The Scots College (or The Pontifical Scots College) ( Italian: Il Pontificio Collegio Scozzese) in Rome is the main seminary for the training of men for the priesthood from the dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland.

History

The Scots College was established by Clement VIII on 5 December 1600, when it was assigned the revenue of the old Scots' hospice. At first the college was sited in a little house in what is known today as Via del Tritone, opposite the church of

Santa Maria di Costantinopoli The Church of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli is a 16th-century Roman Catholic church located on the street of the same name in Naples, Italy, and located a block north of the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples. History Its name is allied to the cult ...

. In 1604 it was transferred to Via Felice, now called Via delle Quattro Fontane, where a bust of the last of the Stuarts, Henry Cardinal Duke of York can be seen. The college remained there until 1962. From 1615 to 1773, the Rectors of the Scots College were drawn from the ranks of the Society of Jesus. After the Jesuits were suppressed in 1773 by Clement XIV, by his brief '' Dominus ac Redemptor'', the College was administered by a series of Italian clerics until 1800 and the arrival of

Paul MacPherson Paul McPherson (4 March 1756 – 24 November 1846), the first secular Scottish priest to be rector of the Scots College, Rome. Life He was born in Scalan, Aberdeenshire on 4 March 1756. At the age of thirteen, he travelled to the Scots College in ...

, a Scot, who served as Rector for 38 years. Since then the Rectors have all been drawn from the ranks of Scotland's secular clergy. The other long-serving Rector of the College, who also served for 38 years was Rt Rev. Msgr William Canon Clapperton (1886-1969) who served as Rector from 1922-1960. After his retirement he remained in Rome as canon of

St John Lateran The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...

and is buried in the college plot at the Campo Verano cemetery in Rome. The College moved to its current location on the Via Cassia some 4 miles from the city centre in 1962. The new College was designed by Renato Costa and was officially opened by Pope Paul VI on 18 November 1964. Seminarians at the Pontifical Scots College in Rome spend their first two years studying Philosophy at the Angelicum. After completion of Philosophy, and depending on their fluency in Italian, they take up the study of theology either at the Pontifical Gregorian University or the Angelicum, where theology is also offered in English. Priests taking part in postgraduate theology courses continue to stay at the College. The celebration of the Feast of St. Andrew is a high point of the Scots College year. The chapel of the college houses the original tombstone of James Francis Edward Stuart ("King James III and VIII"). On 14 April 2016, the community of the Scots College were granted a private audience with Pope Francis at the Apostolic Palace to mark the 400th anniversary of its becoming a seminary. In 2017, seminarians from the college were invited to serve at the Easter Vigil at St. Peter's Basilica. After a 2020 review projected unaffordable upgrade costs for the Via Cassia seminary, the Scottish Bishops announced a plan to relocate to a more central location in Rome beginning in 2021.

Rectors

* Bernardino Paolini (1600-1615) * Patrick Anderson SJ (1615) * Carlo Venozzi SJ (1615-1619) * Giovanni Marietti SJ (1619-1622) * George Elphinstone SJ (1622-1644) * William Christie SJ (1644-1646) * Francis Dempster SJ (1646-1649) * Andrew Leslie SJ (1649-1652) * Adam Gordon SJ (1652-1655) * Gilbert Talbot SJ (1655-1658) * Francis Dempster SJ (1658-1663) * Gilbert Talbot SJ (1663-1670) * John Strachan SJ (1670-1671) * Hector de Marini SJ (1671-1674) * William Lesie SJ (1674-1683) * Andrew MacGhie SJ (1683-1690) * William Lesie SJ (1692-1695) * James Forbes SJ (1695-1701) * Diego Calcagni SJ (1701-1704) * Giovanni Naselli SJ (1704-1708) * Thomas Fyfe SJ (1708-1712) * William Clark SJ (1712-1721) * Alexander Ferguson SJ (1721-1724) * Luca Gritta SJ (1724-1729) * Francisco Marini SJ (1729-1731) * Giovanni Morici SJ (1731-1738) * Livio Urbani SJ (1738-1747) * Lorenzo Alticozzi SJ (1747-1766) * Giovanni Corsedoni SJ (1766-1773) * Vincenzo Massa (1773-1773) * Lorenzo Antonini (1773-1774) * Alessandro Marzi (1774-1777) * Ignazio Ceci (1777-1781) * Francisco Marchioni (1781-1798) * Rev. Paul MacPherson (1800-1826) * Rev. Angus MacDonald (1826-1833) * Rev. Paul MacPherson (1833-1846) * Rev. Alexander Grant (1846-1878) * Rev. James Campbell (1878-1897) * Rt. Rev. Mgr. Robert Fraser (1897-1913) * Rt. Rev. Mgr. Donald Mackintosh (1913-1922) * Rt. Rev. Mgr. William Canon Clapperton (1922-1960) * Rt. Rev. Mgr. Philip Flanagan (1960-1967) * Rev. Daniel P. Boyle (1967-1973) * Rt. Rev. Mgr. Sean O'Kelly (1973-1981) * Rt. Rev. Mgr. James Clancy (1981-1986) * Rev. John Fitzsimmons (1986-1989) * Rt. Rev. Mgr. John McIntyre (1989-1995) * Rt. Rev. Mgr. Christopher J. McElroy (1995-2004) * Rt. Rev. Mgr. Philip Tartaglia (2004-2005) * Rev. Paul Milarvie (2005-2009) * Rt. Rev. Mgr. John Hughes (2009-2015) * Very Rev. Daniel Fitzpatrick (2015-2022) * Very Rev. Mark Canon Cassidy (2022-present)

