St Margaret of Scotland, also known as St Margaret's, Gallowgate, is a Scottish Episcopal

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

History

The Gallowgate was one of the poorer areas of Aberdeen and in the mid-19th century consisted of a large area of

slum A slum is a highly populated Urban area, urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are p ...

s. St Margaret's was founded in 1867 as a

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

church by Father

John Comper Reverend John Comper (1823–1903) was a priest of the Scottish Episcopal Church who dedicated his life to helping the street children and prostitutes of Victorian Aberdeen. In 2003 Father Comper was declared a 'Hero of the Faith' by the Scottish ...

, one of the first followers in Scotland of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

. Comper was at the time rector of St John's, Aberdeen's oldest

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

congregation. Comper felt that the poorer areas of Aberdeen were not being reached by the Church and felt obliged to respond, firstly in 1863 by founding a convent of the

Society of Saint Margaret The Society of Saint Margaret (SSM) is an order of women in the Anglican Church. The Anglican religious order, religious order is active in England, Haiti, Sri Lanka, and the United States of America, United States and formerly Scotland. History ...

on the Spital and then the Gallowgate church. The original church was a room rented by Comper on the Gallowgate. By 1870, a joint chapel-school had been consecrated and Comper had resigned from his post at St John's and become full-time

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

to the newly formed St Margaret's parish. The church lies on a high, prominent site above the city of Aberdeen. The architect was James Matthews (1819–98). In 1879, a separate school was built, followed by the

St Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

chapel and the rectory in 1898 and 1906 respectively, designed by Comper's son,

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 architecture, Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishm ...

. A separate church hall was built in 1908 by the architect George Irvine, and in the same year, Ninian Comper installed the aisle and oak screen. There are a variety of stained-glass windows, depicting a number of liturgical themes. Some of these windows were also designed by Ninian Comper. The window on the North wall of the St Nicholas Chapel is dedicated to the

Sea Cadets Sea cadets are members of a cadets youth program sponsored by a national naval service, aimed for young people with an interest in waterborne activities and or the national navy. The organisation may be sponsored in whole or in part by the navy or ...

, with the arms 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 Ca ...

and of the City of Aberdeen. The text, "the sea is thy mirror" is from the poem ''L'Homme et la mer'' (Man and the Sea) by French poet,

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

, and "deep calleth unto deep" is from Psalm 42:7. The

ichthus Ichthus may refer to: * Ichthys (or ichthus), a Christian symbol drawn so as to resemble the profile of a fish * Ichthus Christian Fellowship Ichthus Christian Fellowship is a neocharismatic Christian church movement and apostolic network based i ...

in the centre is a Greek anagram "Jesus Christ, God, Son, Saviour". The church is now listed as Category B by

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...

Worship

Worship at St Margaret's is in the

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

, "

High church A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...

", tradition. Each Sunday, there is Parish Mass at 10:30am. There is also a Low Mass at 8am and 10am on Tuesday mornings. St Margaret's is one of few Scottish Episcopal congregations which has regular Gaelic Mass, having it on the first Saturday of the month at midday.

References

External links

The church's website

The church's Facebook page

The church's Twitter page.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Margaret of Scotland, Aberdeen Margaret's, Gallowgate Religious organizations established in 1867 Category B listed buildings in Aberdeen Listed churches in Scotland 19th-century church buildings in Scotland Anglo-Catholic church buildings in Scotland 1867 establishments in Scotland