Diocese of Dunkeld

56°33′54″N 3°35′06″W / 56.565°N 3.585°W

Head	Bishop of Dunkeld
Archdeacon(s)	Archdeacon of Dunkeld
Known rural deans	Angus (Rattray); Atholl; Drumalban; Fife & Fothriff; Lothian; Strathearn
First attestation	865 x 1114
Metropolitan before 1472	None
Metropolitan after 1492	Archbishop of Glasgow (until 1515) Archbishop of St Andrews (after 1515)
Cathedral	Dunkeld Cathedral
Dedication	Columba
Canons	Secular
Mensal churches	Abercorn, Aberdalgie, Aberlady, Alyth, Auchtergaven, Bunkle, Caputh, Cargill, Cramond, Dowally, Dunkeld, Forgandenny, Killespick-Kyril, Little Dunkeld, Obney, Pitcairn, Preston, Strathmiglo, Tibbermore
Common churches	Auchterhouse, Fortingall, Meigle, Saline
Prebendal churches	Aberlady, Alyth, Auchtergave, Clunie (Dean), Crieff, Dowally, Dunkeld (Treasurer), Fearn, Forgandenny, Inchaiden (Dean), Kinclaven (chanter), Lagganallachie (Archdeacon), Lethendy, (Chancellor), Little Dunkeld (Treasurer), Logiebride, Lumdeiff, Menmuir, Moneylie, Muckersie, Obney, Rattray (succentor), Tealing (Archdeacon)
Catholic successor	Merged into resurrected Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunkeld, March 4, 1878
Episcopal successor	Diocese of Saint Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane

The Diocese of Dunkeld was one of the 13 historical dioceses of Scotland preceding the abolition of Episcopacy in 1689.

History

It is thought that the diocese was constituted as far back as the middle of the ninth century. There was a monastery there by 849, when the relics of St. Columba were brought here from Iona. The first occupant was styled Bishop of Fortriu, the name by which the kingdom of the northern Picts was then known. This bishop was also styled Abbot of Dunkeld, perhaps holding jurisdiction, formerly enjoyed by Iona, over the other Columban monasteries in Scotland.

The new bishopric appears to have included a great part of what afterwards became the Diocese of Argyll, and retained its jurisdiction over various churches representing old Columban foundations. There were thirty-five bishops of Dunkeld from its foundation until the suppression of the Catholic hierarchy during the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century.

The Catholic cathedral, situated in the Perthshire town of Dunkeld, was erected between 1220 and 1500; after the Reformation the cathedral fell partly into ruins, although the choir is used for Presbyterian worship.

Despite the Reformation and the hostility of the new Church of Scotland to bishops, episcopacy was not finally abolished until 1689, although there had been a temporary abolition from 1638 until the beginning of the 1660s. The diocese was restored by the Catholic Church (with a different boundary), on 4 March 1878, by Pope Leo XIII. The new Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunkeld is one of the suffragan sees of the archiepiscopal province of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, and includes the counties of Perth, Angus, Clackmannan, Kinross, and the northern part of Fife. The diocesan cathedral, now dedicated to Saint Andrew rather than Columba, is located in Dundee. This is the residence of the great majority of the Catholics of the modern diocese. The cathedral chapter, erected in 1895, consists of a provost and eight canons.

Parishes

Deanery/ies of Angus (or Rattray)

1. Abernyte
2. Auchterhouse
3. Fern
4. Menmuir
5. Tealing

Deanery of Atholl and Drumalban

1. Alyth
2. Ardeonaig
3. Auchtergaven
4. Bendochy
5. Blair (now Blair Atholl)
6. Cargill
7. Clunie
8. Dull
9. Dunkeld Cathedral
10. Fortingall
11. Dunkeld, Holy Trinity
12. Inchcadin (now Kenmore)
13. Killin
14. Kilmaveonaig
15. Kinclaven
16. Lethendy
17. Little Dunkeld
18. Logie Allochie (now Lagganallachy)
19. Logiebride
20. Logierait
21. Lude
22. Lundeiff (now Kinloch)
23. Meigle
24. Melginch (now St. Martins)
25. Moneydie
26. Moulin
27. Rannoch (or Killichonen)
28. Rattray
29. Redgorton
30. Ruthven
31. Strathardle (now or Kirkmichael)
32. Struan
33. Weem

Deanery of Fife and Fothriff

1. Aberdour
2. Auchtertool
3. Crombie
4. Dalgety
5. Fithkil (now Leslie)
6. Rosyth
7. Saline
8. Strathmiglo

Deanery of Lothian

1. Abercorn
2. Aberlady
3. Bunkle
4. Cramond
5. Preston

Deanery of Strathearn

1. Aberdalgie
2. Alva
3. Crieff
4. Dollar
5. Forgrund (or Forgandenny)
6. Lecropt
7. Madderty
8. Muckersie
9. Tibbermore

See also

• Bishop of Dunkeld, the historical bishop.
• Bishop of Dunkeld (Roman Catholic), the restored Roman Catholic Bishop.
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunkeld, the restored Roman Catholic Diocese.
• Bishop of Saint Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, the Scottish Episcopal Bishop.
• Diocese of Saint Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, the Scottish Episcopal Diocese.

