Scotland

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The term as at present used includes the whole northern portion of the Island of Great Britain, which is divided fromEngland by the Cheviot Hills, the River Tweed, and certain smaller streams. Its total area is about 20,000,000 acres, or something over 30,000 square miles; its greatest length is 292 miles, and greatest breadth, 155 miles. The chief physical feature of the country is its mountainous character, there being no extensive areas of level ground, as inEngland; and only about a quarter of the total acreage is cultivated. The principal chain of mountains is the Grampian range, and the highest individual hill Ben Nevis (4406 feet). Valuable coal fields extend almost uninterruptedly from east to west, on both banks of the Rivers Forth and Clyde. The climate is considerably colder and (except on parts of the east coast) wetter than that ofEngland. The part of Scotland lying beyond the Firths of Forth and Clyde was known to the Romans as Caledonia. The Caledonians came later to be called Picts, and the country, after them, Pictland. The name of Scotland came into use in the eleventh century, when the race of Scots, originally anIrish colony which settled in the western Highlands, attained to supreme power in the country. Scotland was an independent kingdom until James VI succeeded to the English Crown in 1603; and it continued constitutionally separate fromEngland until the conclusion of the treaty of union a century later. It still retainsits own Church and its own form of legal procedure; and the character of its people remains in many respects quite distinct from that of the English. Formerly the three prevailing nationalities of the country were the Anglo-Saxon in the south, the Celtic in the north and west, and the Scandinavian in the north-east; and these distinctions can still be traced both in the characteristics of the inhabitants and in the proper names of places. The total population, according to the census Of 1911 is 4,759,521, being an increase of 287,418 in the past decade. The increase is almost entirely in the large cities and towns, the rural population of almost every county, except in the mining districts, having sensibly diminished, owing to emigration and other causes, since 1901.

The history of Scotland is dealt with in the present article chiefly in itsecclesiastical aspect, and as such it naturally falls into three great divisions: I. The conversion of the country and the prevalence of the Celtic monastic church; II. The gradual introduction and, consolidation of thediocesan system, and the history of ScottishCatholicism down to thereligious revolution of the sixteenth century; III. The post-Reformation history of the country, particularly in connection with thepersecuted remnant ofCatholics, and finally the religious revival of the nineteenth century. Under these three several heads, therefore, the subject will be treated.

First period: fourth to eleventh century

Nothing certain is known as to the introduction ofChristianity into Scotland prior to the fourth century.Tertullian, writing at the end of the second, speaks of portions of Britain which the Romans had never reached being; by that time "subject to Christ"; and early Scots historians relate thatPope Victor, about A.D. 203, sent missionaries to Scotland. Thispope's name is singled out for special veneration in a very, early Scottish (Culdee)litany, which gives some probability to the legend; but the earliest indubitable evidence of the religious connection of Scotland withRome is afforded by the history of Ninian, who, born in the southwest of Scotland about 360, went to study atRome, wasconsecratedbishop byPope Siricius, returned to his native country about 402, and built at Candida Casa, now Whithorn, the first stone church in Scotland. He also founded there a famousmonastery, whencesaints and missionaries went out to preach; not only through the whole south of Scotland, but also inIreland. Ninian died probably in 432; and currentecclesiastical tradition points toSt. Palladius as having been his successor in the work of evangelizing Scotland.Pope Leo XIII cited this tradition in hisBull restoring the Scottishhierarchy in 1878; but there are many anachronisms and other difficulties in the long-accepted story ofSt. Palladius and his immediate followers, and it is even uncertain whether he ever set foot in Scotland at all. If, however, his mission was to theScoti, who at this period inhabitedIreland, he was at least indirectly connected with the conversion of Scotland also; for the earliest extant chronicles of the Picts show us how close was the connection between theChurch of the southern Picts and that ofIreland founded bySt. Patrick. In the sixth century threeIrish brother-chieftains crossed over fromIreland and founded the little Kingdom of Dalriada, in the present County of Argyll, which was ultimately to develop into the Kingdom of Scotland. They were alreadyChristians, and with them cameIrish missionaries, who spread the Faith throughout the western parts of the country. The north was stillpagan, and even in the partlyChristianized districts there were many relapses and apostasies which called for a stricter system of organization and discipline among the missionaries. It was thus that, drawing her inspiration from the greatmonasteries ofIreland, the early Scottish Church entered upon the monastic period of her history, of which the first and the greatest light was Columba, Apostle of the northern Picts.

Themonastery of Iona, where Columba settled in 563, and whence he carried on his work of evangelizing the mainland of Scotland for thirty-four years, was, under him and his successors in the abbatial dignity, considered the mother-house of allmonasteries founded by him in Scotland and inIreland.Bede mentions thatIona long held pre-eminence over all themonasteries of the Picts, and it continued in fact, all during the monastic period of the Scottish Church, to be the centre of the Columbanjurisdiction. It is unnecessary to argue the point, which has beenproved over and over again against the views put forward both byAnglicans andPresbyterians, that the Columban church was no isolated fragment ofChristendom, but was united infaith and worship and spiritual life with the universalCatholicChurch (see as to this, Edmonds, "The Early Scottish Church, its Doctrine and Discipline", Edinburgh, 1906). Whilst Columba was labouring among the northern Picts, another apostle was raised up in theperson ofSt. Kentigern, to work among the British inhabitants of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, extending southward from the Clyde to Cumberland.Kentigern may be called the founder of theChurch of Cumbria, and became the firstbishop of what is now Glasgow; while in the east of Scotland Lothian honours as its first apostle the greatSt. Cuthbert, who entered themonastery ofMelrose in 650, and becamebishop, with hissee atLindisfarne, in 684. He died three years later; and less than thirty years afterwards the monastic period of the Scottish Church came to an end, themonks throughout Pictland, most of whom had resisted the adoption of the Roman observance ofEaster, being expelled by the Pictish king. This was in 717, and almost simultaneously with the disappearance of the Columbanmonks we see the advent to Scotland of theDeicolae, Colidei orCuldees, the anchorite-clerics sprung from those ascetics who had devoted themselves to the service ofGod in the solitude of separate cells, and had in the course oftime formed themselves into communities ofanchorites orhermits. They had thirteenmonasteries in Scotland, and together with thesecular clergy who were now introduced into the country they carried on the work of evangelization which had been done by the Columban communities which they succeeded.

