GREYFRIARS CONVENT
AND CHURCH, ELGIN
One of the most handsome buildings in the North of Scotland is that of
Greyfriars Convent and Church, Elgin, situated in Abbey Street.
The most interesting part of the building is the Church. On looking up
the nave towards the altar, our view is broken by the magnificently carved timber screen
which divides the Church in two. It supports a copy of the famous crucifix before which
St. Francis knelt in the Church of San Damiano in Assisi, when Our Lord told him to
rebuild His crumbling Church.
The splendid barrel-vaulted ceiling stretches unbroken to the stained
glass window above the altar. There we see the figure of Christ the King, leading a throng
of Virgins through a garden in flower - the Land Lost,
Promised and now regained in Heaven.
Flanking the wrought iron gates of the screen are two altars; Our Lady
of Ransom and Saints connected with their work of mercy, on one side, and St.Francis of
Assisi and other Franciscan Saints on the other.
The beautiful aumbry at the side of the high altar is once more used
for its original purpose, namely to house the Blessed Sacrament.
The Convent itself has a beautiful cloister and there is an
interesting well in the centre of the quadrangle.
The present buildings were erected for "Observantine Friars"
of the Franciscan Order by Bishop Innes in 1479. The Monastery was inhabited by monks
until 1560 when the property fell to the Crown. Towards the end of the 16th century
Greyfriars was used as a "Justice House" and as a meeting place for the
Incorporated Trades.
William King, Provost of Elgin, became the owner in1684 and turned
part of the former priory into a mansion
The King family lived there for 120 years -
their tombstones can be seen in the Church - which
in their time was used for Episcopalian services - but
the uninhabited buildings were allowed to fall into ruins.
From 1818, the property was owned by the Stewart family, then passed
into the hands of Colonel Leslie of Kinninvie. In 1891 he sold these old ruins of the
Franciscan Monastery and Church, which had lain in that state for some three hundred
years, to the Elgin Community of the Sisters of Mercy.
At this time, the Sisters were living in cramped conditions in
St.Mary’s, the original convent, which occupied the site of the new St.
Sylvester’s School. However they were unable to build or maintain the Greyfriars
buildings, and the property was bought by the Marquis of Bute, Lord John Crichton Stuart.
The restoration of these buildings, as they are today, was begun in
1896 by the Marquis, but he died before their completion.
On the 4th October 1898, a Mass was celebrated in the restored Greyfriars Chapel for
the first time in three centuries, and the "Northern Scot" of the day reported
that the service was held on St.Francis’s Day and was attended by 800 people, with
another 200 - 300 outside. The restoration work was
continued by Lord Colum Crichton Stuart, the youngest son of the Marquis, and was finished
in 1908, the style of the old building of the fifteenth century having been faithfully
adhered to. In 1944, Greyfriars was handed over to the Sisters of Mercy by Lord Colum.
Thi 1971 the Sisters of Mercy celebrated the
centenary of their arrival in Elgin.in October 1998, the Sisters of Mercy and their guests
attended a special Mass to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the restoration of
Greyfriars Convent and Church, with Bishop Conti, as the chief celebrant, along with
theParish Priest the Rev.Alistair Doyle, clergy from neighbouring parishes, and theRt.Rev.
Hugh Gilbert, Abbot of Pluscarden. Among those attending was Era Frederik Crichton -Stuart, great grandson of the 3rd Marquis of Bute.
Here in Elgin in medieval times there had been one of the largest clusters of
religious houses to be found in any Scottish town.
The Maison Dieu Hospital and the Convents of the Greyfriars and the Blackfriars are
still remembered by the roads which bear their names.