be warmed again by these Church something approaching a revelations. devotion to the love of God. However, From the thirteenth to the sixteenth it was not until the eleventh and centuries, the devotion was practised twelfth centuries that we fi nd the everywhere by privileged souls. The fi rst unmistakable indications of lives of the saints and the annals of devotion to the Sacred Heart. It was different religious congregations such in the fervent atmosphere of the as the Franciscans, Dominicans, reformed Benedictine and Cistercian and Carthusians, furnish many monasteries that the devotion fi rst examples of the devotion. It was in arose, although it is impossible to the seventeenth century, however, say positively what texts or votaries that the devotion to the Sacred Heart

Page 50 of Jesus would be fully developed, the Scottish priests, however, came through a humble Vistandine sister, into contact with the devotion well St. Margaret Mary. Jesus appeared before that date. In Spain, Valladolid, to St. Margaret Mary (1647-1690) in the home of the Scots College or the Visitation Monastery in Paray-le- seminary, was also the centre of the Monial on the feast of St. John the devotions to the Sacred Heart. It Evangelist, and, like St. Gertrude, he comes as no surprise, therefore, that allowed her to rest her head on His the Sacred Heart played a prominent Heart. He then disclosed to her the role in Perth from an early date in the wonders of His love, telling her that nineteenth century. He wanted to make it known to all Shortly before the outbreak of the mankind. To diffuse the treasures of Second World War, Sister Faustina, His goodness and He had chosen her now St. Faustina, received a call from for this work. Jesus, who told her, In another apparition, Jesus ‘I am sending you with my mercy appeared radiant with love, and to the people of the whole world. I asked for a devotion of expiatory love: do not want to punish mankind, but frequent Communions, Communion I desire to heal it, pressing it to my of the fi rst Friday of the month, and merciful Heart’. the observance of holy hours. In what Jesus showed her an image of is known as the ‘great apparition’, Himself wearing a white garment, Jesus appeared while Margaret Mary one hand was raised in blessing and was adoring Him in the Blessed the other was at His breast, and from Sacrament, and said, there emanated two large rays; one ‘Behold this Heart which has loved red and the other pale. He asked men so much, that it has spared that this image be painted with the nothing, even to exhausting and words, ‘Jesus I trust in you’ at the consuming itself in order to testify to bottom of the picture. He promised them this love; and in return I receive that , ‘the soul that will venerate this from the greatest number nothing image will not perish’. He also gave but ingratitude by reason of their her some prayers with the promise irreverence and sacrileges, and by of His powerful help for those who the coldness and contempt which pray them fervently; for example, ‘O they show me in this Sacrament of Blood and water which fl owed from Love’. the Heart of Jesus as a fount of His He then asked for a feast of mercy for us, I trust in you’. reparation to be held on the Friday It is in this form that a large number after the octave of Corpus Christi. of statues were made just before and After the death of St. Margaret Mary, immediately after the Second World in spite of many obstacles, devotion War, including the one on display in to the Sacred Heart fl ourished. the exhibition. The devotion to the However, it was not until 1856, at Sacred Heart is a classic example the urgent request of the French of change and continuity in one bishops, that the feast was extended devotional element in the Catholic to the universal Church. Many of Church. It slowly mutated in how it

Page 51 was expressed in art, and it mutated equally slowly in how it was expressed in devotional activities. As with so many of these long-standing Catholic practices, devotion to the Sacred Heart has suffered a decline in popularity since the Second Vatican Council, and, again like so many of these devotions, it has been experiencing a small revival since the late ‘90s. In St. John the Baptist’s, the importance of the devotion to the Sacred Heart may be measured by the fact that, from the 1920s to the late 1970s, one of its two side-chapels was dedicated to the Sacred Heart. The other one was dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes.