From the beginning of the eighth to the middle of the ninth century the political history of Scotland, as we dimly see it today, consists of continual fighting between the rival races of Angles, Picts, and Scots, varied by invasions ofDanes and Norsemen, and culminating at last in the union of the Scots of Dalriada and the Pictish peoples into one kingdom under Kenneth Mac Alpine in 844. Ecclesiastically speaking, the most important result of this union was elevation by Kenneth of the church ofDunkeld to be theprimatial see of his new kingdom. Soon, however, the primacy was transferred to Abernethy, and some forty years after Kenneth's accession we find the first definite mention of the "Scottish Church", which King Grig raised from a position of servitude to honourable independence. Grig's successors were styled no longer Kings of the Picts, but Kings of Alban, the name now given to the whole country between forth and the Spey; and under Constantine, second King of Alban, was held in 908 the memorable assembly at Scone, in which the king and Cellach,Bishop of St. Andrews, recognized by this time asprimate of the kingdom, and styled Epscop Alban, solemnlyswore to protect the discipline of the Faith and the right of the churches and the Gospel. In the reign of Malcolm I, Constantine's successor, the district of Cumberland was ceded to the Scottish Crown by Edmund ofEngland; and among the very scanty notices ofecclesiastical affairs during this period we find the foundation of the church of Brechin of which the ancient round tower, built after theIrish model, still remains. This was in the reign of Kenneth II (971-995), who added yet another province to the Scottish Kingdom, Lothian being made over to him by King Edmund ofEngland.Iona had meanwhile, in consequence of the occupation of the Western Isles by the Norsemen, been practically cut off from Scotland, and had become ecclesiastically dependent onIreland. It suffered much from repeatedDanish raids, and onChristmas Eve, 986, theabbey was devastated, and theabbot with most of hismonksput to death. Not many years later theNorwegian power in Scotland received a fatal blow by the death of Sigurd, Earl of I Orkney, theNorwegian provinces on the mainland passing into the possession of the Scottish Crown. Malcolm II was now on the throne, and it was during his thirty years' reign that the Kingdom of Alban became first known as Scotia, from the dominant race to which its people belonged. With Malcolm's death in 1034 the male line of Kenneth Mac Alpine was extinguished, and he was succeeded by his daughter's son, Duncan, who after a short and inglorious reign wasmurdered by his kinsman and principal general, Macbeth. Macbeth wore his usurped crown for seventeen years, and was himself slain in 1057 by Malcolm, Duncan's son, who ascended the throne as Malcolm III. It is worth noting that Duncan's father (who married the daughter of Malcolm II) was Crinan, layAbbot ofDunkeld; for this fact illustrates one of the great evils under which the Scottish Church was at this time labouring, namely the usurpation ofabbeys andbenefices by great secular chieftains, an abuse existing side by side, and closely connected with, thescandal ofconcubinage among theclergy, with its inevitable consequence, the hereditary succession tobenefices, and wholesale secularization of theproperty of the Church. These evils were indeed rife in other parts ofChristendom; but Scotland was especially affected by them, owing to her want of a proper ecclesiastical constitution and a normalecclesiastical government. The accession, and more especially the marriage, of Malcolm III were events destined to have a profound influence on the fortunes of the Scottish Church, and indeed to be a turning-point in her history.

Second period: eleventh to sixteenth century

The Norman Conquest ofEngland could not fail to exercise a deep and lasting effect also on the northern kingdom, and it was the immediate cause of the introduction ofEnglishideas and English civilization into Scotland. The flight to Scotland, after the battle of Hastings, of Edgar Atheling, heir of the Saxon Royal house, with his mother and his sisters Margaret and Christina, was followed at no great distant date by the marriage of Margaret to King Malcolm, as his second wife. A great niece ofSt. Edward the Confessor, Margaret, whosepersonality stands out clearly before us in the pages of her biography by her confessor Turgot, was awoman not only of saintly life but of strong character who exercised the strongest influence on the Scottish Church and kingdom, as well as on the members of her ownfamily. The character of Malcolm III has been depicted in very different colours by the English and Scottish chroniclers, the formerpainting him as the severe and merciless invader ofEngland, while to the latter he is a noble and heroic prince, called Canmore (Ceann-mor great head) from his high kingly qualities. All however agree that the influence of his holy queen was the best and strongest element in his stormy life. Whilst he was engaged in strengthening his frontiers and fighting the enemies of his country, Margaret found time, amidfamilyduties andpious exercises, to take in hand the reform of certain outstanding abuses in the Scottish Church. In such matters as the fast ofLent, theEaster communion, the observance of Sunday, and compliance with theChurch's marriagelaws she succeeded, with the king's support, in bringing theChurch of Scotland into line with the rest ofCatholicChristendom. Malcolm and Margaret rebuilt the venerablemonastery of Iona, and founded churches in various parts of the kingdom; and during their reign theChristian faith was established in the islands lying off the northern and western coasts of Scotland, inhabited by Norsemen. Malcolm was killed in Northumberland in 1093, whilst leading an army against William Rufus; and his saintly queen, already dangerously ill, followed him to the grave a few days later. In the same year as the king and queen died Fothad, the last of the nativebishops of Alban, whose extinction opened the way to the claim, long upheld, of the See of York to supremacy over the Scottish Church — a claim rendered more tenable by the strong Anglo-Norman influence which had taken the place of that ofIreland, and by the absence of any organized system ofdiocesanjurisdiction in the Scottish Church.

Edgar, one of Malcolm's younger sons, who succeeded to hisfather's crown after prolonged conflict with other pretenders to it, calls himself in his extant charters "King of Scots", but he speaks of his subjects as Scots and English, surrounded himself with English advisers, acknowledged William ofEngland as hisfeudal superior, and thus did much to strengthen the English influence in the northern kingdom. During his ten years' reign no successor was appointed to Fothad in the primacy; but at his death (when his brother Alexander succeeded him as king, the younger brother David obtaining dominion over Cumbria and Lothian, with the title of earl) Turgot becameBishop of St. Andrews, the first Norman to occupy theprimatialsee. Alexander's reign was signalized by the creation of two additionalsees; the first being that of Moray, in the district beyond the Spey, where Scandinavian influence had long been dominant. Thesee was fixed first at Spynie and later at Elgin, where a noblecathedral was founded in the thirteenth century. The other new see was that ofDunkeld, which had already been the seat of the primacy under Kenneth Mac Alpine, but had fallen under layabbots. Here Alexander replaced theCuldee community by abishop and chapter of secular canons. Elsewhere also he introduced regularreligious orders to take the place of the Culdees, foundingmonasteries of canons regular (Augustinians) at Scone and Loch Tay.

Even more than Alexander, his brother David, who succeeded him in 1124, and who had beeneducated at the English Court (his sister Matilda having married Henry I), laboured to assimilate the social state and institutions of Scotland, both in civil andecclesiastical matters, to Anglo-Normanideas. His reign of thirty years, on the whole a peaceful one, is memorable in the extent of the changes wrought during it in Scotland, under every aspect of the life of the people. A modern historian has said that at no period of her history has Scotland ever stood relatively so high in the scale of nations as during the reign of this excellent monarch. Penetrated with the spirit offeudalism, and recognizing the inadequacy of the Celtic institutions of the past to meet the growing needs of his people, David extended his reforms to every department of civil life; but it is with the energy and thoroughness with which he set about the reorganization and remodelling of the national church that his name will always be identified. While still Earl of Cumbria and Lothian he broughtBenedictinemonks fromFrance to Selkirk, andAugustinian canons to Jedburgh, and procured the restoration of the ancient see ofGlasgow, originally founded bySt. Kentigern. Five otherbishoprics he founded after his accession: Ross, in early days a Columbanmonastery, and afterwards served by Culdees, who were now succeeded by secular canons; Aberdeen, where there had also been a church in very early times; Caithness, with thesee at Dornoch, in Sutherland, where the former Culdee community was now replaced by a full chapter of ten canons, withdean,precentor, chancellor, treasurer, andarchdeacon; Dunblane, and Brechin, founded shortly before the king's death, and both, like the rest, on the sites of ancient Celtic churches, The greatabbeys ofDunfermline, Holyrood, Jedburgh, Kelso, Kinloss, Melrose, and Dundrennan were all established by him forBenedictines, Augustinians, orCistercians, besides severalpriories andconvents ofnuns, and houses belonging to themilitary orders. To one venerable Celticmonastery, founded by St. Columba, that of Deer, we find David granting a charter towards the end of his reign; but his general policy was to suppress the ancient Culdee establishments, now moribund and almost extinct, and supersede them by his new religious foundations. Side by side with this came the completediocesan reorganization of theChurch, the erection ofcathedral chapters and rural deaneries, and the reform of the Divine service on the model of that prevailing in the English Church, the use of the ancient Celtic ritual being almost universally discontinued in favour of that ofSalisbury. Two church councils were held in David's reign, both presided over bycardinallegates fromRome; and in 1150 took place, at St. Andrews, the firstdiocesan synod recorded to have been held in Scotland. David died in 1153, leaving behind him the reputation of a saint as well as a great king, a reputation which has been endorsed, with singular unanimity, alike by ancient chroniclers and the most impartial of modern historians.

