The Scottish Hierarchy.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2938, 16 July 1878, Page 3

The Scottish Hierarchy.

An Apostolic Letter creating the Scotch Hierarchy, dated the 4th of March; is published ■, to-day, in which the Pope refers to his predecessor's achievement in re-establishing the English Hierarchy in 1850, and those of Holland and Brabant, as well as the Patriarchate of Jerusalem afterwards, and to his having made arrangements to extend the same blessings to Scotland. Pope-:L"ed,"■following' bis example and interpreting his intentions, proceeds now ; to carry his predecessor's designs.into effect. The Pope gives a cursory view of the Scotch Church. from its origin, referring to St. Ninian instructed in the Faith by the Venerable Bede; then to the monastic institutions of St. Colmnba in the 6th century ; and, passing over the dark intervening period, describes the condition of the Church under.Malcolm 111., in the 11th century, and. the increased lustre it attained till Sextus IV. gave Scotland a Metropolitan Church at St. Andrew's in 1472, and later another at Glasgow in 1491; the Sees in Scotland being then 13. The triumph of heresy destroyed the ecclesiastical edifices in the 16th century ; but the Roman Pontiffs never remitted their endeavors to keep up the faith in that kingdom—first by establishing a Scotch College in Rome; then by appointing Apostolic Vicars for the benefit of the BcattaJhi flock of. the faithful. Days of toler^SSaqd freedom having now dawned for the.. Catholics in England, the Pope had come to the resolution which Pope Leo. is now carrying into effect by creating the Archbishopric of Glasgow. Besides the ecclesiastical Province, consisting of the Archbishopric of St. Andrews and Edinburgh and of the four Bishoprics of Aberdeen, Dunkeld, Wigton or Galloway, and Argyle and the Isles, the Archbishopric of St; Andrews and Edinburgh will comprise the counties of Edinburgh, Linlithgp'w, Haddmgton, Berwick, Selkirk, Peebles, Roxburgh, southern Fife to the right of the Eden Elver,, and Stirlingshire, excepting the territories of Baldernock and East Kilpatriefcv The See of Glasgow will embrace the counties of Lanark, Renfrew, Dumbarton, tie territories of Baldernock , and East Kilpatrick, Worth Ayr, down to the meeting of the Lugton with tbe Garnock, and the great and small Cumbrian Islands. The Bishopric of Aberdeen will contain the counties of. Aberdeen, Kincardine, Banff or Moray, Nairn, Uoss, excepting Lewis in. the Hebrides, Cromarty, Sutherland, Caithness, the Orkneys and the Shetland Isles, ; and finally that part of Invernessshire north of a line drawn from the north end of Lake Linnhe to the eastern part of the county bordering on Banffshire and Aberdeenshire. In the Diocese of Dunkeld are included the counties of Perth, Forfar or Angus, Clackmannan, Kinross, and north Fife to the left of the Eden'■ River, as well as the enclaves of Stirlingshire scattered in the territories pf Perth and Clackmannan. Wigton or

Galloway will include tho counties of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Wigton and Ayr, lefi of the confluence of the Lugton' with tho Garnock. Finally, Argyle and the Isles will embrace Argyllshire and tho Islands of Bute an 1 Arran, tho Hebrides, and South Inverness shire, according to the line drawn from Lake Linnhe to the eastern border of said shire. The Pope reserves powei* to introrluro alterations or additions to the hierarchy now established, defines the rights and attributes of the Bishops, and prescribes the rnles of their intercourse with the Holy See, their periodical visits to Kotue, their connexion with the congregali ns of tho Propaganda, &c. Against any one opposing or interfering with this creation of the Scotch hierarchy, the Pope threatens the indignation of the Almighty, | and of His blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.—Times Correspondent.