AL

Devotion to Mary: the later Middle Ages in the West. Still in the Middle Ages, we see the Changing Face the West with a more authoritative acceptance of Marian devotion, with of Our Lady in the Papal sanctions for the feasts of the Catholic Church Assumption, Annunciation, and the Purifi cation of Our Lady. From earliest times, there has been a Countless churches were dedicated continually developing veneration for to her, many of these the most the sanctity and exalted privileges of important in Christendom, such as Mary as Mother of God. Paintings in the Cathedrals of Rheims, Chartres, the Catacombs, from the second and Rouen, and Paris. From about the third centuries, show the exceptional year 1000, we fi nd a deep feeling position she had begun to occupy in of love and confi dence in Our the thoughts of the faithful. There are Lady. What until now had been the also many writings from this period piety of individuals began to take honouring her purity and sanctity, and organised shape in a vast multitude affi rming her perpetual virginity. of devotional practices. Long before In the East, as early as the end of the this time, a Lady altar was probably sixth century, there were three feast to be found in all the most important days in honour of Mary. Beyond all churches. Many records testify that at doubt, the devotion to the Blessed such altars, paintings, mosaics, and, Virgin had assumed all those elements ultimately, sculptures reproduced which are usually associated with the fi gure of the Blessed Virgin to Page 52 the great appreciation of the faithful. especially the Rosary, penitence, By the eleventh century, we fi nd the and sacrifi ce. Mary’s role is to bring Angelus and the Salve Regina, which us to her Son who gave her to us as are still sung and recited throughout our Mother, and, like any mother, she the Catholic world. The twelfth century wants to protect us from all harm. gave us the fi rst half of the Hail Mary, When the atomic bomb destroyed but it was not until the fourteenth Hiroshima in 1945, eight men living century that the name of Jesus was near the blinding centre of the added, and St. Bernardine completed nuclear fl ash miraculously survived it by giving us the second half in the the searing hurricane of blast and sixteenth century. gamma rays, while everyone within The most important Marian prayer, a mile radius perished. For decades, the Rosary, started to develop in the 200 scientists have examined these Middle Ages and it was the practice men, trying in vain to determine what to wear the beads, which were of could have preserved them from different fashions and lengths. Some incineration. One of the survivors, Fr. had 15 decades, some 10, some 5 and H. Shiffner of the Society of Jesus, some even less. The mysteries were gave this dramatic answer on TV added during the fi fteenth century, in in America: ‘In that house, we were the Low Countries, by members of the living the message of Fatima’. Dominican order. In the seventeenth It may be clear that the Virgin Mary century, St. Louis Grignion de is as popular in the Catholic Church Montfort wrote his great spiritual work, as she ever has been. Indeed, it has ‘True Devotion to Mary’, in which he been argued that she is more popular tells us that the most perfect way to than she has ever been. The late Jesus is by consecrating ourselves Pope, John Paul II, dedicated his to Him through Mary. It was now that pontifi cate to her, and attributed his sodalities of the Blessed Virgin began survival of the assassination attempt to manifest themselves, particularly in to her intervention. He later placed the houses of education whose members bullet at the shrine in Fatima. There consecrated their studies by placing have been so many apparitions of them under the patronage of Mary, the Virgin Mary since the last World Queen of Purity. The month of May War, that it may be said that she has was dedicated to Mary, and May overshadowed all the other saints. processions honouring her became This is only appropriate: no other very popular. human has ever been so close to the The greatest stimulus to Marian Divine as Our Lady. In St. John the devotion in recent times has been Baptist’s, Perth, devotion to the Virgin afforded by the apparitions of the Mary is as strong as ever. There are Blessed Virgin to St. Bernadette in still recitals of the Rosary, May and Lourdes and to St. Catherine Laboure October are still dedicated to her, and in Paris, both in the nineteenth century, on the Feast Days of Our Lady the and to the children in Fatima in 1917. parish priest wears blue vestments. She comes as our Mother to call us to be reconciled to God by prayer, AL

