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The High Kirk of Glasgow, dedicated to St Mungo (aka St Kentigern), is the only medieval cathedral on the Scottish mainland to have survived the Reformation virtually unscathed. In the mid-6th century, St Mungo established a Christian community in what was to become Glasgow. He was later consecrated the first bishop of Strathclyde. It is believed that St Mungo built a wooden church here on the site of a Christian burial ground consecrated by St Ninian in the late 4th century.
St Mungo is remembered as the evangelist of Strathclyde and Cumbria. After years of missionary work in Strathclyde and the surrounding area, poltical disorder forced him to re-locate to Cumbria, where he founded a church where today stands St Kentigern Crosthwaite. Later in his life, he was able to return to the Glasgow area. The cathedral stands at the place where he was buried, most probably in AD 612. His remains were for centuries housed in his tomb inside the church, but they were removed sometime during the Middle Ages to an unknown location and subsequently lost.
(There is some doubt about the year of the saint's death; some sources say AD 603, others 612, still others 614.)
The first stone church on the site of Glasgow Cathedral was dedicated in 1136 in the presence of King David I. Severely damaged by fire less than fifty years later, it was re-built as a larger church and re-dedicated in 1197. The building has been expanded and renovated several times since. The tower dates from the 13th century and is the last remaining intact tower on a Scottish medieval church.
The public square in front of the cathedral is dominated by a statue of the great Christian medical missionary David Livingstone. In the photo on the left, the StatWife and StatDaughter are standing beside the statue on the day of our visit. Glasgow Cathedral's great west front is at the far end of the square.
(As always, click on photos for larger views.)
The lamp standard seen above my daughter's head shows a representation of the Arms of the City of Glasgow, based on four miracles attributed to St Mungo. Click here for details. The city's motto, "Let Glasgow flourish", comes from words of St Mungo, the city's patron saint: "Lord, let Glasgow flourish through the preaching of thy word".
The next photo shows the cathedral's choir looking toward the high altar and the east window. The mid-13th century choir is three storeys high. Above the arcades are galleries (triforia) with two sub-divided openings in each bay; on top are clerestory windows with two or three openings in each bay. The window, installed in 1951, shows the four evangelists St Matthew, St Mark, St Luke, and St John. The pews were originally installed between 1851-1856 and re-furbished in 1957.
The cathedral is built on a hill sloping from west to east, which has enabled construction of an unusual feature: a lower church with a vaulted ceiling that sits underneath the main floor choir. The lower church, given its present form during mid-13th century renovations, houses the chapter house and the crypt wherein is located St Mungo's tomb, situated directly beneath the altar of the main church. The next photo shows the west view of the Chapel and Tomb of St Mungo, near the centre of the crypt.
An intrusive tourist partially blocks the scene, but you can see the brightly coloured cloth covering the tomb and depicting an open furnace with the cross at the centre. The cloth was dedicated in 1973 in the presence of HRH Princess Margaret.
The lower church contains several small chapels in addition to St Mungo's. At left is the Chapel of St Andrew, dedicated to nurses. To the right of its eight chairs is a sign that reads: "Refurnished and brought back to use, after an interval of four hundred years, on Whitsunday 1961, as a place of prayer and meditation for members of the Nursing Profession".
The final photo shows the Covenanters' Memorial, placed on a wall in the lower church’s chapter house. The Covenanters were Scottish Presbyterians who had signed the National Covenant of 1638 and the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643. After the Stuart dynasty was restored to the British throne in 1660 when Charles II became king, Presbyterianism was outlawed and Anglicanism imposed throughout the united kingdom. Covenanter activities were declared illegal. Charles II and his successor James II waged a savage campaign of persecution and repression against rebel Covenanters. Many were hunted down, jailed, killed (often without trial), or banished to Holland or America. The conflict came to a head during the infamous "Killing Times" of 1680-88 when 18,000 people died.
This plaque memorialises nine men who were executed for their Presbyterian convictions and now lie buried in the chapter house.
Here lies the corps of
Robert Bunton, John Hart,
Robert Scot,
Matthew Patoun,
John Richmond,
James Johnston,
Archibald Stewart,
James Winning,
John Main,
who suffered at the cross of Glasgow,
for their testimony to the covenants
and work of reformation,
because they durst not own the
authority of the then tyrants,
destroying the same,
betwixt 1666, and 1688.Years sixty six and eightyfour,
Did send their souls home into glore,
Whose bodies here interred ly,
Then sacrific'd to tyranny;
To covenants and reformation
'Cause they adhered in their station.
These nine, with others in this yard,
Whose heads and bodies were not spar'd,
Their testimonies, foes, to bury,
Caus'd beat the drums then in great fury.
They'll know at resurrection day,
To murder saints was no sweet play.The original stone and inscription
Repaired and new lettered,
MDCCCXXVII.
At the expense of a few Friends of the Cause
For which the Martyrs Suffered.
Presbyterianism was established in Scotland in 1690 in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when the people of England overthrew the tyrant James II and invited William of Orange to become King William III.
Glasgow Cathedral has a website with a fine picture tour. Another website with information and pictures can be found here.
Links to all my blog posts about British churches and Christian sites can be accessed through the box located at the top of the page.
