St Andrew's Cathedral (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...

: Cathair-eaglais Naomh Anndra), or the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, is a

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

of the

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 ...

situated in the Scottish city of

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. It is the

see See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...

of the

Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney The Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Created in 1865, the diocese covers the historic county of Aberdeenshire, and the Orkney and Shetland island groups. It shares with the Roman Cat ...

, who is the Ordinary of the

Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney The Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Created in 1865, the diocese covers the historic county of Aberdeenshire, and the Orkney and Shetland island groups. It shares with the Roman Cat ...

History

The cathedral is known as being the church where the first bishop of the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

Samuel Seabury Samuel Seabury (November 30, 1729February 25, 1796) was the first American Episcopal bishop, the second Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and the first Bishop of Connecticut. He was a leading Loyalist ...

was ordained in 1784. Bishop Seabury was consecrated to the episcopate in "an upper room" of the home of John Skinner, then leader of the St. Andrew's congregation, approx 500 meters from the present building. The approximate site of the house used to be marked by a polished granite tablet on the wall of the former

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long- ...

. This has, in recent years, been moved. The original building was designed in the perpendicular Gothic style by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Archibald Simpson, one of Simpson's many commissions in the city. While three sides of the cathedral were built out of the usual local

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

, for which Aberdeen is famous, the facade of the structure, facing King Street, was built from

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

for economical reasons despite Simpson's opposition. The church opened in 1817 as ''St Andrew's Chapel'' and was raised to cathedral status in 1914. During the 1930s, the cathedral was renovated to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Seabury's consecration. There had been a plan to build an elaborate, cruciform cathedral with central tower, commemorating Bishop Seabury's consecration on the site currently occupied by

Aberdeen City Council gd, Comhairle Cathair Obar Dheathain , native_name_lang = , other_name = , image_skyline = Town House, Municipal Offices and Court Houses in Aberdeen.jpg , image_caption ...

's headquarters. This was to have been a gift of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, however, the

Wall Street Crash The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

halted this plan due to lack of money. Instead, the existing church was enlarged and embellished by Sir

Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect; one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishment of churches, and the de ...

. The memorial was dedicated with a ceremony attended by the then U.S. ambassador to the UK, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Until the late 1970s and early 1980s, the cathedral was

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in tradition. In 1982, the Cathedral Provost of the time, Very Revd Donald Howard, declared in a sermon the cathedral would remove the large crucifix and four of the six candles on the high altar for Lent so that the altar could be free-standing to permit a 'westward' celebration of the Eucharist, celebrant facing the congregation rather than back to the people. Worship has since become more "broad" in nature, whilst retaining the dignity of cathedral worship.

Financial and structural difficulties and 2020 closure

In April 2020, the church officials said that financial difficulties could mean that the cathedral might not re-open after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In June 2020, Bishop Anne Dyer and the Cathedral Trustees and Chapter announced that the cathedral would close temporarily from September 2020, because of problems with the fabric of the building. The congregation continued to gather for worship online from September 2020 to October 2021. In July 2021, the trustees made a Vision Statement that the cathedral will reopen for worship on Advent Sunday 2021

Reopened for Advent 2021

On Sunday, 5 December 2021, the cathedral reopened for worship to a grand inaugural service of Advent Carols. The congregation continued to gather for worship on Sundays at 10.45am and on Thursdays at 10am.

List of provosts

Andrew Jaffray Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

* James Milne * 1735–1774: William Smith * John Skinner * William Skinner * Stephen Allen * John Ryde * Thomas Suther * Henry Ley Greaves * 1882–1909: Myers Danson * 1910–1912:

William Perry William Perry may refer to: Business * William Perry (Queensland businessman) (1835–1891), businessman and politician in Queensland, Australia * William H. Perry (businessman) (1832–1906), American businessman and entrepreneur Politics and ...

* 1914–1932: Henry Erskine Hill * 1932–1955: Gordon Kinnell * 1955–1965: Paddy Shannon * 1965–1978: Arthur Hodgkinson * 1978–1991: Donald Howard * 1991–2002: David Wightman * 2003–2015: Richard Kilgour * 2015–present: Isaac Poobalan

Organ and organists

The cathedral, which has a splendid acoustic, houses one of the finest three manual pipe organs in Scotland, and has been served by a number of distinguished organists and masters of the choristers including: *George Trash *John Cullen *Richard Galloway *Frederick ("Bill") Fea *David McGinnigle *Geoffrey Pearce 1978 – 1983 (afterwards organist of

Bridlington Priory Priory Church of St Mary, Bridlington, , commonly known as Bridlington Priory Church is a parish church in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in the Diocese of York. It is on the site of an Augustinian priory founded in 1113 which w ...

) and Selby Abbey *Professor

Andrew Morrisson Andrew Morrisson is a British classical organist and Master of the Choristers at St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen, and Associate Head of the School of Pharmacy & Life Sciences at the Robert Gordon University. Biography Morrisson was educated a ...

1983 – 2020 *Christopher Cromar 2020–2021

Cathedral canons

Revd Canon Captain Gerry Bowyer Revd Canon Neil Brice Revd Canon Vittoria Hancock Revd Canon Jeremy Paisey Revd Canon John Walker

References

{{Coord, 57.1491, -2.0931, display=title

Category A listed buildings in Aberdeen Listed cathedrals in Scotland