Page 53 a Holy Year was proclaimed. Third Pilgrimages came Santiago de Compostela, in north-western Spain. Nobody quite From the fourth century onwards, knows why it was St. James’ bones pilgrimages have formed an integral that attracted more pilgrims than part of the Catholic experience. They any of his fellow Apostles, with the originated in a deep-seated need to exception of saints Peter and Paul. stand where the martyrs died, to walk Yet, every year, the Sacred Road was the streets where Our Lord had walked. full of the pious, the curious, or just The act of travelling to a sacred site is plain tourists. not confi ned to Catholicism, indeed, Closer to home, in Canterbury, is not just a Christian expression of St. Thomas Becket attracted many religious sentiment. All religions have pilgrims, as did the Apostle Andrew aspects of travel to sacred sites, and in Saint Andrews in Fife. Local it is a reasonable assumption that pilgrimage sites normally are more early Christians copied the practice diffi cult to assess; we simply do not from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian know whether any of the faithful examples. Initially, pilgrimages were travelled to St. Fillan’s bones in predominantly to the Holy Land, and Glendochart, although we do know the earliest records of Christians that King Robert the Bruce held him involved in ritual travel come from in special veneration. And did anyone there. Soon, however, Rome, with from Perth actually travel to the shrine its associations with St. Paul and the of the only home-grown saint? Were martyrs, and other sacred places, there Perthshire pilgrims going to St. began to feature on the pilgrimage William of Perth in Rochester? Again, itinerary. we cannot be sure. What we do know For many centuries, this was one is that the Reformation theoretically of the main reasons for ordinary put an end to this. Theoretically, for people to fi nd themselves on the road. there are a myriad of complaints Travelling to shrines took pilgrims to from Presbyterian ministers about all corners of the Christian world and the ‘ignorant multitude’ continuing in beyond, thereby providing them with their ‘papistical’ practices. Ironically, a sense of the reach of the Church we know that after the Reformation of which they were members. By pilgrimages were made to St. Fillan the thirteenth century, the roll-call of in Glendochart, and we have a international pilgrimage places was report from Bishop Geddes in the well established. Top of the list came late eighteenth century in which he Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and this mentions the Catholic communities in spite of occasional Muslim hostility around Drummond Castle and to Christian pilgrims. This was closely Stobhall engaged in the practice. followed by Rome. The Eternal City Around the same time, we learn drew large crowds wishing to visit the that Protestants still went illicitly to a centre of the Church, vastly increased former holy well in Findo Gask, just in numbers every fi fty years, when outside Perth. It was not until the nineteenth century

Page 54 that ordinary Perthshire Catholics St. Columba who did so much to could once again contemplate bring Christianity to Scotland, has participating in international also witnessed a return of Catholic pilgrimages. For important families, pilgrims. Of course, pilgrimage is such as the Dukes of Perth, Rome was frequently, perhaps overwhelmingly, always a possible destination, and we the endeavour of individuals or small know that many travelled there. With groups. It can be, and often is, a Catholic emancipation, and with better community enterprise. As early as transport links, however, the holy sites 1890 we fi nd an organised pilgrimage became accessible to everyone once from St. John’s to Mount Croach again. This had as its unintended Patrick in Ireland. Ten years earlier consequence that Scottish Catholics still, the fi rst organised pilgrimage to once more encountered their Church Lourdes had taken place. Since then, abroad, and, as a result, could begin the parish, or parishioners with others to think of themselves as members from the Dunkeld diocese, has seen of a global body again. In Rome and organised pilgrimages to a number in Spain, they could stay in the Scots of shrines. Important amongst these Colleges, and in Germany, until the have been St. Margaret of Scotland third quarter of the nineteenth century, at Dunfermline, Iona, the Holy Land, in the Schottenkloster. Rome, and, of course, Lourdes, which Rome and the Holy Land were the is an annual event. two most desirable destinations, but, in the mid-nineteenth century, they were joined by the fi rst of the great HS and SC Marian sites, in Lourdes. There, after the appearance of Our Lady in 1858, sprang up the most important new pilgrimage site in the Catholic Church, and very soon, Scottish Catholics found their way to southern France. In 1917, this was joined by Fatima in Portugal, where Our Lady appeared, too. The Church has not offi cially endorsed the visions at Medjugorje, but that, too, has attracted many pilgrims since 1981. On the Continent, the saints attracted, and still attract, plenty of Perth pilgrims. In Scotland, pilgrimages have revived, too. Although it has lost some of its popularity, Our Lady’s grotto at Carfi nn, constructed by unemployed Lithuanian Catholics during the Great Depression, has been an important focal point. Iona, the monastery of