Canonical status and jurisdiction

Diocese of Dunkeld was a defunct roman catholic diocese of the Catholic Church.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Diocese of Dunkeld — (DUNKELDENSIS)

Located in Scotland, constituted, as far back as the middle of the ninth century, the primatial see of the Columban Church by King Kenneth Mac Alpine, who rebuilt there the church and monastery founded by King Constantine (afterwards destroyed by the Danes), and translated thither St. Columba's relics. The first occupant of the see is styled in the Annals of Ulster (A.D. 865) Bishop of Fortrenn, the name by which the kingdom of the Southern Picts was then known. He was also Abbot of Dunkeld, with jurisdiction, formerly enjoyed by Iona, over the other Columban monasteries in Scotland. The seat of the primacy was, however, subsequently transferred to Abernethy, and then to St. Andrews, and Dunkeld became subject to lay abbots, from one of whom, Crinan, sprang Malcolm III and his successors on the throne of Scotland. In 1127 King Alexander, who had already founded the Diocese of Moray farther north, erected Dunkeld into a cathedral church and replaced the Columban monks by a chapter of secular canons. The new bishopric included a great part of what afterwards became the Dioceses of Argyll and Dunblane, and retained its jurisdiction over various churches representing old Columban foundations. The Abbots of Iona remained, as heretofore, subject to the ancient primatial See of Dunkeld, until Iona became the seat of the Bishop of the Isles at the end of the fifteenth century. About the same time Dunkeld (together with Dunblane, Galloway, and Argyll) became a suffragan of the newly-constituted Archbishopric of Glasgow; but during the primacy of Archbishop Foreman of St. Andrews (1513-1522) it was restored to the metropolitan province. Thirty-five bishops occupied the See of Dunkeld from its foundation in 1107 until the extinction of the ancient hierarchy in the sixteenth century. Of this line of prelates the most distinguished were James Kennedy (1438-1440), illustrious for his birth, learning, and piety, who was translated, after two years at Dunkeld, to the Bishopric of St. Andrews; the famous poet-prelate Gavin Douglas (1516-1521), who died in exile in England; and John Hamilton (1545-1547), who succeeded the murdered Cardinal Beaton at St. Andrews, and closed his troubled career on the scaffold at Stirling in 1571. The last pre-Reformation Bishop of Dunkeld was Robert Crichton (nephew of a former occupant of the see), who survived until 1586.

For close on three centuries, the Diocese of Dunkeld, like the other Scottish bishoprics, remained vacant, until, on 4 March, 1878, it was restored by Leo XIII by his Bull, "Ex supremo apostolatus apice". The diocese, as then re-constituted, is one of the suffragan sees of the archiepiscopal province of St. Andrews, and includes the counties of Perth, Forfar, Clackmannan, Kinross, and the northern part of Fife. Since the revival of the see, it has been held by three bishops: George Rigg (died 1887); James G. Smith (transferred to St. Andrews in 1900); and the Right Rev. Angus Macfarlane, consecrated 1901. The bishop's pro-cathedral is in Dundee, the residence of the great majority of the Catholics of the diocese, and the cathedral chapter, erected in 1895, consists of a provost and eight canons. The total number of secular priests in the diocese (1908) is 35; regulars (Redemptorists), 12. The missions and chaplaincies number 17, the churches, chapels, and stations 31, and the parochial schools 15. There are two monasteries of men (Redemptorists and Marists), four convents of women (Sisters of Mercy, Little Sisters of the Poor, Ursulines, and Sisters of Charity), and the Catholic institutions comprise a home for aged poor, a house of mercy for servants, and a working girls' home. The Catholic population of the diocese is estimated to be rather more than 30,000. The old cathedral of Dunkeld, beautifully situated on the Tay amid wooded hills, was erected between 1220 and 1500. The building was much damaged in the reign of Robert II, and suffered later at the hands of the Earl of Buchan, styled the "Wolf of Badenoch". It fell partly into ruins in the sixteenth century, since when the choir has been used for Presbyterian worship. The Dukes of Atholl, long the owners of the building, have spent a good deal on its preservation and repair, and an extensive restoration of the choir was carried out in 1908, chiefly at the cost of Sir Donald Currie. There is now no Catholic church or resident priest in the village of Dunkeld.

SKENE, Celtic Scotland (Edinburgh, 1876-80), II, 370; MYLN, Vitœ Episc. Dunkeld. (Edinburgh, 1831); FORDUN Scotichronicon, ed. GOODALL (Edinburgh, 1759), XVI, xxvii; THEINER, Vet. Mon. Hibern. atque Scot. (Rome, 1864), 506; Dunkeld: Historical and Descriptive (Dunkeld, 1879); WALCOTT, The Ancient Church of Scotland (London, 1874), 208-217; Catholic Directory for Scotland (1908).

Bibliography

• Cowan, Ian B., The Parishes of Medieval Scotland, Scottish Record Society, Vol. 93, (Edinburgh, 1967)
• Watt, D.E.R., Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638, 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969), pp. 138–9

External links

• The Diocese and Presbytery of Dunkeld, 1660-1689 by John Hunter (online copy)
• An Overview of the Survival of the Churches since the Reformation University of St Andrews website