POST-REFORMATION
VICARIATES AND DISTRICTS

From 1598 to 1621, Catholics in Scotland were nominally subject to the English archpriests.

The establishment in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide) led, in England, to the appointment of the first vicar-apostolic, William Bishop, in 1623. His jurisdiction, and that of his successor, Richard Smith, included Scotland.

Some Scottish priests appealed to Pope Gregory XV, citing the bull 'Cum Universi' of 1192, which had declared the Scottish church subject only to the Holy See. The point was conceded in principle, if not immediately in practice.

A prefecture apostolic was created for Scotland in 1653. The first prefect-apostolic was William Ballantine, a convert to Catholicism. His father, Thomas, had been minister of North Berwick. There were two prefects-apostolic, Ballantine and Alexander Winchester(Winster), between 1653 and 1694 when a vicariate apostolic was created.

Unlike archpriests and prefects-apostolic, vicars-apostolic were Bishops. The first vicar-apostolic was Thomas Nicolson, an Episcopalian who was received into the Catholic church in 1682. He was nominated titular bishop of Peristasis and fist vicar-apostolic of Scotland on 7 September 1694, and consecrated in secret at Paris on 27 February 1695.

He was succeeded by his coadjutor James Gordon. Gordon was nominated bishop on 21 August 1705, and consecrated in secret at Montefiascone, Italy, on 11 April 1706.

On 23 July 1727, the Scottish vicariate was divided into Highland and Lowland vicariates. Bishop Gordon became the first vicar-apostolic of the Lowland vicariate. He was succeeded by Alexander Smith, John Grant, the notable Bishop Geroge Hay, John Geddes, Alexander Cameron, and Alexander Paterson.

A further division on 13 February 1827, replaced the Highland and Lowland, with Eastern, Western, and Northern, vicariates. The Western vicariate, centred on Glasgow, included the counties of Argyll, Ayr, Bute, Dunbarton, Inverness(southern part), Lanark, Renfrew, Wigtown, and the Western Isles.

The former bishop of the Highland vicariate, Ranald MacDonald, became the first vicar-apostolic of the Western vicariate. He was succeeded by Andrew Scott, acknowledged as the builder of the present St.Andrew's Cathedral; John Murdoch, and his coadjutor, Alexander Smith.

Bishop Scott's nephew, John Gray, was appointed coadjutor to Bishop Murdoch on 6 May 1862, and succeeded him on 15 December 1865. Gray also received a coadjutor bishop. James Lynch, a native of Dublin, and a member of the Vincentian order was nominated on 31 August, and consecrated on 4 November, 1866. However, recurrent disagreements, and the apostolic visitation of the Western vicariate by Archbishop Manning of Westminster, led to Lynch's translation on 13 April 1869 to be coadjutor in the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin in Ireland. Bishop Gray resigned on 4 March 1869.

Bishops Gray and Lynch were replaced by Charles Petre Eyre. Eyre was nominated delegate apostolic and titular archbishop of Anazarbus on 11 December 1868, and consecrated on 31 January 1869. On 16 April 1869, he was nominated apostolic administrator of the Western district. He was given the twin task of restoring harmony within his district, and of preparing for the re-establishment of a diocesan hierarchy.

On 4 March 1878, this latter aim was achieved. The rule of vicars-apostolic ended, with the creation of six dioceses and the appointment of diocesan bishops.

Nevertheless until 1908 the Catholic church in Scotland remained subject to the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide). In 1908, Scotland, along with England, Ireland, Canada, Holland and the USA were transferred from Propaganda's missionary jurisdiction to the common law of the church.

With effect from 4 April 1948, as had long been the intention, two new dioceses, Motherwell and Paisley were created, as suffragans of the Archdiocese of Glasgow To mark the reorganisation and raising again of Glasgow to the status of a Metropolitan archbishopric Archbishop Campbell commissioned a magnificent memorial of the occasion in the form of the Glasgow Crozier.