Archdiocese of Glasgow
Encyclopedia
The Archdiocese of Glasgow was one of the thirteen (after 1633 fourteen) diocese
s of the Scottish church. It was the second largest diocese in the Kingdom of Scotland
, including Clydesdale
, Teviotdale, parts of Tweeddale
, Liddesdale
, Annandale, Nithsdale
, Cunninghame
, Kyle
, and Strathgryfe
, as well as Lennox
Carrick
and the part of Galloway known as Desnes
.
Glasgow became an archbishopric in 1492, eventually securing the dioceses of Galloway, Argyll and the Isles as suffragans. The Scottish church broke its allegiance to Rome in 1560, but bishops continued intermittently until 1689.
The diocese of Glasgow became important in the 12th century. It was organized by King David I of Scotland
and John
, Bishop of Glasgow. There had been an earlier religious site the exact age of which is unknown. According to doubtful hagiographical tradition, this ecclesiatical site had been established by Saint Kentigern
. The bishopric became one of the largest and wealthiest in the Kingdom of Scotland
, bringing wealth and status to the town. Somewhere between 1175 and 1178 this position was strengthened even further when Bishop Jocelin obtained for the episcopal settlement the status of burgh
from King William the Lion
, allowing the settlement to expand with the benefits of trading monopolies and other legal guarantees. Sometime between 1189 and 1195 this status was supplemented by an annual fair, which survives to this day as the Glasgow Fair
.
Until 1560, when practice of the Catholic Faith was suppressed by act of the Parliament of Scotland
nearly all the bishops of Glasgow took an active share in the government of the country, whether as chancellors
or treasurers
of the kingdom or as members of regency during the minority of a sovereign. Robert Wishart
(consecrated 1272, d. 1316) was conspicuous for his patriotism during the Scottish War of Independence
from England
, and was the close friend of William Wallace
and Robert Bruce
. William Turnbull (consecrated 1447, d. 1454) obtained in 1450 from Pope Nicholas V
the charter of foundation for the University of Glasgow
.
On 9 January 1492, Pope Innocent VIII
raised the see to metropolitan
rank, attaching to it the suffragan diocese
s of Argyle, Dunblane, Dunkeld, and Galloway. James Beaton, nephew of the celebrated cardinal
of the same surname, was the fourth and last archbishop
of the old hierarchy.
In 1560, eight years after his nomination, he was forced to retire to France
, where he acted as confidential agent of Mary, Queen of Scots, and later openly as ambassador for James VI
, till his death in Paris
, 25 April 1603. He carried away with him the diocesan records, two of which deserve special mention: (1) "Registrum Vetus Ecclesiae Cathedralis Glasguensis", in handwriting of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and (2) "Liber Ruber Ecclesiae Glasguensis", with entries from about 1400 to 1476. These, along with other records, were in 1843 printed in a volume for the Maitland Club under the title: "Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis: Munimenta Ecclesiae Metropolitanae Glasguensis a sede restauratâ saeculo ineunte XII ad reformatam religionem". A more splendid memorial of those times still remains in the old cathedral of St. Mungo, which was begun by Bishop Jocelyn (consecrated 1175, d. 1199) and received its last additions from Archbishop Blackader
(consecr. 1484, d. 1508).
, the Holy See
erected the Western District or Vicariate of Scotland, and the first vicar Apostolic
to reside in Glasgow was Andrew Scott
, Bishop of Eretria (b. 1772, d, 1846). He was succeeded by John Murdoch
, Bishop of Castabala (b. 1796, d. 1865) and John Gray
, Bishop of Hypsopolis (b. 1817, d. 1872). On the resignation of Bishop Gray in 1869 Charles Petre Eyre
(b. 1817, d. 1902) was consecrated Archbishop of Anazarba and appointed administrator Apostolic. On the Restoration of the Scottish hierarchy
by Pope Leo XIII
, 4 March 1878, the Archbishopric of Glasgow was re-established, and Archbishop Eyre was transferred to the restored see.
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
s of the Scottish church. It was the second largest diocese in the Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
, including Clydesdale
Clydesdale
Clydesdale was formerly one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland.The district was formed by the Local Government Act 1973 from part of the former county of Lanarkshire: namely the burghs of Biggar and Lanark and the First, Second and Third Districts...
, Teviotdale, parts of Tweeddale
Tweeddale
Tweeddale is a committee area and lieutenancy area in the Scottish Borders with a population of 17,394 at the latest census in 2001 it is the second smallest of the 5 committee areas in the Borders. It is the traditional name for the area drained by the upper reaches of the River Tweed...
