The Scottish College or Scots College at

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, D ...

was a seminary founded in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, for the training of Scottish Roman Catholic exiles for the priesthood. It was modelled on the similar English College there, founded for the same purpose. It has an unfortunate notoriety in consequence of the long dispute between the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and the secular clergy which centred around it in later times.

History

The Scots College was founded at Tournai, but soon transferred to

Pont-à-Mousson Pont-à-Mousson () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. Its inhabitants are known as ''Mussipontains'' in French. It is an industrial town (mainly steel industry), situated on the river Moselle. Pont-à-Mouss ...

. In 1592,

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born ...

directed it to be relocated to Douai; however three years later it again moved to Louvain, where it was located next to the Jesuit College. In 1606, however, it moved again, and it was not until after several further migrations that it settled finally at Douai in 1612. At the time of the English Civil War, the Scots Colleges tended to support the crown. Many of the students were from families of the nobility and gentry and loyal to the Stuarts. A number of students interrupted their studies to return home and take up arms for the King. The college was devoid of resources, and it was due to the zealous efforts of Father Parsons in Rome and Madrid, and of Father Creighton in France and Flanders, that numerous benefactions were given and it was placed on a permanent footing. For this reason, the Jesuits afterwards claimed the property as their own, although it was admitted that in its early years secular clergy had been educated there. Appeals and counter-appeals were made, but the question was still unsettled when the Jesuits were expelled from France in 1764. The French Government, however, recognized the claims of the Scottish secular clergy and allowed them to continue the work of the college under a rector chosen from their own body.Russell, Julian. ''The last students at the Scots College, Douai'', ''The Innes Review'', Volume 58 Issue 2, pp. 222-225

Other Scots colleges

* Collegio Scozzese *

Scots College, Paris The Scots College ( la, Collegium Scoticum; french: Collège des Écossais) was a college of the University of Paris, France, founded by an Act of the Parliament of Paris on 8 July 1333. The act was a ratification of an event that had already tak ...

* Royal Scots College, Madrid

References

Sources

*H. de Ridder-Symoens, "The Place of the University of Douai in the Peregrinatio Academica Britannica", in Lines of Contact (nr 117) 21–34. Catholic seminaries 1594 establishments in France Scottish College {{RC-stub fr:Collège des Écossais

History

Other Scots colleges

See also

References

Sources