Glasgow

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

I. ARCHDIOCESE OF GLASGOW (GLASGUENSIS)

Archdiocese in the south-west of Scotland, comprising at the present day the Counties of Lanark, Dumbarton, and Renfrew, part of Ayrshire north of Lugton Water, the district of Baldernock in Stirlingshire, and the Cumbrae Isles. The see was founded between 540 and 560 by St. Kentigern, or Mungo, who died 13 Jan., 601. He also established on the Welsh model a religious community, which served as a much needed centre to preserve the Faith among the surrounding Christian population. In his time Cathures, as the place was originally called, stood at the northern limit of the little kingdom of the Strathclyde Britons, which extended on the west of the island southwards as far as Carlisle in Cumberland. On the north-west were the Scots of Dalriada, and on the north-east the Picts, who were then being converted to Christianity by St. Columba and his missionary monks from Iona. On the east the Strathclyde Britons, like their brethren in Wales, were pressed by the Angles and Saxons westward to the sea.

On account of the struggle of races for mastery and the confusion of the times that followed there appears to have been no regular succession of bishops till the time of Alexander I of Scotland, son of St. Margaret. His brother and successor on the throne, St. David, while prince of this region under the name of Cumbria, may be said to have restored the Diocese of Glasgow.

The first bishop of the restored see was John Eochy, or Achaius, who held it from 1115 till 1147. He had twenty-three successors in actual possession till 1560, when the Catholic Faith was abolished by act of the Scottish Parliament. Nearly all these 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 (consecr. 1272, d. 1316) was conspicuous for his patriotism during the War of Independence, and was the close friend of Wallace and Bruce. William Turnbull (consecr. 1447, d. 1454) obtained in 1450 from Pope Nicholas V the charter of foundation for the University of Glasgow. On 9 January, 1492, Innocent VIII raised the see to metropolitan rank, attaching to it the suffragan dioceses of Argyle, Dumblane, 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 Queen Mary, 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) "Registrumn 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 handsome 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 (consecr. 1175, d. 1199) and received its last additions from Archbishop Blackader (consecr. 1484, d. 1508). The building as a national monument is administered by a department of Government, and the chancel is used for the Presbyterian worship of the State Church.

Glasgow did not again become a centre of Catholic life till about the beginning of the nineteenth century. The great industrial development which then began drew to the city and its neighbourhood Catholics from the Scottish Highlands and later, in far greater numbers, from Ireland. In 1828 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 Eyre (b. 1817, d. 1902) was consecrated Archbishop of Anazarba and appointed administrator Apostolic. On the restoration of the Scottish hierarchy by Leo XIII, 4 March, 1878, the Archbishopric of Glasgow was re-established, and Archbishop Eyre was transferred to the restored see. He bad consolidated the work of his predecessors in the former vicariate, and had laid the foundations for a complete diocesan organization. In 1884 he obtained from the Holy See the erection of a cathedral chapter with a provost and eleven canons. He introduced a thorough system of inspection in religious knowledge for the schools of the archdiocese. He was also the founder in 1874 of the diocesan college for higher studies, to house which he erected in 1892 at his own cost a building worthy of the purpose. He was succeeded in 1902 by John Aloysius Maguire (b. 1851), who had been consecrated as auxiliary bishop in 1894. The Catholics of the Glasgow district are computed at 380,000 out of a general population within the same bounds of 1,180,000. The number of Catholic baptisms in 1906 was 14,785. Taking the statistics available for 1908, there are 91 quasi-parishes, with 271 priests on active service distributed over 21 deaneries. There are 7 religious communities of men, and 16 of women. There are Catholic elementary schools in all the quasi-parishes, besides 14 upper-schools and a training college for female teachers. The teaching staff of the archdiocese numbers 1230. The number of children presented in 1907 for religious examination in the elementary schools was 55,350. There are 15 charitable institutions of various kinds, and there is a conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in nearly every quasi-parish.

