Annual Pilgrimage Mass at Scalan
Sunday 16 June 2019
The Annual Pilgrimage Mass at Scalan, in the Braes of Glenlivet, took place this year on Sunday 16 June, Trinity Sunday, at 4:00pm.
It was on this feast in 1769, 250 years ago this year, that Bishop George Hay, one of the great names of our Catholic past, was consecrated bishop in the tiny upstairs chapel in the present Scalan building, in secret because of the anti-Catholic Penal Laws. Bishop Hay fought to overturn these laws. It was not easy. On returning to Edinburgh after another round of secret talks with the Government, he found a mob burning his house down and the chapel he had started building. Although English Catholics had a Catholic Relief Act passed in 1779, opposition here was considered so strong that it was 1793 before a similar piece of legislation could be passed for Scotland. Although he died in 1811, much of what he had done laid the groundwork for the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829.
Here is a selection of photographs: before, during, and after the Mass.
It was on this feast in 1769, 250 years ago this year, that Bishop George Hay, one of the great names of our Catholic past, was consecrated bishop in the tiny upstairs chapel in the present Scalan building, in secret because of the anti-Catholic Penal Laws. Bishop Hay fought to overturn these laws. It was not easy. On returning to Edinburgh after another round of secret talks with the Government, he found a mob burning his house down and the chapel he had started building. Although English Catholics had a Catholic Relief Act passed in 1779, opposition here was considered so strong that it was 1793 before a similar piece of legislation could be passed for Scotland. Although he died in 1811, much of what he had done laid the groundwork for the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829.
Here is a selection of photographs: before, during, and after the Mass.
For further information on the Scalan Association, click here.
RC Diocese of Aberdeen Charitable Trust. A registered Scottish Charity Number SC005122.