Notable alumni

Alexander Dunbar Winchester Alexander Dunbar Winchester (also known as Alexander Winster) (1625–1708) was a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic clergyman who served as the Apostolic prefect, Prefect of Scotland. Born in Garmouth, Moray, in 1625, he took the Religious vows, ...

(1625–1708),

Apostolic Prefect An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

for Scotland * George Hay (1729–1811), served as Vicar Apostolic of the

Lowland District Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portion ...

in Scotland from 1778 until 1805 *

John Paul Jameson John Paul Jameson (Jamieson) D.D. ( - 20 March 1700) was a Scottish people, Scottish Roman Catholic priest and antiquarian. Life Jameson was born at Aberdeen, was brought up a Protestant, but became a Roman Catholic convert. He entered the Scots ...

(d. 1700), entered the college in 1677, ordained priest in 1685 *

Wilhelm von Leslie Wilhelm von Leslie (originally William Leslie) (1657–1727) was a Scottish Roman Catholic priest, who became Bishop of Laibach in 1718. Life He was the second son of William Leslie, fifth laird of Warthill, Aberdeenshire, and his wife Anne, dau ...

(1657–1727), Prince Bishop of Laibach, entered the College in 1675, ordained priest in 1681 * Charles Erskine (1739-1811), Cardinal and Vatican diplomat * Aeneas Chisholm (1836-1918), Bishop of Aberdeen from 1899 until 1918 * Frederick Rolfe (1860–1913), better known as Baron Corvo, writer *Canon John Gray (1866-1934), priest and poet, founding parish priest of St Peter's Morningside Edinburgh * Adrian Fortescue (1874–1923) * Thomas Winning (1925–2001), Cardinal, Archbishop of Glasgow from 1974 until 2001 * Maurice Taylor (born 5 May 1926), Bishop of the Diocese of Galloway from 1981 until 2004 *Father George Thompson (1928-2016), priest, teacher and MP, studied at the Scots College in the early 1950s * Mario Conti (1934-2022), Archbishop of Glasgow from 2002 until 2012 * Joseph Devine (1937-2019),

Bishop of Motherwell The Bishop of Motherwell is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Motherwell in the Province of Glasgow, Scotland. The diocese covers an area of . The Episcopal see, see is in the town of Motherwell, Scotland, ...

from 1983 until 2013 * John Cunningham (1938-2021), Bishop of Galloway from 2004 until 2014 * Philip Tartaglia (1951-2021), Archbishop of Glasgow from 2012 until 2021 * Stephen Robson (born 1 April 1951), Bishop of Dunkeld since 2013 * William Nolan (born 26 January 1954), Archbishop of Glasgow since 2022 * Paul Laverty (born 1957),

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and lawyer, studied for priesthood but did not continue to ordination, obtained a degree in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome * Leo Cushley (born 18 June 1961), Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh since 2013 * John Keenan (born 19 December 1964), Bishop of the

Diocese of Paisley The Diocese of Paisley ( la, Dioecesis Pasletana) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Scotland. Erected on 25 May 1947 from the Archdiocese of Glasgow, the diocese covers the historic county of ...

Other seminaries

* Scotus College, then founded in 1985 as Chesters College, located at Bearsden (Greater Glasgow), closed in 2009Press Statement by the Scottish Catholic Media Office
retrieved 28 February 2015 *

Royal Scots College The Royal Scots College (Real Colegio de Escoceses) is a major seminary in Salamanca, Spain, for the Catholic Church in Scotland. It was located originally at Madrid, then Valladolid, and then Salamanca (from 1988). History The Royal Scots Colleg ...

, located at Salamanca (Spain) since 1988 (formerly at Madrid and Valladolid) * St Andrew's College, founded in 1953 at Drygrange (Melrose) in the Scottish Borders, closed in 1986 * Scots College, University of Paris, located at Paris from 1333 until 1793

References

External links

*
Seminaries associated with the Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland
{{authority control Scots School Scots School Scots School 1600 establishments in Italy Catholic seminaries Seminaries and theological colleges in Italy Universities and colleges in Rome