II. GLASGOW UNIVERSITY

Forty years later than St. Andrews, Glasgow University was founded by Bull of Nicholas V, dated 7 January, 1450-1, granted at the request of James II, who acted on the advice of William Turnbull, Bishop of Glasgow. The bishop and his successors were to be ex-officio chancellors of the university; the foundation also provided for a rector, doctors and masters in the four faculties. Originally, it appears, most of the students enrolled were ecclesiastics, secular and regular, especially of the Dominican Order: "many of the Friars Predicators were diligent students" (Munim., i, 34) "and took a deep interest in the success of the university" (Stewart, p. xiii); and Bishop Turnbull warmly encouraged his clergy both to learn and to teach. He also procured from James II a royal charter in 1453. The Bull constituted a "studium generale, tam in theologia ac iure canonico et civili quam in artibus et quavis alia licita facultate", after the pattern of Bologna. The foundation of a college followed soon; it stood at first near Rotten Row; later, on a site given by Lord Hamilton in High Street, where it remained till 1870. The college (Paedagogium) was ruled by three "regents"; the students were distributed in four "nations ", originally called Clidisdaliae, Thevidaliae, Albaniae, Rosay, now surviving as Glottiana, Loudoniana, Transforthana, Rothseiana. Among the most famous names in the early annals of the university are: William Elphinstone, afterwards Bishop of Aberdeen and founder (in 1494-5) of Aberdeen University; the poet Robert Henryson; John Knox; Cardinal Beaton; and James Beaton, his nephew, chancellor of the university and Archbishop of Glasgow in 1560, when, upon the establishment of Protestantism, he fled to France.

The university, almost destroyed in the religious troubles, was refounded by James VI, then a minor under Morton's regency, in 1577 (Nova Erectio), with increased endowments, and reorganized by Andrew Melville or Melvin. From that time it has continued to increase; Dr. Weir (op. cit.) calculated the number of students at various epochs as follows: at beginning of sixteenth century, 50; at beginning of seventeenth century, 100; at beginning of eighteenth century, 400; at beginning of nineteenth century, 700; in 1870-1, 1279; in 1889-90, 2180. In 1907-8 there were 1905 men students (arts, 691; science, 275; theology, 56; medicine, 623; law, 208). In 1892 a neighbouring institution, established in 1883, for the higher education of women (Queen Margaret College) was incorporated into the university, and there are now some 600 female students.

The development of the university kept pace with the growth of Glasgow, and the increasing commercial importance of the city was reflected in the advance of scientific studies. The brothers William and John Hunter, in medicine; the philosophers Francis Hutcheson, Thomas Reid, and Adam Smith, are the great names in the eighteenth century, as teachers; Tobias Smollett, James Boswell, Francis Jeffrey, and Thomas Campbell as students. The university was also made famous by the Foulis printing press and the mechanical experiments of James Watt, inventor of the steam-engine. But perhaps the most world-wide celebrity that Glasgow University can boast is the late William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, who taught and carried on his researches here for fifty years till his retirement in 1899. Sir Richard Jebb and Dr. Gilbert Murray were successively professors of Greek from 1874 to 1899; the Cairds, John and Edward, were great names in Scotland; and the medical faculty has been and is still graced by men of European reputation, such as Lord Lister and Sir W. MacEwen.

The government of the university has been subjected to revision by royal commission many times, particularly in 1830, 1858, 1889. The old college was abandoned in 1870 for the large, and still largely expanding, buildings on Gilmorehill. The teaching staff numbers 32 professors, 50 lecturers, and 40 assistants. The total revenues from all sources (including Government annual grant of £20,000) amount to about £80,000. Magnificent additions to the equipment of the scientific and medical faculties have recently been made, the cost of which has been defrayed partly by the Carnegie Trust and partly by special subscription.

ARCHDIOCESE: Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, with Introduction, printed for the Maitland Club (Edinburgh, 1843); The Catholic Directory for Scotland (Edinburgh, 1908); The Western Catholic Calendar (Glasgow, 1908).

UNIVERSITY: Munimenta Universitatis Glasguensis (Glasgow, 1854); REID, Statistical Account of the University (1799); BAILLIE, Letters and Journals; INNES, Early Scottish History (1861); WEIR, preface to Memorials of the Old College (Glasgow, 1871); STEWART, University of Glasgow, Old and New (1891); COUTTS, A Short Account of the University of Glasgow prepared in connexion with the Ninth Jubilee in 1901; the last author has a larger work in preparation. RAIT in Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeol. Soc., V, 1908.

JOHN RITCHIE/J.S. PHILLIMORE