Scotland’s National Ecclesiastical Seminary

New Zealand Tablet, 23 February 1911, Page 331

Scotland’s National Ecclesiastical Seminary

Beautifully situated on the Kincardine side of the river Dee, and five miles from the Granite City of Aberdeen (says a writer in the Catholic Parish Magazine), stands our national ecclesiastical seminary, Blairs College. Here nearly all our native-born priests since 1829 have begun and finished their classical training preparatory to entering upon their more advanced studies of Philosophy and Theology. (These are pursued either in Rome, Paris, Valladolid, or since 1892, in New Kilpatrick, Glasgow.) The present fabric at Blairs is large and exceedingly well arranged, built of beautiful white granite. The casual visitor, as he enters the well-kept grounds and ascends the gracefully-curved avenue, is struck by the air of prosperity, of modernnessl had almost said of affluence, —around him. There is no hint of a tragic past, of a hard and bitter struggle against the combined forces of bigotry and poverty. But to anyone who has been privileged to investigate the records of the past of Blairs, who knows what the present buildings are the culmination of, it is indeed a great surprise to see that to-day the Catholic Church can claim as her own a building and a position in the educational world second to none in Scotland. Let us take a very brief glance at that past.

It was at 5 o’clock on the evening of June 2, 1829, that 20 miserably-clad youths arrived at Blairs from their former home, the College at Aquhorties. That morning they had walked from Aquhorties to Inverurie, whence they took the fly boat on the canal to Aberdeen, thence in five carriages to Blairs. I have said they were miserably ,clad: the Rev. Charles Gordon (the famous ‘ Priest Gordon ’ of Aberdeen), who had been entrusted by the Vicars Apostolic with the preparation of Blairs for the students’ arrival, says; ‘On their arrival at Blairs I found them in a very tattered state indeed. It may be said they had no coats for their backs, shoes for their feet, nor linens for their bodies.’ But if these young men 82 years ago were in such a sorry plight, they brought with them memories of still worse traditions stretching back thirty years to the College at Scalan. Life at Scalan had been a life of hardship always, of danger often. More than once had the little house hid away among the hills in the wilds of. Banffshire been attacked by armed soldiery and burned to the ground. Again and again had superiors and students been compelled to flee through mountain passes into secluded Highland glens where the forces of bigotry might not follow. But I weary my readers with these memories of a past that, thank God, is dead and gone. It is of the Blairs of to-day that I have been invited by our editor to speak; and so I must hasten on.

It was in the year 1828, I think, that the Laird of Pitfodels, John Menzies, a name ever to be held in grateful memory by the Catholic priesthood and people of Scotland, made over to the Vicars-Apostolic his mansion house and estate at Blairs (covering over 1000, acres) for the formation and endowment of a seminary. The mansion house, though large enough for the accommodation of Mr. Menzies and his servants, was not sufficiently commodious for a. college. Consequently John Gall, architect, Aberdeen, was employed to draw up plans for the extension, and the work was immediately started under the supervision of Father Gordon. On June 2, 1829, though Father Gordon was not yet quite ready for them, the students were admitted from Aquhorties. The dark days for the education of Scotland’s priesthood were over. From 1829 till 1910 is a tale of steady progress, in which the chief event to be recorded is the erection of the new college buildings, the chief game to be remembered that

of Bishop Chisholm, last Rector of old Blairs, first Rector of new Blairs. Had I space at my disposal I should like to give a few biographical notes on each of the six Rectors who presided over old Blairs, but as that is impossible, I shall merely record their names and dates. The Rev. Alexander Badenoch, who had been Rector in Aquhorties, came with the students to Blairs, but remained there as Rector only three months. His successors were;Rev. John Sharp, 1829-1847; Rev. John Macpherson (founder and first editor of the ‘ Catholic Directory 5 for Scotland), 18471858 Rev. John Strain Hater Lisbon V 1858-1884: Rev

y vwxixi. uuittiu yictucil JUldllup/j 1000-1004: , IItJV • Peter Jos. Grant, 1864-1890; Then came the Rev. iEneas Chisholm, now Bishop of Aberdeen. ■ His Rectorship “was big with events. Shortly after his appointment he realised that the buildings at Blairs were not large enough for the accommodation of the increased number of students required to keep up the supply of priests in Scotland. He set about collecting the funds necessary for the erection of a college that would be worthy in every way of the position that the Catholic Church now holds in Scotland. With such success did he labor that on October 13, 1897, the first wing of the new college was opened; the college chapel finished October, 1901; the completed buildings, September, 19? 3 - The last two events took place during the Rectorship of Monsignor McGregor, who has proved during his twelve years of office that the best interests and noblest traditions of Blairs are safe in his hands. There is yet a name to be mentioned which must never be forgotten. It is that of Monsignor Lennon. Much that _ Bishop Chisholm accomplished would probably still remain undone but for Monsignor Lennon. The greatest benefactor of Blairs since 1829, his hand was outstretched to help when help was most needed. The beautiful college chapel built by him stands to-day as a fitting memorial of one who, coming as a stranger amongst us, left his name as a household word in our midst. In the little college, cemetery hard by his own beautiful church he rests, what was mortal of him. The nobler part, the spirit which burned with such zeal and generosity in the interests of the training of a Catholic priesthood, we may safely trust to the hands of Him Who forgets not even the widow’s mite.