David's grandson and successor, Malcolm the Maiden, wascrowned at Scone — the first occasion, as far as weknow, of such aceremony taking place in Scotland. Hispiety was attested by his many religious foundations, including the famous Abbey of Paisley; but as a king he was weak, whereasEngland was at that time ruled by the strong and masterful Henry II, who succeeded in wresting from Scotland the three northern English counties which had been subject to David. Malcolm was succeeded in 1165 by his brother William the Lion, whose reign of close on fifty years was the longest in Scottish history. It was by no means a period of peace for the Scottish realm; for in 1173 William, in a vain effort to recover his lost English provinces, was takenprisoner, and only released on binding himself, to be the liegerman of the King ofEngland, and to do him homage for his whole kingdom. During a great part of his reign he was also in conflict with his unruly Celtic subjects inGalloway and elsewhere, as well as with the Norsemen of Caithness. The Scottish Church, too, was harassed not only by the continual claims of York tojurisdiction over her, but by the English king's attempts to bring her into entire subjection to theChurch of England. A great council atNorthampton in 1176, attended by both monarchs, apapal legate, and the principal English and Scottishbishops, broke up without deciding this question; and a speciallegate sent byPope Alexander III toEngland and Scotland shortly afterwards was not more successful.

It was not until twelve years later that, in response to a deputation specially sent toRome by William to urge a settlement,Pope Clement III (in March, 1188) declared byBull the Scottish Church, with its nine diocese, to be immediately subject — to theApostolic See. The issue of thisBull, which was confirmed by succeedingpopes, was followed, on William subscribing handsomely toRichard Coeur de Lion'scrusading fund, by the King ofEngland agreeing to abrogate the humiliating treaty which had made him thefeudal of superior of the King of Scots, and formally recognizing the temporal, as well as the spiritual independence of Scotland. William's reign, like that of its predecessors, was prolific in religious foundations, the principal being the great Abbé of Arbroath, a memorial ofSt. Thomas of Canterbury, with whom the king had been on terms of personal friendship. Even more noteworthy was the establishment of aBenedictinemonastery in the sacred Isle ofIona by Reginald, Lord of the isles, whose desire, like that of the Scottish kings was to supersede the effete Culdees in his domains by the regular orders of theChurch. In 1200 a tenthdiocese was erected — that of Argyll, cut off fromDunkeld, and including an extensive territory in which Gaelic was (as it still is) almost exclusively spoken. TheFourth Lateran Council was held inRome in 1215, the year-after William's death, under the greatPope Innocent III, and was attended by four Scottishbishops andabbots, and procurators of the otherprelates; and we find theecclesiastics of Scotland, as of other countries, ordered to contribute a twentieth part of their revenues towards a newcrusade, and apapal legate arriving to collect the money. In 1225 the Scottishbishops met in council for the first time without the presence of alegate fromRome, electing one of their number, as directed by with apapal bull, to preside over the assembly with quasi-metropolitan authority and the title ofconservator. The Scottish kings were regularly represented at these councils by twodoctors oflaws specially nominated by the sovereign.

The thirteenth century, during the greater part of which (1214-86) the second and third Alexanders wore the crown of Scotland, is sometimes spoken of as the golden age of that country. During that long period, in the words of a modern poet, "God gave them peace, their land reposed"; and they were free to carry on the work of consolidation and development so well begun by the goodKing David II.Alexander II, indeed, when still a youth incurred thepapal excommunication by espousing the cause of the English barons against King John, but when he had obtainedabsolution he married a sister of Henry III, and so secured a good understanding withEngland, The occasional signs of unrest among some of his Celtic subjects in Argyll, Moray, and Caithness were met and checked with firmness and success; and this reign with a distinct advance in the industrial progress of the realm, the king devoting special attention to the improvement of agriculture. Many new religious foundations were also made by him, includingmonasteries at Culross,Pluscardine, Beuly, and Crossraguel; while the royal favour was also extended to the new orders offriars which were spreading throughoutEurope, and numerous houses were founded by him both forDominicans andFranciscans, thefriars, however, remaining under the control of their Englishprovincials until nearly a century later. David de Bernham of St. Andrews and Gilbert of Caithness were among the distinguishedprelates of this time, and did much for both the material and religious welfare of theirdioceses.Alexander III, who succeeded hisfather in 1249, was also fortunate in the excellentbishops who governed the Scottish Church during his reign, and he, like his predecessors, made some notable religious foundations, including theCistercian Abbey of Sweetheart, and houses ofCarmelite and Trinitarianfriars. An important step in the consolidation of the kingdom was the annexation of the Isle of Man, the Hebrides, and other western islands to the Scottish Crown, pecuniary compensation being paid toNorway, and theArchbishop ofTrondhjem retainingecclesiastical jurisdiction over the islands. Nearly all the Scottishbishops attended the general council convoked byGregory X atLyons in 1274, which, among other measures levied a fresh tax onchurch benefices in aid of a newcrusade. Boiamund, aPiedmontese canon, went to Scotland to collect the subsidy, assessing theclergy on a valuation known as Boiamund's Roll, which gave great dissatisfaction but nevertheless remained the guide toecclesiastical taxation until theReformation. With the death of Alexander in 1286 the male line of his house came to an end, and he was succeeded by his youthful granddaughter, Margaret, daughter of King Eric ofNorway.