, Liddesdale
Liddesdale
Liddesdale, the valley of the Liddel Water, in the County of Roxburgh, southern Scotland, extends in a south-westerly direction from the vicinity of Peel Fell to the River Esk, a distance of...
, Annandale, Nithsdale
Nithsdale
Nithsdale , also known by its anglicised gaelic name Strathnith or Stranit, is the valley of the River Nith in Scotland, and the name of the region...
, Cunninghame
Cunninghame
Cunninghame is a former comital district of Scotland and also a district of the Strathclyde Region from 1975–1996.-Historic Cunninghame:The historic district of Cunninghame was bordered by the districts of Renfrew and Clydesdale to the north and east respectively, by the district of Kyle to the...
, Kyle
Kyle, Ayrshire
Kyle is a former comital district of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern day East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire...
, and Strathgryfe
Strathgryfe
Strathgryffe or Gryffe Valley is a strath or wide valley centred on the River Gryffe in the west central Lowlands of Scotland....
, as well as Lennox
Lennox
Lennox may refer to:* Lennox , often referred to as "The Lennox", an historic mormaerdom, earldom and then dukedom, in Stirling, Scotland* Lennox International, a global manufacturer of furnaces and central air conditioners....
Carrick
Carrick, Scotland
Carrick is a former comital district of Scotland which today forms part of South Ayrshire.-History:The word Carrick comes from the Gaelic word Carraig, meaning rock or rocky place. Maybole was the historic capital of Carrick. The county was eventually combined into Ayrshire which was divided...
and the part of Galloway known as Desnes
Kirkcudbrightshire
The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright or Kirkcudbrightshire was a county of south-western Scotland. It was also known as East Galloway, forming the larger Galloway region with Wigtownshire....
.
Glasgow became an archbishopric in 1492, eventually securing the dioceses of Galloway, Argyll and the Isles as suffragans. The Scottish church broke its allegiance to Rome in 1560, but bishops continued intermittently until 1689.
History
David I of Scotland
David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...
and John
John the Chaplain
John was an early 12th century Tironensian cleric. He was the chaplain and close confident of King David I of Scotland, before becoming Bishop of Glasgow and founder of Glasgow Cathedral. He was one of the most significant religious reformers in the history of Scotland...
, Bishop of Glasgow. There had been an earlier religious site the exact age of which is unknown. According to doubtful hagiographical tradition, this ecclesiatical site had been established by Saint Kentigern
Saint Mungo
Saint Mungo is the commonly used name for Saint Kentigern . He was the late 6th century apostle of the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in modern Scotland, and patron saint and founder of the city of Glasgow.-Name:In Wales and England, this saint is known by his birth and baptismal name Kentigern...
. The bishopric became one of the largest and wealthiest in the Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
, bringing wealth and status to the town. Somewhere between 1175 and 1178 this position was strengthened even further when Bishop Jocelin obtained for the episcopal settlement the status of burgh
Burgh
A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...
from King William the Lion
William I of Scotland
William the Lion , sometimes styled William I, also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough", reigned as King of the Scots from 1165 to 1214...
, allowing the settlement to expand with the benefits of trading monopolies and other legal guarantees. Sometime between 1189 and 1195 this status was supplemented by an annual fair, which survives to this day as the Glasgow Fair
Glasgow Fair
The Glasgow Fair is a holiday during the last fortnight in July in the city of Glasgow Scotland. 'The Fair' is the oldest of a number of similar holidays, dating from the 12th century...
.
Until 1560, when practice of the Catholic Faith was suppressed by act of the Parliament of Scotland
Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at...
nearly all the bishops of Glasgow took an active share in the government of the country, whether as chancellors
Lord Chancellor of Scotland
The Lord Chancellor of Scotland was a Great Officer of State in pre-Union Scotland.Holders of the office are known from 1123 onwards, but its duties were occasionally performed by an official of lower status with the title of Keeper of the Great Seal...
or treasurers
Treasurer of Scotland
The Treasurer was a senior post in the pre-Union government of Scotland, the Privy Council of Scotland.The full title of the post was Lord High Treasurer, Comptroller, Collector-General and Treasurer of the New Augmentation, formed as it was from the amalgamation of four earlier offices...
of the kingdom or as members of regency during the minority of a sovereign. Robert Wishart
Robert Wishart
Robert Wishart was Bishop of Glasgow during the Wars of Scottish Independence and a leading supporter of Robert Bruce. For Wishart and many of his fellow churchmen the freedom of Scotland and the freedom of the Scottish church were one and the same thing...