Page 55 Part Four: Artistic Achievement

Page 56 The Building of the Church of St. was ordained in 1847. The school John the Baptist was opened in the following year and improvements were carried out in the church’s interior. This became more The land on which St. John the Continental in outlook, with Mr. Allan of Baptist’s church is built was purchased Inchmartine paying for a marble altar, by a Mr. Bremner of Edinburgh, acting a new sanctuary, and donating a fi ne on behalf of Fr. William Reid. Reid had silver chalice. The money raised, St. been the missionary of the mission at John’s was closed for some months Park before 1812. The land lay just in 1855 to allow for the construction outside the confi nes of the city of of the extension, under the direction Perth, in what Fr. William Wallace, in of Perthshire architect, Andrew Heiton a letter to Bishop Alexander Cameron, Jr. It re-opened in 1856. later called ‘an unfrequented street’. It was Fr. George Rigg, later the fi rst Construction on the chapel did not post-Reformation Bishop of Dunkeld, begin until 1831, with the arrival of who presided over the rededication. Fr. John Geddes, the fi rst Catholic He also opened the new school in the priest resident in Perth since the High Street. The old organ must have Reformation. It was halted by his been too small for this new building, sudden death in January 1832, aged and in 1867 a new one was installed, only 24. After a gap of a few months Fr. under the auspices of Fr. Cummings. James Mackay, the new missionary, That year, Andrew Heiton Jr. began the arrived, and work recommenced. In construction of St. Mary’s monastery all, it cost some £1,300 to built, and it in Kinnoull. Twelve years later, in was opened on 18th November 1832. 1878, the hierarchy was restored It was solemnly dedicated on 16th in Scotland, and George Rigg, now December. Fr. Mackay then built the Bishop, chose St. John’s as the seat presbytery house at 16 Melville Street for his new diocese. He extended the in 1834, costing another £500. The church by adding a Lady’s Chapel, costs involved were large, although where he was interred upon his the poverty of the congregation may death. His successor, Bishop Smith, have been a little exaggerated. For resided in Perth until moving to his some years, Fr. Mackay would take new cathedral in Dundee in 1894. in lodgers from Perth Academy to The presence of both bishops gave supplement his income. impetus to renewed construction. By the mid-1840s, the Catholic In 1885-6, work was begun on a population grew enormously, and the belfry. Although the intended tower need to enlarge the church arose. never materialised, a 300 lb bell The fi rst efforts to raise funds were was eventually installed in 1886. undertaken, and, with the arrival Donated by Louis Stratz and blessed in 1846 of Fr. McCorry, this was by Bishop Rigg on the Feast of the stepped up. He also drew up plans Immaculate Conception, it fi rst rang for a school. During his tenure, Fr. out at Midnight Mass that year. Archibald MacDonald, the fi rst Perth- Just before Bishop Smith moved to born priest since the Reformation, Dundee, the church was, once more,

Page 57 closed for a few months. Internal and scale. Perhaps the most intrusive external work was carried out, which one was the demolition of Bishop included lifting the lower 1832 roof Rigg’s Lady’s Chapel, which was to the level of the 1855 section. The removed to make way for a hall. More font from the chapel at Tullymet was sympathetic have been the external installed, as were some of its stained restorations, the repairs to the roof, glass windows at a later date (1901). and the cosmetic improvements for It was into this now much roomier the 175th anniversary of the building, building that a Neo-Gothic high altar which saw the old fl ooring replaced, was installed in 1905. It replaced the a new heating system installed, and artistically refi ned altar donated by even cushions placed on the pews. Viscount Allan, and, at 27 feet high, fi tted rather badly into the apse. In 1921 a Restoration and Renovation Group was set up, which collected funds for improvements. In 1925 enough money had been raised for the installation of electric lights, new heating, altar rails, two new confessionals, and a window and plaque for the dead from the First World War. The church was not to alter its appearance in a signifi cant way again for nearly half a century. The only real change was the installation of the Sanctuary Lamp in 1941, a donation by the grateful Polish armed forces. In 1967, the church closed for some months to carry out the changes required by the Second Vatican Council’s decisions on the liturgy. The 1907 High Altar was ripped out, and replaced by a much plainer one, allowing space for the celebrant to face the congregation. A proper concrete foundation was laid under the entire fl oor, which had previously rested on sand. With the High Altar, the altar rails vanished. The old gallery was removed and replaced, and a new organ, previously in a United Presbyterian Church in Dundee, put in place. Since then, more changes have occurred, although not on this SC