Edward I, the powerful and ambitious King ofEngland, whose hope was the union of the Kingdom of Scotland with his own, immediately began negotiations for the marriage of Margaret to his son. The proposal was favourably received in Scotland; but while the eight-year-old queen was on her way from Orkney, and the realm was immediately divided by rival claimants to the throne, John de Baliol and Robert Bruce, both descended from a brother of William the Lion. King Edward, chosen as umpire in the dispute, decided in favour of Baliol; and relying on his subservience summoned him to support him when he declaredwar onFrance in 1294. The Scottish parliament, however entered instead into an alliance withFrance againstEngland, whose incensed king at once marched into Scotland with a powerful army, advanced as far as Perth, dethroned and degraded Baliol, and returned toEngland, carrying with him from Scone thecoronation stone of the Scottish kings, which he placed inWestminster Abbey, where it still remains. The interposition ofPope Boniface VIII procured a temporary truce between the two countries in 1300; but Edward soon renewed his efforts to subdue the Scotch, putting to death the valiant and patriotic William Wallace, and leaving no stone unturned to carry out his object. He died, however, in 1307; and Robert Bruce (grandson of Baliol's rival) utterly routed the English forces at Bannockburn in 1314, and secured the independence of Scotland. After long negotiations peace was concluded between the two kingdoms, and ratified by thebetrothal of Robert's only son to the sister of the King ofEngland. Robert died a few months later, and was succeeded by his son, David II, out of whose reign of forty years ten were spent, during his youth, inFrance, and eleven in exile inEngland, where he was takenprisoner when invading the dominions ofEdward III. During thewars withEngland, and the long and inglorious reign of David, the church and people suffered alike. Bishops forgot their sacred character, and appeared in armour at the head of their retainers; the state of both ofclergy andlaity, was far from satisfactory and contemporary chronicles were full of lamentations at the degeneracy of the times. Some excellentbishops there were during the fourteenth century, notably Fraser and Lamberton of St. Andrews, the former of whom was chosen one of the regents of the kingdom, while Lamberton completed the noblecathedral of St. Andrews. Bishop David of Moray, azealous patron of learning, ishonoured as the virtual founder of the historic Scots College inParis. Aproof that religiouszeal was still warm is afforded by the first foundation in Scotland, at Dunbar, of a collegiate church, in 1342, precursor of some forty other establishments of the same kind founded before theReformation.

David II died childless, and the first of the long line of Stuart kings now ascended the throne in theperson of Robert, son of Marjorie (daughter of Robert Bruce) and the High Steward. During Robert's reign of nineteen years there was almost continualwarfare with the English on the Border,France on one occasion sending a force to help her Scottish ally against their common enemy. Robert was succeeded in 1390 by his son Robert III, in whose reign Scotland suffered more from its own turbulent barons than from foreign foes. Robert, Duke ofAlbany, the king's brother, himself wielded almost royal power,imprisoned and (it was said) starved to death the heir-apparent to the throne; and when the king died in 1466, leaving his surviving son James aprisoner inEngland, Albany got himself appointed regent, and did his best to prevent the new king's return to Scotland. The years ofAlbany's dictatorship, which coincided with the general unrest inChristendom due to a disputed papal election, were not prosperous ones for the Scottish Church. Spiritual authority was weakened, and the encroachments of the State on theChurch became increasingly serious. A collection of synodalstatutes of St. Andrews, however, of this date which has come down to us shows that serious efforts were being made by the church authorities to cope with the evils of the time; and the long alliance withFrance of course brought the French and Scottish churches into a close connection which was in many ways advantageous, although one effect of it was that Scotland, likeFrance, espoused the cause of theantipopes against the rightfulpontiffs. The young king, James I, was at length released fromEngland in 1424, after twenty years' captivity, returned to his realm; immediately showed himself a strong and gifted monarch. He condemned Albany and his two sons to death for high treason, took vigorous steps to improve and encourage commerce and trade, and evinced the greatest interest in the welfare of religion and the prosperity of theChurch. The Parliament of 1425 directed a strictInquisition into the spread of Lollardism or otherheresies, and the punishment of those who disseminated them; and James also personally urged the heads of thereligious orders in his realm to see to a stricter observance of their rule and discipline. The king sent eight high Scottishecclesiastics to Basle to attend the general council there; but in the midst of his plans of reform he was assassinated at Perth in February, 1436.

King James's solicitude as to the spread ofheresy in Scotland was not without cause; for early in his reign preachers of theWyclifiteerrors had come fromEngland, prominent among them being John Resby, who was sentenced todeath and suffered at Perth in 1407. The Scottish Parliament passed a special act against Lollardism in 1425; and Paul Crawar, an emissary from theHussites ofBohemia, who appeared in Scotland on a proselytizing mission in 1433, suffered the same fate as Resby. Anoath to defend theChurch against Lollardism was taken by all graduates of the new University of St. Andrews, the foundation of which was a notable event of this reign. It was formally confirmed in 1414 byPedro de Luna, recognized by the Scottish Church at that time asPope Benedict XIII. Scotland was the last state inChristendom to adhere to theantipope, and only in 1418 declared her allegiance to the rightfulpontiff,Martin V. The year before his death James received a visit from the learned and distinguished Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini, who afterwards becamePope Pius II. About the same time the new Diocese of the Isles was erected, being severed from that of Argyll; and thebishops of the new see fixed their residence atIona.

The new king, James II, had a long minority, during which there were constant feuds among his nobles; but he developed at manhood into a firm and prudent ruler, and he was fortunate in having as an adviser Bishop Kennedy of St. Andrews, one of the wisest and bestprelates who ever adorned thatsee. James's early death, owing to an accident, in 1460, was doubly unfortunate, as his son and successor James III was a prince of far weaker character, unable to cope with the turbulent barons, some of whom broke out into open revolt, seducing the youthful heir to the throne to join them. Active hostilities followed, and James wasmurdered by a trooper of the insurgent army in 1488. The disturbances of his reign had their effect on the Scottish Church, in which abuses, such as the intrusion oflaymen intoecclesiastical positions, the deprival suffered bycathedral and monastic bodies of their canonicalrights, and the baneful system of commendatoryabbots, flourished almost unchecked. New religious foundations there were, chiefly of the orders offriars; and thediocesan development of theChurch was completed by the withdrawal of theSee of Galloway from thejurisdiction of York, and those of Orkney and the Isles fromNorway. This act of consolidation formed part of the provisions of an importantBull ofSixtus IV,dated 1472, erecting the See of St. Andrews into anarchbishopric andmetropolitan church for the whole realm, with twelve suffragansees dependent on it. York and Trondhjem, of course, protested against the change; but it seemed to be equally unwelcome in Scotland. The newmetropolitan, Archbishop Graham, found king,clergy, and people all against him; he was assailed by various serious charges, and finally deprived of his dignities, degraded from his orders, and sentenced to lifelongimprisonment in amonastery. His successor in thearchbishopric, William Sheves, obtained aBull fromInnocent VIII appointing himprimate of all Scotland andlegatus natus, with the same privileges as those enjoyed by theArchbishop ofCanterbury.

The protest of theSee of Glasgow was followed by aBull exempting that see from thejurisdiction of the Primate, but in 1489 a law was passed declaring the necessity ofGlasgow's being erected into anarchbishopric. In 1492 thepope created the newarchbishopric, assigning to it as suffragans the Sees ofDunkeld, Dunblane,Galloway, and Argyll. Two years later we hear of the arrest and trial of a number ofLollards in the new archdiocese; but they seem to have escaped with an admonition. From 1497 to 1513 theprimatial see was occupied successively by a brother and a natural son of King James IV. The latter, who was nominated to the primacy when only sixteen, fell with his royal father and the flower of the Scottish nobility at Plodden in 1513. Foreman, who succeeded him asarchbishop, was an able andzealousprelate; but by far the most distinguished Scottishbishop at this period was the learned and holy William Elphinstone,Bishop ofAberdeen 1483-1514, and founder of Aberdeen University in 1494.

