THE
P RTAL
September 2015
Page 17
Scalan:
Scotland’s Hidden Seminary
Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane discover another Glenlivet secret
Many of
our readers will have heard of Glenlivet. We visited this remote place, but not for one of the
many single malts produced there. We were there to see a ‘Hidden Cottage’. Hidden it is. As we drove
up the Glen we came to the beautiful church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Chapeltown of Glenlivet.
The redoubtable Sylvia Toovey was on hand to show
us round. The Catholic Mission here began when Paul
Macpherson arrived in 1829. Colin MacKenzie rebuilt
the church in 1896. At that time there were six hundred
and eighty two Catholics in the village. Today there are
thirteen. depopulation indeed. People began to leave
when famine came. They went to Glasgow seeking a
better life. As Sylvia said, “They didn’t find it”. We were
interested in the church because some of the vestments
we saw at Blairs come from Chapeltown.
A short-lived Seminary was founded at Loch Morar.
But persecution forced its closure. By 1717 Scalan was
But this was not the purpose of our visit. We were open, which included the house for the Seminarians
interested in the ‘Hidden Cottage’. Hidden it certainly and a farm to feed them. In those days it would be
is. As we drove up the Glen we could see hills, a stream, even more remote and hidden than today, with a lack
fields, all one would expect to see in the Highlands; of transport and the Glen full of shrubs and scrub.
but no cottage. Finally, there it was.
Anyone approaching the place would be seen well
before they got near.
Right at the end of the Glen was a small cottage (front
cover photograph). This is a lonely and isolated place, ust
In 1720 four Seminarians sailed for Rome. They were
right for a Seminary in 1717 when the Catholic Faith ordained seven years later after studying at the Scots
was prescribed in Scotland. Young men were trained College. Yet, Scalan was to be an all-through college.
for the priesthood here until 1799. Sylvia’s husband, On Ember Saturday, September 1725, Bishop Gordon
John, was there to greet us with his faithful dog.
raised two Scalan seminarians to the priesthood.
These two, George Gordon and Hugh MacDonald,
The house is called ‘Scalan’. In 1715, the Rev John were known as “heather priests”. They were the first of
Gordon responded to the collapse of the Jacobite a long line of priests formed at Scalan.
Rising, and with Government soldiers scourging the
countryside for priests, by moving to this place. He No-one was ever discovered
There were times when the soldiers came. But
found shelter in an old barn. He built himself a cottage
sufficient warning allowed the people there to scatter
by a spring, but was not to enjoy it for long.
into the heather and into the isolation of the Glen. NoBishop James Gordon
one was ever discovered at Scalan.
For many years it was Scotland’s only Seminary. The
founder of the Seminary was Bishop James Gordon,
At the close of the century the Seminary was
who was born on 31st January 1665. He studied at the transferred to Aquhorthies on Donside, three miles
Scots College in Paris and came to Scotland in 1692. from Inverurie. Today it is a small reminder of the
He was chosen as coadjutor to Bishop Nicolson and days of persecution, and is open all the time. During
ordained as such on 11th April 1706.
the summer an annual Mass is held at Scalan, when
many Catholics come to offer the Holy Sacrifice in this
There were four Scots Colleges abroad – in Paris, most holy of places.
Rome, Madrid, and Douay: but none in Scotland and
therefore under the control of the Vicars Apostolic.
Find out more at www.scalan.co.uk
Scalan
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