St Peter's Church is a

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 ...

of the

Roman 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 letter ...

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in the Morningside district of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland, within 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 ...

. The

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, ...

, designed by

Sir Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Gothi ...

, was built from 1906 to 1907, and the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was extended from 1928 to 1929. It is situated on the corner of Falcon Avenue and Falcon Gardens, to the east of Morningside Road. It is a category A listed building.Edinburgh, Morningside, 77 Falcon Avenue, St Peter's Roman Catholic Church And Presbytery House
from Canmore. Retrieved 20 July 2017

History

Foundation

The church was founded by Canon John Gray and Marc-André Raffalovitch. In 1901, Gray resigned as librarian at the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

to become a priest of the Catholic Church. When he was

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

St Patrick's Church, Edinburgh St Patrick's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in the Cowgate part of Old Town, Edinburgh, 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. ...

, Gray with Raffalovitch as benefactor planned to build St Peter's Church. Raffalovitch was once part of Oscar Wilde's circle of friends.

Construction

Perceiving the need for a new parish to serve Morningside, on 31 March 1905 Archbishop James Smith arranged for Fr Gray to leave his post at St Patrick's and take charge of the new parish of St Peter's. Gray engaged

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Got ...

to design the church in 1905. Lorimer also designed St Andrew's Garrison Church in

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

and Knightswood St Margaret's Parish Church. Construction started in 1906 and the church was opened on 25 April 1907. In 1927, Robert Lorimer was knighted and the next year in 1928, work began to extend the

of the church, again under the direction of Lorimer. In 1929, it was completed.

Developments

Following the liturgical reforms of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

, much of the church furniture, designed by Lorimer, was removed. The cast-iron altar rails, which had fish motifs, were removed. The

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 paga ...

, made of marble, has almost been completely lost.

Parish

The church has one Sunday

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 ...

at 11:30 am. Usually, there are Masses or

Liturgy of the Word Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

at 9 am from Monday to Friday. From 2017 the parishes in Edinburgh were organised into clusters to better co-ordinate their resources. St Peter's is one of four parishes in Cluster 4 along with St Columba's,

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 ...

and St Mark's.

References

External links

St Peter's Parish site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter, Edinburgh, Saint Listed churches in Edinburgh Roman Catholic churches in Edinburgh Listed Roman Catholic churches in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Roman Catholic churches in Scotland Roman Catholic churches completed in 1929 1905 establishments in Scotland Italianate architecture in Scotland 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Christian organizations established in 1905 Italianate church buildings in the United Kingdom