Page 58 The Monastery offers ecumenical St. Mary’s Monastery, hospitality to all the Churches in Kinnoull Scotland. Presbyterian ministers, Episcopalian priests, Methodist Ministers, together with members of St. Mary’s Monastery was built by their parishes and congregations, fi nd the Redemptorists in the 1860s as a an ideal environment for their own centre for missions and retreats. In the spiritual renewal in the tranquillity words of Cardinal O’Brien, St. Mary’s of the monastery, with its peaceful has “been central in the development gardens. The Rev. David Ogston of the spiritual lives of most of our captured the atmosphere well when priests in Scotland over the years – as he wrote, “the very stones breathe well as, of course, helping tremendous contemplation and prayer”. And the numbers of religious and lay people”. former Episcopal Primus, Bishop For well over a hundred years, every Bruce Cameron, wrote, “St. Mary’s single priest in Scotland made his plays a signifi cant part in the life of the retreat at St. Mary’s, and, from St. Scottish Episcopal Church. Through Mary’s, Redemptorist priests travelled summer schools for ordinands and throughout Scotland preaching parish lay ministers, to Cursillo weekends, missions and retreats. and conferences and retreats many In the 1980s, in response to the Episcopalians have experienced the needs of the wider community, the warmth of Kinnoull hospitality. We facilities of the monastery were are very grateful for the openness made available to the general public. of the Institute to this ecumenical The courses in spiritual and human involvement”. When one contemplates development which are now offered the diffi culties which were put in the by the staff of St. Mary’s attract way of the founding members of the people from all over Britain, and community by some, but not all, of from countries around the world. the other denominations, this is a Twice a year, St. Mary’s has a Seven remarkable and providential change, Week Sabbatical Course for Priests, indeed. Religious, and Lay Pastoral Leaders. The Crypt at St. Mary’s was On these courses you will fi nd men offi cially opened by Provost Hulbert and women from New Zealand and on 1 November 2007. This is a Australia, USA and Canada, the new facility, comprising four rooms Philippines and South America, and underneath the church, which will from many of the African countries. now be available to groups from the Bishop Logan drew attention to this city of Perth for their own educational, when he wrote, “St. Mary’s, Kinnoull, cultural and social needs. The Crypt, is a unique resource in Scotland designed by Andrew Heiton Jr., and its role is both national and Perth’s most illustrious architect, has international”. As such, it refl ects been called an “architectural gem” the parish of St. John the Baptist: and will provide a unique ambiance both have increasingly become for meetings. Once more, St. Mary’s is internationalised. playing its part in the wider integration

Page 59 of the Catholic community of Perth with the rest of the city. And, like the Catholic community, it has been able to do so without losing its own, unique culture.

