Issue 1 March 2016 400th Anniversary Edition Pontifical Scots College Newsletter In this issue: Rector’s Welcome - Rector’s Welcome Fr. Daniel Fitzpatrick Father Daniel Fitzpatrick on the newsletter and the 400th anniversary. I am delighted to be able to introduce the inaugural edition of the - Ogilvie and the Oath new newsletter of the Pontifical Scots College in Rome. It is Second year Joe McGill reflects on the important for us to be able to keep in touch with the many people at saint who inspired a seminary. home in Scotland, and elsewhere, whose prayers and support for the - Clement VIII: College Founder College allow it to continue to play its important role in forming and Baptizer of the Coffee Bean priests for the dioceses of Scotland. We know that not everyone is able to follow all that happens here using the new technology of our Second year Christopher Doig considers website and social media, so we hope that this newsletter will allow the influence our founding Pontiff had those of you who prefer paper to the screen to feel very much part of on the Church in Scotland. this little part of Scotland out here in the city of the Apostles. - The Call to Priesthood I would like to thank all those whose hard work and dedication have Third year Ryan Black tells us about his helped produce this newsletter. They have worked hard to help give vocation story so far. our readers an insight into what we do here in the College and to the - ‘Vale’ wider interests and activities of our seminarians. I hope that you find Fourth year Andrew McGowan something to interest you and give you a sense of the life of the seminary. writes a poem. For many years the College has been able to welcome many visitors - In the Footsteps of Saint James from parish groups and pilgrimages to families and friends of our Fifth year Emmet O’Dowd talks about a seminarians. Whatever your connection with the College, I invite recently completed pilgrimage. you to take a moment to remember us in your prayers as we celebrate 400 years of priestly formation this year. Father Daniel Fitzpatrick is a priest of the Diocese of Paisley. He was appointed as Rector of the Pontifical Scots College St. John Ogilvie, pray for us! by Pope Francis in 2015 Portrait of St. John Ogilvie, Royal Scots College, Salamanca Log on to our new website, which was launched on 16th November 2015, the Feast of Queen Saint Margaret of Scotland: www.scotscollege.org Ogilvie and the Oath Joe McGill, Philosophy II In the year 1616, on 10th March, house (an advocate of parliament sixteen students took the and secret Catholic), he became missionary oath to return to famous for his devotion to the Scotland as secular priests. They duties of his vocation, comforting had been given three months by and encouraging Catholics and Pope Paul V (formerly the first making converts. Cardinal-Protector of the College) to take the oath or leave the A few months later, in late August, College. This move was made as it Ogilvie began working in became clear that Scotland would Glasgow as well, and found great not return to the church of its own success there, rebuilding a accord and that priests were Catholic congregation in Clement VIII: College Founder needed to bring the faith to the Renfrewshire. This he continued people. to do until he was arrested on 4th and baptizer of the coffee bean October 1614 in Glasgow. After This request by the Holy Father Christopher Doig, Philosophy II had originally been met with some months of trials and torture, reluctance; it was the first during which he never gave up the Clement VIII is an important figure in the history of the identities of secret Catholics, he Scottish Church. During the Reformation, when Catholics anniversary of John Ogilvie’s were heavily persecuted, and many were driven out of their martyrdom that inspired the men was finally martyred at Glasgow Cross on 10th March 1615. country, some clergy had made their way to Rome and to devote themselves completely pleaded with the Pope for a place where young Scots could to the Scottish Mission as priests. be educated. A group of Scottish Jesuits, who were already This great saint has had a This purpose began then and has present in Rome, supported this request and Pope Clement profound effect on the history of remained in the College now for finally agreed to it. The Papal Bull was written on 5th the Scots College in Rome, and four hundred years. December 1600 and the Scots College eventually was opened his example continues to inspire in 1602. For the past number of years we have had the This saint who inspires still today the seminarians in the eternal city, privilege of celebrating Mass in a private chapel of St Mary over four hundred years after his even four hundred years after his Major’s Basilica where our founder’s tomb is located. death played an immeasurable role Clement VIII is also well known for welcoming the coffee in the College’s history. Who was bean into the Christian West. His advisors were hoping it this man whom we celebrate here would be banned because it had been brought by the in Rome, along with the Church in Muslims, with whom they had been at war, so they called it the ‘drink of the devil’. The Roman Pontiff, intrigued by this Scotland, on 10th March? exotic drink, demanded to try it before making a decision. John Ogilvie was born around He delighted in this wonderfully stimulating beverage and 1579 in Drum-na-Keith to a said, “This devil’s drink is delicious. We should cheat the devil by baptising it.” Thus it was given his blessing and then Calvinist family, but while spread throughout the Christian world. studying in Louvain was received into the Church in 1597. In the Today coffee has become probably one of the most popular years following, St. John Ogilvie drinks in the West and it is an integral part of the life of a joined the Society of Jesus and Scottish seminarian. Without it, studying philosophy and was ordained a priest in Paris in Ogilvie stained glass window theology would be almost impossible; it would be like 1610. at the College climbing up a steep mountain without taking any water. martyrdom. Remember, the next time you are sipping your dark brew, In the autumn of 1613, St. John say in your heart ‘Deo Gratias!’ and thank Pope Clement Ogilvie was sent back to Scotland John Ogilvie is Scotland’s most VIII as well. to “reconcile as many as possible recent saint, but it is our hope and to the Catholic Church.” Little is prayer here in Rome that he is not known of the first six months of the last! his ministry around Scotland, however he did travel to London in February 1614 and most likely met with James VI concerning a political project to aid the King’s relations with the courts of Europe. This was not as unlikely as it seems at first, as the King had dealings with other Jesuits in the past (his wife had been converted to Catholicism by Fr. Abercromby S.J. in 1600). Following this escapade, his superiors sent Ogilvie back to Scotland and it is his work from then on that we know best. Making his base in Pope Clement VIII 1592-1605 Edinburgh at William Sinclair’s Ogilvie Coat of Arms (Ippolito Aldobrandini ) Pontifical Scots College Via Cassia 481, Rome [email protected] The Call to Priesthood Vale Ryan Black, Theology I by Andrew MacGowan, Theology II There are a few questions that every seminarian will be asked at least a When lightening crack whips up a dozen times during his time in seminary. One of them is, “Isn’t it squall, wonderful living in Rome?”, and While every person who prays for another is, “What made you decide welcome quicksand waves enthral, the community is a benefactor, it to go to seminary?”. a walk across the windy lake, seems appropriate to mention in particular The Scots College While the answer to the first exhausts the tempest, glass to make. Society. The members are former question changes depending on how students of the College who wish close to exams the seminarians are, or how hot the Eternal City is in to support the current community June, the answer to the second Would weakness from such energy in a variety of practical ways. question never really changes. Many of the members are not spent priests, and when the Society had I grew up in a Catholic family. My its 100th meeting at the College in brother and I were never given the break your will and cause relent? 2013 , a number of the members’ opportunity to think about whether wives joined us for the festivities. going to Mass was a good thing – Your icy back having turned my way; our parents decided that for us. endless night of darkest day! If you are a former student of the Every week, whether we liked it or Pontifical Scots College in not, we would head to the church Rome or would like to know more and sit in the back pews (like all about the Society, you can contact good Catholics do). Like many Why punish me for Petrine treason? boys, I became an altar server after the President: I had received my First Holy I am not rock.