In 1525 theLutheran opinions seem first to have appeared in Scotland, the parliament of that year passing an act forbidding the importation ofLutheran books. James V was a staunch son of theChurch, and wrote toPope Clement VII in 1526, protesting his determination to resist every form ofheresy. Patrick Hamilton acommendatory abbot and connected with the royal house, was tried and condemned for teachingfalse doctrine, and burned at St. Andrews in 1528; but his death, whichKnox claims to have been the starting-point of theReformation in Scotland, certainly did not stop the spread of the new opinions. James, whilst showing himselfzealous for the reform ofecclesiastical abuses in his realm, resisted all the efforts of his uncleHenry VIII ofEngland to draw him over to the new religion. He married the only daughter of the King ofFrance in 1537, much to Henry's chagrin; but his young wife died within three months. Meanwhile his kingdom was divided into two opposing parties — one including many nobles, the queen-mother (sister ofHenry VIII), and the religiously disaffected among his subjects, secretly supporting Henry's schemes and the advance of the new opinions; the other, comprising the powerful and wealthyclergy, several peers of high rank, and the great mass of his stillCatholic and loyal subjects. Severe measures continued against the disseminators ofLutheranism, many suffering death or banishment; and there were not wanting able and patriotic counsellors to stand by the king, notable among them beingDavid Beaton, whom we find inFrance negotiating for the marriage of James to Mary ofGuise in 1537, and himself uniting the royal pair at St. Andrews.Beaton becamecardinal in 1538 andPrimate of Scotland a few weeks later, on the death of his uncleJames Beaton, and found himself the object ofHenry VIII's jealousy and animosity, as the greatest obstacle to that monarch's plans and hopes. Henry'sanger culminated on the bestowal by thepope on the King of Scots of the very title which he had himself received fromLeo X; open hostilities broke out, and shortly after the disastrous rout of the Scotch forces at Solway Moss in 1542 James V died at Falkland, leaving a baby daughter,Mary Stuart, to inherit his crown and the government of his distracted country.

James V's death was immediately followed by new activity on the part of theProtestant party. The Regent Arran openly favoured the new doctrines, and many of the Scottish nobles bound themselves, for a money payment fromHenry VIII, to acknowledge him as lord paramount of Scotland.Beaton wasimprisoned, a step which resulted in Scotland being placed under aninterdict by thepope, whereupon the people, still in great partCatholic, insisted on thecardinal's release. Henry now connived at, if he did not actually originate, a plan for the assassination ofBeaton, in which George Wishart, a conspicuousProtestant preacher was also mixed up. Wishart was tried forheresy and burned at St. Andrews in 1546, and two months laterBeaton wasmurdered in the same city. Arran, who had meanwhile reverted toCatholicism, wrote to thepope deploringBeaton's death, asking for a subsidy toward thewar withEngland. TheProtestants held the Castle of St. Andrews, among them beingJohn Knox; and the fortress was only recovered by the aid of a French squadron. Disaffection and treachery were rife among the nobles, and the English Protector Somerset, secure of their support, led an English army over the border, and defeated the Scottish forces with great loss at Pinkie in 1547.

A few months later the young queen was sent by her mother, Mary ofGuise, toFrance, which remained her home for thirteen years. The French alliance enabled Scotland to drive back her English invaders; peace was declared in 1550, Mary ofGuise appointed regent in succession to the weak and vacillating Arran, entering on office just as aCatholic queen,Mary Tudor, was ascending the English throne. Arran's half-brother, John Hamilton, succeededBeaton asArchbishop of St. Andrews,James Beaton soon after being appointed toGlasgow, while the See of Orkney was held by thepious, learned, and able Robert Reid, the virtual founder ofEdinburgh University. Theprimate convoked a provincial national council in Edinburgh in 1549, at which sixtyecclesiastics were present. A series of important canons was passed at this council, as well as at a subsequent one assembled in 1552, one result being the publication in the latter year of acatechism intended for the instruction of theclergy as well as of their flocks. From 1547 to 1555John Knox was preachingProtestantism inEngland,Geneva, and Frankfort, and the new doctrines made little headway in Scotland. In 1555, however, he returned toEdinburgh, and started his crusade against the ancient Faith, meeting with little molestation from the authorities. He went back to Geneva in the following year; but his Scottish friends and supporters, emboldened by his exhortations, subscribed in December, 1557, the Solemn League and Covenant, for the express object of the overthrow of the old religion. Angered by the execution of Walter Mylne forheresy in 1558, the lords of the Congregation (as theProtestant party was now styled) demanded of the Queen Regent authorization for publicProtestant service. Mary laid the petition before a provincial council which met in 1559, and which, while declining to give way to theProtestant demands, passed many excellent and salutary enactments, chiefly directed against the numerous and crying abuses which had too long been rampant in the Scottish Church. But noconciliar decrees could avert the storm about to burst over the realm.

Knox returned to Scotland in 1559, and inaugurated the work of destruction by a violent sermon which he preached at Perth. There and elsewhere churches andmonasteries were attacked and sacked. Troops arrived fromFrance to assist the regent in quelling the insurgentProtestants, while in April, Elizabeth, invaded Scotland both by land and sea in support of the Congregation. Thedesecration and destruction of churches andabbeys went on apace; and in the midst of these scenes of strife andviolence occurred the death of the queen regent, in June, 1560. Less than a month later, a treaty of peace was signed atEdinburgh, the King and Queen of Scots (Mary had married in 1558 Francis, Dauphin ofFrance), granting various concession to the Scottish nobles and people. In pursuance of one of the articles of the treaty, the parliament assembled on 1 August, though without any writ of summons from the sovereign. Although the treaty had specially provided that the religious question at issue should be remitted to the king and queen for settlement, assemblage voted for adoption, as the state religion, of theProtestant Confession of Faith; fourprelates and five temporal peers alone dissenting. three furtherstatutes respectively abolishedpapaljurisdiction in Scotland, repealed all formerstatutes in favour of theCatholicChurch, and made it a penal offense, punishable by death on the third conviction, either to say or to hear Mass. All leases of church lands granted byecclesiastics subsequent to March, 1558, were declared null and void; and thus the destruction of the old religion in Scotland, as far as the hand of man could destroy it, was complete. No time or opportunity was given to theChurch to carry out that reform of prevalent abuses which was foreshadowed in the decrees of her latest councils. As inEngland thegreed of a tyrannical king, so in Scotland the cupidity of a mercenary nobility, itching to possess themselves of theChurch's accumulated wealth, consummated a work which evenProtestant historians have described as one of revolution rather than of reformation.