(consecrated 1272, d. 1316) was conspicuous for his patriotism during the Scottish War of Independence
Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the independent Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries....
from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and was the close friend of William Wallace
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....
and Robert Bruce
Robert I of Scotland
Robert I , popularly known as Robert the Bruce , was King of Scots from March 25, 1306, until his death in 1329.His paternal ancestors were of Scoto-Norman heritage , and...
. William Turnbull (consecrated 1447, d. 1454) obtained in 1450 from Pope Nicholas V
Pope Nicholas V
Pope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455.-Biography:He was born at Sarzana, Liguria, where his father was a physician...
the charter of foundation for the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
.
On 9 January 1492, Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII , born Giovanni Battista Cybo , was Pope from 1484 until his death.-Early years:Giovanni Battista Cybo was born at Genoa of Greek extraction...
raised the see to metropolitan
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
rank, attaching to it the suffragan diocese
Suffragan Diocese
A suffragan diocese is a diocese in the Catholic Church that is overseen not only by its own diocesan bishop but also by a metropolitan bishop. The metropolitan is always an archbishop who governs his own archdiocese...
s of Argyle, Dunblane, Dunkeld, and Galloway. James Beaton, nephew of the celebrated cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
of the same surname, was the fourth and last archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of the old hierarchy.
In 1560, eight years after his nomination, he was forced to retire to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where he acted as confidential agent of Mary, Queen of Scots, and later openly as ambassador for James VI
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, till his death in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 25 April 1603. He carried away with him the diocesan records, two of which deserve special mention: (1) "Registrum Vetus Ecclesiae Cathedralis Glasguensis", in handwriting of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and (2) "Liber Ruber Ecclesiae Glasguensis", with entries from about 1400 to 1476. These, along with other records, were in 1843 printed in a volume for the Maitland Club under the title: "Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis: Munimenta Ecclesiae Metropolitanae Glasguensis a sede restauratâ saeculo ineunte XII ad reformatam religionem". A more splendid memorial of those times still remains in the old cathedral of St. Mungo, which was begun by Bishop Jocelyn (consecrated 1175, d. 1199) and received its last additions from Archbishop Blackader
Robert Blackadder
Robert Blackadder was a medieval Scottish cleric, diplomat and politician, who was abbot of Melrose, bishop-elect of Aberdeen and bishop of Glasgow; when the last was elevated to archiepiscopal status in 1492, he became the first ever archbishop of Glasgow...
(consecr. 1484, d. 1508).
Resurrections
In 1828, as part of the Restoration of the Scottish hierarchyRestoration of the Scottish hierarchy
The Restoration of the Scottish hierarchy refers to the re-establishment of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland on 15 March 1878...
, the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
erected the Western District or Vicariate of Scotland, and the first vicar Apostolic
Apostolic vicariate
An apostolic vicariate is a form of territorial jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church established in missionary regions and countries that do not have a diocese. It is essentially provisional, though it may last for a century or more...
to reside in Glasgow was Andrew Scott
Andrew Scott (bishop)
Andrew Scott was a Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District of Scotland from 1832 to 1845....
, Bishop of Eretria (b. 1772, d, 1846). He was succeeded by John Murdoch
John Murdoch (bishop)
John Murdoch was a Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District of Scotland....
, Bishop of Castabala (b. 1796, d. 1865) and John Gray
John Gray (bishop)
John Gray was a Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District of Scotland.Born in Buckie, Moray on 16 June 1817, he was the son of William Gray and Joanna Gray . He entered the Scots College in Rome on 30 September 1838, and took the oath on 25 March 1839...
, Bishop of Hypsopolis (b. 1817, d. 1872). On the resignation of Bishop Gray in 1869 Charles Petre Eyre
Charles Petre Eyre
Charles Petre Eyre was a Roman Catholic clergyman who served as the Archbishop of Glasgow from 1878 to 1902.Born at Askham Bryan Hall, Askham Bryan, near York, England on November 7, 1817, he was the fifth of nine children of John Lewis Eyre and Sara Eyre, née Parker . His father later became a...
(b. 1817, d. 1902) was consecrated Archbishop of Anazarba and appointed administrator Apostolic. On the Restoration of the Scottish hierarchy
Restoration of the Scottish hierarchy
The Restoration of the Scottish hierarchy refers to the re-establishment of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland on 15 March 1878...
by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
, 4 March 1878, the Archbishopric of Glasgow was re-established, and Archbishop Eyre was transferred to the restored see.