The ancient
hierarchy of Scotland ended with the death of Archbishop Beaton
of Glasgow at Paris on 24 April 1603 at the age of 86. The
ending of that ancient hierarchy had, of course, followed
the Reformation in Scotland.
Following on that, initially Prefects Apostolic
were appointed and then Vicars Apostolic under a titular bishop.
For 100 years from 1727 to 1827 Scotland was divided into
two Vicariates: the Lowland and Highland Districts; and then
from 1827 to 1878 into three Vicariates: the Eastern, the
Western and the Northern. The last Vicar Apostolic in the
Eastern District, based in Edinburgh, was John Strain –
he became Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh on 15 March
1878 on the occasion of the Restoration of the Hierarchy in
Scotland.
On the Restoration of the Hierarchy in 1878,
Scotland was divided into the Province of St Andrews and Edinburgh,
with a Metropolitan See and four Suffragan Sees of Aberdeen,
Argyll and the Isles, Dunkeld and Galloway; and the Archdiocese
of Glasgow was created, directly subject to the Holy See.
Since 1878, following on Archbishop Strain,
the Archbishops were: William Smith, Angus MacDonald, James
Smith, Andrew Joseph McDonald OSB, and Cardinal Gordon Joseph
Gray.
Cardinal Gray the first residential Archbishop
to have been created a Cardinal since the Reformation, retired
on 30 May 1985 and died in Edinburgh on 19 July 1993. His
successor, the present Archbishop, is Cardinal Keith Patrick
O’Brien, who was nominated Archbishop on 30 May 1985,
ordained Archbishop in St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh
on 5 August 1985 and created cardinal priest by the late Pope
John Paul II on 21 October 2003.
The Archdiocese is far flung: from the north
of Fife to the south of the Borders and from east of Edinburgh
to within 10 miles of the Archdiocese of Glasgow.
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