Third period: sixteenth century to the present day

It does not belong to this article to trace the development of the doctrines and discipline of the new religion which supplantedCatholicism in Scotland in 1560 (see E C S). The aim of theReformers was to stamp out every outward vestige of the ancient Faith before the return of theCatholic queen, now awidow; and the demolition of churches andmonasteries continued unabated during 1561. In August of that year Mary arrived inEdinburgh, and was warmly welcomed by her subjects; but it was only with the greatest difficulty that she obtained toleration for herself and her attendants to practice their religion, anti-Catholic riots being of frequent occurrence. The fewCatholic nobles, mostly belonging to the north, found themselves more and more withdrawn fromCatholic life, while theprelates andclergy were in constant personal danger. Some champions of the Faith there still were, notablyNinian Winzet and Quintin Kennedy, ready to risk life and liberty in the public defence of theirfaith; and Mary herself did all in her power to cultivate relations with theHoly See. Her ambassador inFrance wasArchbishop Beaton ofGlasgow.Pius IV sent her theGolden Rose in 1561, and dispatched Nicholas of Goulda, aJesuit, asnuncio to Scotland in the same year. Only onebishop ventured to receive thepapal envoy, who sent toRome a pitiful report of the religious condition of Scotland. Mary's marriage to Darnley, aCatholic noble, who was proclaimed King of Scots, afforded a fresh pretext to the disaffectedProtestant lords to intrigue against the throne; and headed by Moray, the queen's own half-brother, they openly revolted against her. Their armed rising was unsuccessful, but their murderous plots continued, and Rizzio, Mary's confidential secretary, and her husband Darnley were bothmurdered within less than a year's interval, The seizure of Mary'sperson by Bothwell, her husband's assassin, and her subsequent marriage to him, belong to her personal history.

A month after her marriage Mary wasimprisoned by her traitorous subjects atLochleven, and a few weeks later, in July, 1567, she was forced to sign her abdication, and virtually ceased to be Queen of Scotland. Her baby son, James VI, was hurriedlycrowned at Stirling, and in August, Moray, now regent, returned to Scotland fromParis, where he had been in communication with theFrench Protestant leaders. Thepenal laws againstCatholics were how enforced with fresh severity, theBishop of Dunblane and many otherecclesiastics being heavily fined, and in some cases outlawed for exercising their ministry. Moray's first parliament renewed and ratified all theecclesiastical enactments of 1560; but his efforts to conclude an alliance withEngland and withFrance were alike unsuccessful. He was confronted with a strong body of nobles adherent to the cause of Mary, who by their aid escaped from herprison; but in May, 1568, her forces were defeated by those of the regent at Langside, and the unfortunate queen fled over the border to English soil, which she was not to quit till her tragic death nineteen years later. The regent, after the abortive conferences at York and Westminster dealing with the charges against his sister, returned to Scotland, and continued, with the support of the general assembly of the Kirk, his severe measures against theCatholics. Every indignity short of death was inflicted on thepriests who were apprehended in various parts of the kingdom; but whilst intriguing to obtain possession of the queen'sperson, Moray was suddenly himself cut off by the bullet of an assassin. Lennox, who succeeded him as regent,proved a vigorous antagonist of Mary's adherents; and one of the foremost of these, Archbishop Hamilton, was hanged at Stirling after a mock trial lasting three days. Robert Hay, chosen to succeed him by the few remaining members of the chapter, was neverconsecrated and theprimatial see remained unoccupied by aCatholicprelate for upwards of three centuries. Mar succeeded Lennox as regent, and Morton followed Mar, being chosen on the very day ofJohn Knox's death (24 Nov., 1572). The iron hand of both pressed heavily on theCatholics, and we find, the Privy Council publishing in 1574 a list of outlaws, including severalbishops, any dealing with whom is forbidden under pain of death. All Papists cited before the civil tribunals are to be required to renounce their religion, subscribe toPresbyterianism, and receive theProtestant communion. Thepersecution at home had had the effect of driving many distinguished ScottishCatholics to the continent.Paris, had been since 1560 the residence ofArchbishop Beaton ofGlasgow, and of the able and learnedBishop John Leslie ofRoss, both devoted friends and counsellors ofQueen Mary.

The hopes that the young King James, who had beenbaptized andcrowned withCatholic rites, might grow up in the religion of his ancestors, were destroyed by his signing in 1581 a formal profession of his adherence toProtestantism and detestation of Popery. This did not prevent him from entering into personal communication later withPope Gregory XIII, when he thought his throne in danger from theambition of Queen Elizabeth. He promised at the same time conciliatory measures towards hisCatholic subjects, and affected solicitude for his unfortunate mother; but he never made any practical efforts to obtain her release, and her cruel death in 1586 seemed to leave him singularly callous; though he attempted to appease theCatholic nobles, in their deep indignation at Mary's execution, by restoringBishop Leslie ofRoss to his former dignities, and appointingArchbishop Beaton his ambassador inFrance. There was at this time a distinct reaction in favour ofCatholicism in Scotland, and a number of missionaries, both secular and religious, were labouring for the preservation of the Faith. The Kirk, of course, took alarm and urged on the king the adoption of the severest measures for the suppression of every vestige ofCatholicism. James himself headed an armed expedition against the disaffectedCatholic nobles of the north in 1594, and after one severe rebuff put Huntly and Erroll, theCatholic leaders, to flight. They left Scotland forever in 1595, and thenceforwardCatholicism a political force to be reckoned with, may be said to have been extinct in Scotland. A large proportion of the people still clung tenaciously to their ancientbeliefs, and strenuous efforts were made, in the closing years of the sixteenth century, to provide for the spiritual want of what was now a missionary country. In 1576 Dr. James Cheyne had founded acollege toeducateclergy for the Scotch Mission, atTournai; and after being transferred to Pont-à-Mousson,Douai, andLouvain, it was finally atDouai. The Scots College atRome was founded byPope Clement VIII in 1600; and there was also a Scots College inParis, dating from 1325, while the Scotsabbeys atRatisbon andWürzburg likewise became after theReformation the nursery of Scottish missionaries.

In 1598 thesecular clergy in Scotland were placed under thejurisdiction of George Blackwell, the newly appointedarchpriest forEngland. Many devotedJesuits were labouring in Scotland at this time, notably Fathers Creighton, Gordon, Hay, andAbercromby, of whom the last received, into theCatholicChurch Anne of Denmark, the queen of James VI, probably in 1600, and made other distinguished converts. James's succession to the Crown ofEngland in 1603, on the death of Queen Elizabeth, gave him much new occupation in regulatingecclesiastical matters in his new kingdom, and also in introducing, in the teeth of bitter opposition, the Episcopalian system into Scotland. Pope Clement wrote to the king in 1603, urging him to be lenient and generous towards hisCatholic subjects, and after long delay received a civil but vaguely-worded reply. James's real sentiments, however, were shown by his immediately afterwards decreeing the banishment of allpriests from the kingdom, and returning to thepope the presents sent to hisCatholic queen. The remainder of his reign, as far as hisCatholic subjects were concerned, was simply a record of confiscation,imprisonment, and banishment, inflicted impartially; and one missionary, John Ogilvie, suffered death for his Faith atGlasgow in 1615. The negotiations for the marriage of James's heir, first to a daughter ofSpain, and then to Henrietta Maria ofFrance, occasioned a good deal of communication betweenRome and the English Court, but brought about no relaxation in thepenal laws. In 1623 William Bishop was appointedvicar Apostolic forEngland and Scotland; but the ScotchCatholics were afterwards withdrawn from hisjurisdiction, and subjected to their own missionary prefects. James VI died in 1625, after a reign which had brought only calamity and suffering to theCatholics of his native land.

