St Patrick's Church is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the

Cowgate The Cowgate (Scots language, Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, Edinburgh, ...

part of

Old Town, Edinburgh The Old Town ( sco, Auld Toun) is the name popularly given to the oldest part of Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh. The area has preserved much of its medieval street plan and many Reformation-era buildings. Together with the 18th/19th-cent ...

, Scotland. It was built from 1771 to 1774, and became a Catholic church in 1856. The facade of the church was designed by Reginald Fairlie in 1929. It is situated between South Gray's Close and St Mary's Street north of Cowgate and south of the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...

. It is a category B listed building.

History

Before the Church

The first records of the site are property deeds from 1503 to 1531 when it was a waste strip of land. When Archbishop James Beaton built his palace a short distance west of the church in 1509, he also purchased much of this waste. Later

Mary Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

’ Italian servant Francisco de Busso owned part of it. The north part of the church sites was owned, in the late 16th to early 17th centuries, by Dr John Naysmith, surgeon to

James VI James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

. The judge Sir James Elphinstone of Logie built ‘Elphinstone Court’ here in the 1670s. The Episcopal Congregation of the Cowgate Chapel then bought most of the land in the 1770s for the construction of the church.

Construction

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland. A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...

. In 1818, the church building became part of the United Presbyterian Church. The Scottish Episcopal Church commissioned

Alexander Runciman Alexander Runciman (15 August 1736 – 4 October 1785) was a Scottish painter of historical and mythological subjects. He was the elder brother of John Runciman, also a painter. Life He was born in Edinburgh, and studied at the Foulis Acade ...

to produce a series of murals for the church. These were installed but covered over by the Presbyterian congregation. The murals were then forgotten until Duncan Macmillan discovered the murals' existence during the 1960s. Since then, some of the murals have been recovered and remain on the east side of the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

and depict the Parable of the Prodigal Son,

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

, Jesus and the Samaritan Woman, and the

Ascension of Jesus The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate la, ascensio Iesu, lit=ascent of Jesus) is the Christian teaching that Christ physically departed from Earth by rising to Heaven, in the presence of eleven of his apostles. According to the N ...

. As of August 2018, the restoration of the murals remains underway. In 1856, the church was bought by the Apostolic Vicar of the Eastern District, Bishop James Gillis. The cost of £4,000 was borne half by the local

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...

and half by the Catholic Church. On 3 August 1856, the church was opened in a

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

presided over by Bishop Gillis.

Extensions

In 1898, the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

for the church was remodelled and a new

high altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganis ...

was installed. It was designed by

James Graham Fairley James Graham Fairley FRIBA MSGS (1846–1934) was a 19th/20th century Scottish architect working mainly in the West Lothian area, specialising in churches and schools. Life He was born in West Calder in West Lothian the son of William F ...

. In 1921, the mortuary chapel was built in memory of the parishioners who died in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. From 1924 to 1925, two chapels were built in the church, the Lady Chapel and the Sacred Heart Chapel. In 1929, the front church facade was built. It was designed by Reginald Fairlie and included statues of

St Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...

and

St Brigid Saint Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland ( ga, Naomh Bríd; la, Brigida; 525) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish hagiogra ...

Developments

In 2001, priests from the

Redemptorists The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brother ...

came to serve the parish. On 21 November 2014, after 13 years in Edinburgh, the Redemptorists left and the parish returned to the care of the

Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh The Archdiocese of Saint Andrews & Edinburgh ( la, Archidioecesis Sancti Andreae et Edimburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Scotland. It is the metropolitan see of the province of Saint Andrews and Edinbu ...

Archaeology

Excavations in the grounds of the Church, were undertaken by

Headland Archaeology Headland Archaeology Ltd is a wholely owned subsidiary of the RSK Group. Headland provides archaeological services and heritage advice to the construction industry. Company history Headland Archaeology Ltd was established in 1996. Headquartered ...

from 2006 to 2007 on behalf of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh in advance of the construction of a hotel on part of the church grounds. These excavations reveled aspects of the development of the

. It was found that flash floods swept through this part of Cowgate up until the development of the medieval town of Edinburgh in the 11th-12th centuries. In the 14th century, a substantial ditch, believed to be the medieval town boundary, was cut across the site. The ditch was a stinking rubbish dump full of human and animal waste. Later, the ditch was filled in and buildings were eventual built over the site in the 17th century onwards before the church was built.

Notable persons

* Canon Edward Joseph Hannan (1836-1891) ran the church for most of his life and founded

Hibernian Football Club Hibernian Football Club (), commonly known as Hibs, is a professional football club based in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The club plays in the Scottish Premiership, the top tier of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). ...

during this period *Canon John Gray, (1866-1934) poet and priest associate of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

, curate and later founder of St Peter's Morningside. * Margaret Sinclair (1900 - 1925) - nun, as Sister Mary Francis of the Five Wounds, declared

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cathol ...

in 1978. The National Shrine of the Venerable Margaret Sinclair is located within St Patrick's. *

James Connolly James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the a ...

(Irish revolutionary) (5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) born in Scotland to Irish parents.

Parish

On 6 August 1875,

Hibernian F.C. Hibernian Football Club (), commonly known as Hibs, is a professional football club based in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The club plays in the Scottish Premiership, the top tier of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). ...

was founded at the Catholic Institute, commonly known as St. Mary’s Street Halls, by St Patrick's Catholic Young Men Society (CYMS). The parish priest Fr Edward Joseph Hannan and Michael Whelahan from the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

's CYMS decided to create the football club. On 17 March 2013 (St Patrick's Day), a plaque commemorating this founding of the club was presented to the church by the Hibernian Supporters Club.Hibs’ Fans Present Plaque to St Patrick’s Parish Church
from ''The Edinburgh Reporter'', 18 March 2013, retrieved 30 June 2016 The church has two Sunday Masses; they are at 11:00am and 4:30pm on Sunday. The parish is part of a cluster with the nearby churches of the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...

, St Albert's, St Columba's, St Peter's and St Mark's.

References

External links

*
St Patrick's Parish site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patrick's Church, Edinburgh, Saint Roman Catholic churches in Edinburgh Listed Roman Catholic churches in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Edinburgh Roman Catholic churches in Scotland Roman Catholic churches completed in 1774 1856 establishments in Scotland 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Listed churches in Edinburgh Old Town, Edinburgh Neoclassical church buildings in Scotland