St Mirin's Cathedral

St Mirin's Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Mirin in Paisley

St Mirin's Cathedral Shown within Renfrewshire
Coordinates: 55°50′53″N 4°25′01″W / 55.848°N 4.417°W / 55.848; -4.417
Location	Paisley, Renfrewshire
Country	Scotland
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Architecture
Style	neo-Romanesque
Years built	1931
Administration
Diocese	Paisley (since 1948)
Province	Glasgow
Clergy
Bishop(s)	John Keenan
Dean	Mgr. John Tormey

The Cathedral Church of Saint Mirin in Paisley, dedicated to Saint Mirin the patron saint of Paisley, is the mother church of the Catholic Diocese of Paisley and is the seat of the Bishop of Paisley.

History

The former parish church of St Mirin^[1] is situated in Incle Street, Paisley, at the junction with Glasgow Road and was completed in 1931 close to the site of the original church of the same name which dated from 1808. The original building was the first stone-built Roman Catholic church in post-Reformation Scotland. The present building was raised to cathedral status in 1948 following the erection of the diocese in 1947.

Fabric

The building is neo-Romanesque in style with a plain sandstone exterior and an airy arched interior: its architect was Thomas Baird. The chancel is principally of Italian marble. Excluding the chancel, the cathedral is 109 feet (33.22 metres) in length and has a breadth of 48.5 feet (14.78 metres). The chancel itself is 29.5 feet (8.99 metres) in width by 23.25 feet (7.09 metres) in depth and is semi-octagonal in form.

Of particular interest are the pulpit by Gillespie, Kidd and Coia, with a representation of the Sermon on the Mount sculpted in relief from blond sandstone, and the Stations of the Cross designed by Kenneth King of Dublin which are Art Deco in style. In the apse four colourful tripartite stained glass windows depict twelve angels. In the former baptistry to the north side of the vestibule is a stained-glass window depicting Jesus with children by Charles Baillie, while a shrine to St John Ogilvie by Norman Galbraith can be found on the south side. The church, which is the largest in the diocese, can accommodate around 1300 worshippers.

Opposite the cathedral, at the junction of Incle Street with Gauze Street and Glasgow Road, stands a bronze statue of St Mirin by Norman Galbraith which was completed and unveiled in 2007. In July 2010 modifications to the main entrance, porch and frontage of the cathedral were announced.

Clergy

Customarily a cathedral, as the seat of the bishop, has him as its nominal parish priest. However, to oversee the running of the cathedral and its parish there is an administrator, currently Monsignor John Tormey.^[2]

Diamond Jubilee

On the 15 September 2008, the feast day of its patron saint, the Diocese of Paisley celebrated its Diamond Jubilee. To mark the occasion a mass concelebrated by the Apostolic Nuncio to the Court of St. James's Faustino Sainz Muñoz, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the Archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti, the Bishop of Motherwell Joseph Devine, the Bishop of Aberdeen Peter Moran, the Bishop of Galloway John Cunningham, the Emeritus Bishop of Paisley John Mone, the Bishop of Paisley Philip Tartaglia and many priests of the diocese took place in the cathedral. Present at the Mass were a large number of civic dignitaries and representatives of other churches in Paisley. Representing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II were the Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire Guy Clark, and his deputy, James Wardrop.