The thirty-five years which elapsed between the succession of Charles I and the restoration of his son Charles II, after eleven years of Republican government, were perhaps the darkest in the whole history of ScottishCatholicism. Charles I sanctioned the ruthless execution of the penalstatutes, perhaps hoping thus to reconcile thePresbyterians to his unwelcomeliturgical innovations; and his policy was continued by Cromwell, apparently out of purehatred of theCatholic religion. Every effort was made to extirpateCatholicism by theeducation of children ofCatholics inProtestant tenets; and theimprisonment and pettypersecution of the venerable Countess of Abercorn showed that neither age nor the highest rank was any protection to the detested Papists. Queen Henrietta Maria, whomPope Urban VIII urged to intervene on behalf of the ScotchCatholics, was powerless to help them, though a few instances of personal clemency on the part of Charles may be attributable to her influence. Meanwhile thePresbyterians laboured to destroy not only what was left of the shrines and other buildings ofCatholic times, but to uproot everyCatholic observance which still survived. In the height of thepersecution we find steps taken inRome to improve the organization of theCatholic body in Scotland; and in 1653 the scatteredclergy were incorporated under William Ballantyne as prefect of the mission. They numbered only five or six at thatdate, the missionaries belonging to thereligious orders being considerably more numerous, and includingJesuits,Benedictines,Franciscans, andLazarists. Missionaries fromIreland were also labouring on the Scotch mission, and acollege for theeducation of Scotsclergy had been opened atMadrid in 1633, and was afterwards moved toValladolid, where it still flourishes.

Charles II, who succeeded hisfather in 1660, was undoubtedly well-disposed personally towardsCatholics and their Faith, but hisCatholic subjects in Scotland enjoyed little more indulgence under the episcopate restored by him in that country than they had done under thePresbyterians. The odious separation of children from theirparents for religious reasons continued unabated; and in the districts of Aberdeenshire especially, whereCatholics were numerous, they were treated as rigorously as ever. We have detailed reports of this period both from the prefect of theclergy, Winster, and from Alexander Leslie, sent byPropaganda in 1677 as Visitor to the Scottish mission. Their view of the religious situation was far from encouraging; but fresh hopes were raised among theCatholics eight years later by the accession of aCatholic king, James II, who at once suspended the execution of thepenal laws declaring himself in favour of complete liberty ofconscience. He opened aCatholicschool atHolyrood, restoredCatholic worship in the Chapel royal, and gave annual grants to the Scots College abroad and to thesecular andregular missionaries at home. But theCatholics had hardly time to enjoy this respite frompersecution, when their hopes were dashed by theRevolution of 1688, which drove James from the throne. William of Orange, notwithstanding his promises of toleration, did nothing to check the fanatical fury which now assailed theCatholics ofEngland and Scotland. The scatteredclergy of the north found themselves in a more difficult position than ever; and this perhaps inducedPope Innocent XII in 1694 to nominate avicar Apostolic for Scotland in theperson of Bishop Thomas Nicholson. His devoted labours are manifest from the reports which he addressed toPropaganda; but neither during the reign of William and Mary, nor of Anne, who succeeded in 1702, was there the slightest relaxation in thepenal laws or their application. The Union ofEngland and Scotland in 1707 made no change in this respect; and the first Jacobite rising, in 1715, entailed fresh sufferings on the ScottishCatholics, who were so virulentlypersecuted that they seemed in danger of total annihilation.

Bishop Nicholson had obtained the services of a coadjutor, James Gordon, in 1705, and the devotion of the twoprelates to their difficultduties was unbounded. In spite of thepenal laws,Catholics were still numerous in the North and West, speaking chiefly the Gaelic language; and in 1726 it was decided to appoint a secondvicar Apostolic for the Highlands, Hugh Macdonald being chosen. During his vicariate occurred the ill-fated rising of Charles Edward Stuart, the final failure of which, consequent on the disastrous battle of Culloden, brought fresh calamities on the HighlandCatholics. The Highland clans were proscribed and more than a thousandpersons were deported to America,Catholicchapels were destroyed, andpriests and people prosecuted with the utmost severity. To the suffering of theCatholics under the first two Georges from their enemies without, was added the misfortune of dissensions within the fold. Regular and secular missionaries were at variance on the question ofjurisdiction; and there is abundant evidence that the Scottish Church at this period was tainted with the poison ofJansenism, the Scots College inParis being especially affected. Every means was taken by theHoly See to secure theorthodoxy of the Scottishclergy, who continued however for many years to be divided into the so-called liberal party, trained inFrance, and the more strictly Roman section, for the most partalumni of the Scots College atRome. By far the most prominent of the latter was the illustrious Bishop George Hay, the chiefecclesiastical figure in the history of ScottishCatholicism during the latter part of the eighteenth century.

Bishop Hay's life has been dealt with elsewhere, and it will suffice to say here that his episcopate lasted from within a few years of the accession of George III almost to the close of the long reign of that monarch. He saw the fanatical outburst caused in Scotland by the EnglishCatholic Relief Bill of 1777, when Edinburgh and Glasgow were the scenes of outrage and pillage worthy of the blackest days of thepenal laws; and he also saw in 1793 theCatholics of Scotland released by Parliament from the Most oppressive of thoselaws though still liable to many disabilities. He did much to improve the condition and status of the Scots Colleges inParis andRome, which from various causes had fallen into a very unsatisfactory state; and his devotional and controversial writings won him repute beyond the limits of Scotland. During his long vicariate the ScottishCatholics, whose numbers had greatly fallen after the disastrous Jacobite rising of 1745, only very gradually increased. They numbered probably some 25,000souls in 1780; and of these, it was stated, not more than twenty possessed land worth a hundred pounds a year. In 1800, seven years after the passing of the Relief Bill, thefaithful were estimated to number 30,000, ministered to by threebishops and fortypriests, with twelve churches. Six or seven of thepriests wereémigrés fromFrance. With the cessation of activepersecution, a good many new churches were erected throughout the country, and at the same time theCatholic population was augmented by a large influx ofIrish. In 1827Pope Leo XII added a new vicariate to the Scottish mission, which was now divided into the Eastern, Western, and Northern Districts. By this time theCatholic population had increased to 70,000, including fiftypriests, with over thirty churches and about twentyschools. The concession toCatholics of civil and political liberty by the Emancipation Act of 1829 was preceded and followed in Scotland, as inEngland, by disgraceful exhibitions of bigotry and intolerance, although many prominent Scotsmen, including Sir Walter Scott, were entirely in its favour.