JM

Artistic Endeavours the priests who study there. The same is true for the Royal Scots College in Spain. These two centres As volume one of this small series of the Scottish Catholic Church fi nd exploring the past of the Catholic themselves in cultures which are community in and around Perth shows, immersed in Catholicism, unlike the the quality of the artistic production, environment in which the Scottish and the aesthetic appreciation of Catholic community has had to the community has fl uctuated wildly operate since 1560. And thus we fi nd over time. There have been some Italianate neo-Baroque crucifi xes, real highlights, as, for example, the such as the one donated by Mr. Allan decision to give the commission of Inchmartine, which once stood on to build St. Mary’s Monastery to a neo-Baroque altar. Andrew Heiton Jr., who was one of Then there is France, with, as an Scotland’s better architects. At the artistic twin, Belgium. For many same time, there is much that is plain centuries, Catholic communities in and commonplace. And this is to be Scotland looked to these countries expected: why would the Catholic to provide them with the necessities community differ greatly from their for saying Mass: chalices, patens, neighbours in that respect? vestments, etc. One can, therefore, Where it did and does differ is in detect changes in taste in those the wide range of infl uences which countries echoed throughout the range its artistic culture experiences. No of church furnishings in Scotland. This Catholic community anywhere in is less so the case today, but the 1921 the world can be impervious to what chalice, the monstrance from Kinnoull, happens on an artistic level in the and the former high altar in St. John centre of their world: Rome. For the Baptist’s all bear testimony to this the Scots, this infl uence has long fact, as does the interior of the church been enhanced by the presence of in St. Mary’s monastery. the Scots College there, a conduit For the period between the 1830s for new thinking on the arts through and the 1950s, church architecture Page 60 and furnishings were dominated by easily within what had become ‘The the neo-Gothic style. This began as Style’ of religious art. The cast-iron a potent counterblast to the philistine statue of Our Lady of Lourdes may be iconoclasm of the French Revolution, cited in this respect. Whilst perfectly with the publication of Chateaubriand’s conventional in what it portrays, it Génie du christianisme in the 1790s. Its does so in a material that was far secular expressions are well-known, from normal. A more adventurous as is the impact it had on the Church approach to religious art can also been of England. In Scotland, it would, in seen in the Stations of the Cross, or the long-term, mould the architecture in the Sanctuary Lamp, both of which of the Church of Scotland as much as deviate quite considerably from the it would that of the Catholic Church. dominant artistic taste of the period Yet there always was some tension. during which they were created. To many, particularly to those with an No survey of the way in which ultramontane view, Italy should be successive generations of Catholics the source of the artistic expression have given shape to their religious of Catholicism. This was perhaps environment can be complete without particularly true for the noble and touching upon the impact of the aristocratic donors to the community Second Vatican Council. The results of St. John’s. With the exception of of the decisions made by the fathers William Dick from Tullymet, all donors of the Council were far-reaching, and, display at best a tension between the artistically at least, a double-edged pull of the international neo-Gothic sword. So much of the old artistic and that of Italy. patrimony was swept away that one Mr. Allan of Inchmartine suffered least may, at times, speak of iconoclasm. from this, Sir William Drummond- Nor were the replacements always Steuart most; and so one can see of the highest quality. One only has the impact of Chateaubriand on the to look at the missal from Kinnoull font and stained glass windows in St. printed in 1913, and compare that John’s, whereas the Italian infl uence with what has been printed since to is visible in Lady Gray’s donation of understand the relative decline in a rock crystal crucifi x. Later years artistic achievement. would weaken both movements. Neo- Against the losses and the decline Gothic received one fi nal impulse in artistic standards must be set from the Arts and Craft Movement, but the freedom to think again on what this shows more in the commissions constitutes religious art. One needs, from the Church of Scotland than in in this respect, to remember that those from the Catholic community. the art of the Counter-Reformation Pastiche was slowly infi ltrating, which did not spring up within two years of is well expressed in the decline of the Martin Luther, either. The new statue art of statue making. of St. John the Baptist, for example, Beneath these overseas infl uences can rival anything produced in a one may also detect a more previous age, and could not even identifi ably local impulse, as well as have been contemplated without ideas from abroad which did not sit the freedom created by the Council.

Page 61 The old neo-Gothic expression had, with a few exceptions, gone stale. It will not do to point at the gloriously delicate 1921 chalice, and use that as if it is representative of the artistic achievements of that period. For that, it has too much of the Art Deco style. It is to be hoped that, unlike in the 1920s, some of the modern trends in the artistic world will fi nd permanent echo in the art which the Church will commission over the next decades to give a cultural expression to the teachings which she holds dear.

HS

175th Anniversary

Available now:

Volume Two: History of the Parish of St. John the Baptist, Perth

In the spring of 2008 a third volume in this series will be published, covering the oral history of the parish.

Volume Three: Oral Memories from the Parish of St. John the Baptist, Perth

Should you be interested in this, please contact:

Mgr Charles Hendry, 20 Melville Street, PERTH PH1 5PY

01738 622241

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