Page 9 - Ordinariate Scotland Newsletter - Easter 2024
P. 9
News from The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in Scotland Page 9
New home for Edinburgh Mission
Church of Scotland, took over the Ordinariate in Edinburgh.
the building but by the 1850s Fr. Gerard has been a supporter
the church was sold again, this of the Ordinariate for many
time to the growing Catholic years, and is well known to Mgr
Church in Scotland. Keith Newton who said, I am
not surprised that Fr. Gerard
The Cowgate was then known Hatton suggested that. I have
as Little Ireland , due to the known him for some years,
numbers of Irish immigrants
St. Patrick’s
S t . P a trick ’ s who had settled in the tall and
HE EDINBURGH has a cramped tenements of the area.
T Tnew home in the Church Even with the poverty of the
of St. Patrick in the heart of time they were still able to raise
the historic city of Edinburgh. £2000 of the £4000 needed to
The offer of a permanent base purchase the church. In the
came from Fr. Gerard Hatton 1890s the church was extended
and Fr. Ninian Doohan, who by reorientating the building
are forming a Congregation of by 90 degrees allowing a much
the Oratory at St. Patrick’s with larger sanctuary to be built,
the support of the Archbishop with side chapels on either side.
of St. Andrews and Edinburgh,
Archbishop Leo Cushley. The church also contains
the grave and shrine of the
The Lady Chapel in St. Patrick’s
The church itself is in the Venerable Margaret Sinclair, T he L ad y C hapel in S t . P a trick ’ s
very centre of Edinburgh and a parishioner of this church
can be approached from the in the 1900s who eventually and I think it would be a much
Royal Mile, as well as from the became a Poor Clare, dying of better place for mass as it is in
medieval Cowgate. It is an oasis tuberculosis at the age of 25. the centre of the city. It will
of peace in an otherwise very There is a great devotion to her certainly make a difference to
busy part of the city, and can in the Scottish Catholic Church. have clergy who are supportive,
be easily accessed using public rather than just tolerate us.
transport making it far more In the apse of the original
convenient venue for those church, there were a set of The style of worship of the
coming to Mass. nationally important murals Oratorians is very much the
produced by Alexander style of the Ordinariate, which
The church itself has a very Runciman (1736-1785), means that there will be no
interesting history; built in believed to be the only church need to re-arrange of sanctuary
the 1770s by the Scottish work of Runciman to have and altar that we had to do
Episcopal Church - the very survived. These murals had elsewhere. The Ordinariate
church that so many of the been painted over during Mass is sung in the very
Edinburgh group were brought the time of the presbyterian spacious and beautiful Lady
up in. When the Episcopalians congregation, but so far four Chapel which, like the rest of
sold the church to move into have been restored and there the church, has a very elegant
the rather grander New Town is hope for further restoration marble communion rail -
of Edinburgh, the Scottish work to come. kneeling for communion being
Relief Church, one of the early another devotional feature we
groups to break away from We are delighted that this is share with the Oratorians.
the Established Presbyterian now the permanent home for