The immediate result of the salutary measure of 1829 was the rapid extension and development of theChurch in Scotland. A newecclesiastical seminary was, by the generosity of a benefactor, established at Blairs, near Aberdeen; the firstconvent ofnuns since theReformation was founded in 1832, in Edinburgh; and in Glasgow alone the number ofCatholics mounted up from a few scores to 24,000. Prominent among thebishops of Scotland during the first half of the nineteenth century wasJames Gillis, who was nominated as coadjutor for the Eastern District in 1837, the first year of the reign of Queen Victoria, and laboured indefatigably as administrator and preacher for nearly thirty years. The wave of conversions fromAnglicanism which originated in the Tractarian movement in theChurch of England was felt also in Scotland, where several notable converts were received duringBishop Gillis's episcopate, and several handsome churches were built, and new missions established, through their instrumentality. Many newschools were also erected, and more than oneconvent founded, under thezealousprelate, and in the Western District the progress ofCatholicism was not less remarkable. Bishop Andrew Scott, who was appointed to the mission ofGlasgow in 1805 and died asvicar Apostolic in 1846, saw during the interval the GlasgowCatholics increase from one thousand to seventy thousandsouls; and his successors, Bishops Murdoch and Gray, were witnesses of a similar increase, and did much to multiply churches, missions,schools, andCatholic institutions throughout the vicariate. While in the sparsely-inhabited region included in the Northern Vicariate there was not, during this period, the same remarkable numerical increase in the faithful as in the more populous parts of Scotland, the work of organization and development there also went on steadily and continuously.

During the thirty years' pontificate ofPius IX the question as to the advisability of restoring to Scotland her regularhierarchy was from time to time brought forward; but it was not until the very close of his reign that this important measure was practically decided on atRome, partly as the result of the report ofArchbishop Manning, as Apostolic Visitor to the Scottish Church, on certain grave dissensions betweenIrish and ScottishCatholics which had long existed in the Glasgow district.Pius IX did not live to carry out his intention; but the very first official act of his successorLeo XIII was to reerect the Scottishhierarchy by hisBull "Ex Supreme Apostolatus apice",dated 4 March, 1878. Thus reestablished, thehierarchy was to consist of two archbishoprics: St. Andrews and Edinburgh, with the four suffragansees of Aberdeen,Argyll and the Isles,Dunkeld, and Galloway; and Glasgow, without suffragans. The exotic religious body styled the Scottish Episcopal Church immediately published a protest against the adoption of the ancient titles for the newly-erected sees; but thepapal act roused no hostile feeling in the country at large, and was generally and sensibly recognized as one which concerned no one except the members of theCatholic body. They on their side welcomed with loyal gratitude a measure which restored to theChurch in Scotland the full and normal hierarchical organization which properly belongs to her, and which might be expected to have the same consoling results as have followed a similar act inEngland,Holland,Australia, and theUnited States.

If the "second spring" ofCatholicism in Scotland has been less fruitful and less remarkable than in the countries just named, ScottishCatholics have nevertheless much to be thankful for, looking back through the past thirty years to what has been done in the way of growth, development, better equipment, and more perfect organization. Between 1878 and 1911 the number ofpriests,secular andregular, working in Scotland has increased from 257 to 555; of churches,chapels, and stations, from 255 to 394; of congregationalschools from 157 to 213, ofmonasteries from 13 to 26, and ofconvents from 21 to 58. TheCatholic population, reckoned to number in 1878 about 38,000souls, has increased to fully 520,000. Of these only some 25,000, including the Gaelic-speaking inhabitants of the Western Highlands and islands, and of theDiocese of Aberdeen, are of purely Scottish descent, the otherdioceses comprising a comparatively small number ofCatholics of Scottish blood. The rest of theCatholics of Scotland, including at least 375,000 people in the single archdiocese ofGlasgow are either themselves entirelyIrish by birth and race or descended from recent immigrants fromIreland into Scotland. Glasgow also harbours, of course, a considerable but fluctuating body of foreignCatholics; and a certain number ofCatholic Poles and Lithuanians are always employed in the coal-fields and iron-works of central Scotland. But it would probably be within the mark to estimate theIrish element in theCatholic population north of the Tweed as amounting to between 90 and 95 per cent of the whole; and its tendency is to increase rather than to diminish.

Theeducation ofclergy for the Scottish mission is carried on at Blairs College, Aberdeen (number of students, 80); at St. Peter's College, near Glasgow (32), and at the Scots Colleges atRome (33), and at Valladolid (14). There are also a few Scottish Students at the College ofPropaganda atRome; and 20 more, on French foundation-burses, were beingeducated in 1911 at the Ecole supérieure de Théologie at the College of Issy, nearParis. Good secondaryschools for boys are conducted by theJesuits atGlasgow, and by the Marist Brothers atGlasgow and Dumfries; and there are excellently equipped boarding-schools for girls atAberdeen,Edinburgh, and elsewhere, under religious of various orders. The Sisters of Notre Dame are in charge of a fine training college for teachers just outside Glasgow; and ahospital at Lanark is managed by the Sisters of Charity, as well as a largeorphanage for destitute children. The Nuns of the Good Shepherd, the Sisters of Nazareth, and theLittle Sisters of the Poor carry on theirworks of charity and beneficence withzeal and success, being largely helped by kindlyProtestants; and manyProtestantparents entrust their children'seducation to the teaching orders of theCatholicChurch. In the larger centres of population there is still a good deal of sectarian bitterness, fomented of course by the members of Orange and similarsocieties; but on the whole religious animosities have greatly died down in recent times, and in those districts of the Highlands whereCatholics are most numerous, they live as a rule on terms of perfect amity with theirPresbyterian neighbours. The public elementaryschools of Scotland are controlled and managed by theschool boards elected by the rate-payers of eachparish; and Government grants of money are made annually not only to theseschools, but also to otherschools (including those underCatholic management) which, in the words of the Act of Parliament of 1872, are "efficiently contributing to the seculareducation of theparish or burgh in which they are situated". The amount of the grant is conditional on the attendance and proficiency of the scholars, the qualifications of the teachers, and the state of theschools; and theschools are liable to be inspected at any time by inspectors appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Scotch Education Department, and empowered to ascertain that the conditionsnecessary for obtaining the government grant have been fulfilled. No grant is made in respect of religious instruction; but such instruction is sanctioned and provided for in the code regulating the scheme ofschool work,parents being, however, at liberty to withdraw their children from it if they please. No complete statistics are available as to the total number of children in theCatholic elementaryschools; but in theArchdiocese of Glasgow and theDiocese of Galloway, which together comprise fully four-fifths of theCatholic population of the country, 66,482 children were presented in 1910 for religious examination. Besides the elementaryschools, what are known as "higher gradeschools" also receive government grants in proportion to their efficiency, special additional grants being made to suchschools in the six Highland counties.

With regard to the legal disabilities under which ScottishCatholics still lie, notwithstanding the Emancipation Act of 1829, it is unnecessary, as the provisions of that act apply to Scotland equally withEngland, to do more than refer to the articleENGLAND SINCE THE REFORMATION. The only specifically Scottish office from whichCatholics are debarred by statute is that of Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Established Church — an office which noCatholic, of course would desire to hold. The clauses in the Act of 1829 providing for the "gradual suppression and final prohibition" ofreligious order so men have in practice remained a dead letter; but they have in Scotland, as inEngland, the effect of seriously restricting the tenure and disposition of theirproperty byreligious communities. All trusts and bequests in favour ofreligious orders are void in law; and the members of such orders can holdproperty only asindividuals. The Englishstatutes (ofHenry VIII and Edward VI) invalidating bequests made to obtainprayers and Masses, on the ground that these are "superstitious uses", do not apply either toIreland or to Scotland; and it is probable the Scottish courts would recognize the validity of such bequests, as theIrish Courts undoubtedly do. (See Lilly and Wallis's "Manual of the Law specially affecting Catholics", London, 1893.)

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