Andrew Scott (bishop)

Andrew Scott (1772–1846) was a Roman Catholic cleric and missionary active in the early 19th century revival of Catholicism in Scotland. He was born the fifteenth of February 1772, at Chapelford in the Enzie of Banffshire. He was ordained on the 25 March 1795, and worked in Dee Castle and Huntly. His family had been farmers at Chapelford for hundreds of years. He came to Glasgow as a missionary in 1805 and remained until his death as Vicar Apostolic in 1846. On the 13th of February he was appointed as Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Western District, and was ordained as Titular Bishop of Erythrae, on the 21 September 1828. He built St Andrews Cathedral, (1814-16)which still stands on the River Clyde. In Glasgow, he built schools which could be used as chapels on Sunday, and meeting places during the week. he pursued and won a libel case against a Protestant activist, the case of Scott v McGavin, 25 June 1821. On the 20 September 1832, he became Vicar General of the Western district. After John Murdoch was appointed as his Coadjutor, (assistant Bishop) in 1834, he was able to concentrate on the Highland part of the Western District, operating from Greenock. While he had concentrated on Schools in the Lowlands and Glasgow, in the Western Highlands, he attempted to restore liturgy by building churches. He built new buildings at Badenoch, Bornish, Fort Augustus, Morar and Glencoe. He resigned on the 15 October 1845 and died on the 4 December 1846. He was buried in St Mary's church, Abercromby Street, Glasgow. The number of practicing Catholics in the area increased from one thousand to seventy thousand during this forty years.