Scottish Day of Recollection
Our annual Scottish Day of Recollection was held at the Chapel of St. Anthony the Eremite and Murthly Castle, Perthshire on Saturday 6th of June.
The day was led by the Very Rev. Steven Canon Mulholland STL (from the Parish of St. Bride, Pitlochry), and was attended by 15 Members, Companions and friends of the Order.
Following coffee and shortbread on arrival, our host Thomas Steuart Fothringham gave a short talk about the history of the Chapel of St. Anthony the Eremite, which lies 200 yards from the castle. It is important historically as the first place of Roman Catholic worship to be dedicated in Scotland after the Reformation. Commissioned by Sir William Drummond Stewart (laird of Murthly and an adult convert to Catholicism), it was dedicated on All Saints’ Day in 1846, with clergy and lay people attending from Perth, Dundee, Edinburgh and Dunfermline. A full description of the dedication Mass can be found in Vol.15 of the Innes Review, published in 1964.
With Gillespie Graham as chief architect (and a young Pugin as his assistant), the chapel is a fine example of the pre-Raphaelite movement in Scotland, and features a large painting of the Conversion of Constantine above the arch over the altar by Alexander Christie RSA, and paintings of the founders of eight monastic orders by the school of Thomas Faed along the side walls.
Canon Mulholland gave the first spiritual conference of the day on the theme of Corpus Christi. Mass at Midday followed in the chapel, celebrated by Canon Mulholland, accompanied by Liam Devlin on the organ. Mass was followed by a picnic lunch back at the castle, although, sadly, the weather was not sufficiently warm to allow us to enjoy it in the 17th-century walled garden.
After lunch Thomas spoke briefly about previous members of his family who had been Members of the Order: his uncle, Wattie Steuart Fothringham, who took vows of obedience in 1979 and a Trustee of Dial-a-Journey; and Abbé Thomas Stewart, a brother of the aforementioned Sir William, who was a priest in the Order and who was fatally injured in the province of Ancona, Italy during anti-papal uprisings in 1846; and whose tomb lies within the chapel.
There then followed the second spiritual conference of the day, on the theme of ‘Adoring Silence’, a term coined by St John Paul II in an encyclical Orientale Lumen:
The Christians of the East turn to God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, living persons tenderly present, to whom they utter a solemn and humble, majestic and simple liturgical doxology. But they perceive that one draws close to this presence above all by letting oneself be taught an adoring silence, for at the culmination of the knowledge and experience of God is his absolute transcendence. This is reached through the prayerful assimilation of scripture and the liturgy more than by systematic meditation.
The day concluded with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament back in Chapel of St. Anthony.
Our 2027 Day of Recollection will be hosted by Archbishop Leo Cushley at his private chapel in Edinburgh. All Members, Companions and friends are welcome to attend.
