Scottish Catholic Observer

The Mass was celebrated in St Ignazio Church last Thursday morning November 7 before a cohort of Celtic FC directors, staff and manager Neil Lennon travelled to the Scots College for a reception with seminarians and staff.

During the Mass, Fr Frank Dougan, parish priest of St Mark’s and St Anthony’s Churches Rutherglen, told the congregation about the history of Scotland’s links with the city forming priests, the witness of Faith and the sense one gets of the breadth and depth of the Church when visiting Rome.

The Mass was celebrated to mark the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul to acknowledge ‘the roots of the Church’ and learn about ‘not how they lived here but how they died here and gave birth to the Church’.

Fathers of the Church

During his sermon Fr Dougan said: “Everywhere you turn in Rome you will see statues of Peter and Paul because they are the fathers of the Church in Rome.

“That’s one of the reasons why we are celebrating the St’s Peter and Paul, we’re celebrating the roots of the Church over the last 2000 years and in particular not because they lived here but because they died here, they were the first martyrs of the Church.”

Fr Frank added that coming to Rome can be ‘such a comfort’ because you really get a sense of ‘the breadth and depth of the Church.’

“You see that at the Papal audience with people from around the world celebrating their Faith in different languages and different ways.

“To be able to see that can be such a comfort for us as well because in Scotland you can sometimes feel like you’re part of a small Church, in a small corner that’s starting to shrink but then you come here and realise that you are part of something massive, which has a great presence in the world.”

Unbroken 

The priest from Motherwell Diocese also told the Celtic fans of the history of the Scots College and the ‘unbroken line of men’ which has existed since 1600, thanks to the Jesuits.

“This church we are in today is a Jesuit church and they have a particular connection to Scots in Rome,” said Fr Frank. “It goes right back to 1600 when anyone who wished to be educated in their Faith had to go abroad to places like Italy, France or Spain.

“Therefore the college was originally founded for young men who wished to be educated in their Faith but that only lasted 14 years because in 1615 it was decided that the college’s sole purpose was for the training of young men to study for the priesthood.

“Therefore all the men who were in the college were told you can stay and become priests or you can return home. We are told that this was around the first anniversary of our own martyr St John Ogilvie at Glasgow Cross, and inspired by that witness to the Faith every one of the students stayed and became priests.”

Historic

Fr Frank added: “From then on there has been a unbroken line of men from Scotland coming to Rome to become priests for the Church, which is a bit of our history.”

After the final blessing, Fr Stephen Reilly, who was main celebrant of the Mass thanked the students of the Scots College for organising the venue for the Mass, the music and hymn sheets.

Thereafter seminarians and college staff received a delegation from Celtic to their home at the edge of the city where a presentation of gifts and greetings were exchanged.

Celtic gave the college a Quaich engraved with ‘presented in friendship on the occasion of their visit to Rome from Celtic Football Club to the Pontifical College on November 7 2019.’