Ayr Cathedral

Ayr Cathedral
Cathedral of Saint Margaret, Ayr
The Cathedral of Saint Margaret, Ayr The Cathedral of Saint Margaret, Ayr
Ayr Cathedral Location in South Ayrshire
Location	Ayr, South Ayrshire
Country	Scotland
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	gallowaydiocese.org.uk
History
Former name(s)	The Church of Saint Margaret
Architecture
Status	In Use
Heritage designation	A-Listed Building
Designated	28 July 2007
Previous cathedrals	Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Ayr
Style	Gothic
Specifications
Capacity	500
Administration
Diocese	Galloway
Province	St Andrews and Edinburgh
Clergy
Bishop(s)	John Cunningham
Dean	Christopher Brannan

The Cathedral Church of Saint Margaret, also known as Ayr Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Ayr, Scotland. It is the seat of the Bishop of Galloway, and the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galloway. St Margarets was designated a cathedral in 2007, and is the most recent church to be given status as a Roman Catholic cathedral in the United Kingdom, due to the closure of Good Shepherd Cathedral, Ayr.

History

When the Roman Catholic Hierarchy was restored to Scotland in 1878, the Diocese of Galloway consisted of South Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire. St Andrew’s, Dumfries was chosen as the Cathedral church and parish. In 1947, the Apostolic Constitution, ‘Dominici Gregis’, erected the Province of Glasgow by creating Motherwell and Paisley as the two new suffragan sees. This same document also detached ten parishes in the north of Ayrshire and placed them in the Diocese of Galloway. This change resulted in Dumfries no longer being central to the population of the Diocese as a whole, and convinced the then Bishop, Joseph McGee, that he should move his residence to Ayr, where he could be more available to his people. In the aftermath of the destruction of St Andrew’s Cathedral by fire on 10 May 1961, Bishop McGee petitioned Pope John XXIII (now Blessed John XXIII) for permission to site the cathedral in the town of Ayr and to use Good Shepherd church as his cathedral until such time as a new cathedral could be built. This permission was granted on 12 March 1962, by a decree issued by the Sacred Consistorial Congregation. During the years that followed circumstances changed and no new cathedral was ever built.

Serious problems developed concerning the fabric of the Good Shepherd building and persistent water penetration. More serious than this, however, was the substantial drop in the numbers of those attending the cathedral – a drop that proved to be ongoing. By September, 2001 Bishop Maurice Taylor had come to the conclusion that Good Shepherd church was no longer a suitable venue for the cathedral. Accordingly, he petitioned the Holy See for permission to transfer the cathedral to St Margaret’s, Ayr, the mother church in the area. The decision taken in Rome, in view of the fact that Bishop Taylor was due to retire, was that any decision concerning the future of the cathedral should be left to his successor. Bishop John Cunningham came to the same conclusion as Bishop Taylor concerning the future of the cathedral. Accordingly, he petitioned Pope Benedict XVI to transfer the cathedral from Good Shepherd to St Margaret’s. The Bishop received an affirmative response and St Margaret’s has been the cathedral since 28th 2007.

Stained Glass

In the late 1990s, when plans were being made to refurbish St Margaret’s Church, it was decided that new stained glass windows would be commissioned and that these would be symbolic and modern (rather than pictorial or historic) so that they would be a legacy from modern times to the future.

The nave windows

For the highly visible windows of the nave there are two major Christian themes "Divine Light" and "Water of Life." The stained glass was to be made in the Millennium year so the artist concentrated on two verses from the Book of Revelation: Rev 21:23, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof"; and Rev 22:17, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

These words were writ large on the drawing board throughout the design process, but such themes are open to many interpretations and other ideas played their part too. The window "Divine Light" shimmers with all the colours of the spectrum and incorporates ideas such as Let there be Light, The Light of the World, "A light shines in the darkness, a light that darkness could not overpower" (Jn 1:5).

On the south side of the nave the water window reminds us that Ayr has always depended on water, for the River Ayr and the coast have been important for trade and for fishing. Water has a rich and varied spiritual symbolism and there is a great resonance to verses such as: "He leadeth me beside still waters" (Ps 23:2); "for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Is 11:9); "But whoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (Jn 4:14). Hopefully people will merge their own ideas with those of the artist. These windows are also a memorial to all those who died in the PanAm 103 disaster.

Both windows sparkle with lenses of lead crystal; in one for the theme of light, in the other to represent bubbles as the River Ayr flows into the blue mass of the sea. The windows at the back of the nave presented a particular problem since they are positioned behind the heavy structure of the gallery. This obscures the central third of the design and therefore the artist chose a repeat pattern so that the mind automatically fills in the hidden parts. The patternwork is in the form of Celtic knots which shade from green to blue to represent the relationship between heaven and earth. The Celtic theme refers to the history of the congregation, originating in Ireland but now firmly rooted in Scotland, and because it has no beginning and no end the Celtic knot is also a symbol of eternity.

The Side Chapels

In the side chapels the new stained glass is nearer to the Victorian windows at the east end of the building, and therefore a stronger colour scheme was chosen. A ruby red in the Sacred Heart Chapel and a rich blue in the Lady Chapel visually link the colours of the modern work with the gothic revival colour scheme of the Victorian windows of the sanctuary and transepts.

The window of the Sacred Heart Chapel is a meditation on the theme of Love and it was inspired by verses including Jn 3:16, 1 Cor 13:13 and Jn 15:12.

The cooler coloured window of the Lady Chapel is a meditation on the theme of grief and consolation and it is inspired by the grief of Our Lady and also the verse from Revelation "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any pain" (Rev 21:4). From seats in the nave one cannot see these windows, but the pools of coloured light that are thrown onto the east wall either side of the sanctuary keep them in mind.

Both these windows are made of a special type of flashed glass imported from France. A flash is a thin layer of colour applied over a clear base, and this thin layer can be etched away with hydrofluoric acid to show the underlying colourless glass or to give any shade between the original deep blue (or red) to the palest tint. The firm shapes of the letters and hearts were made using a plastic film to resist the acid and the more organic textures were created using a bituminous resist. If you look closely at the blue window: you will find tears among the lettering.

The Stations of the Cross

As well as the stained glass Susan Bradbury also designed the Stations of the Cross, which trace the story of the Passion using hands as the main symbolic image.

There are hands placing a crown of thorns, hands carrying the cross, hands offering comfort, hands in torment and hands tormenting.

As well as the images, the colours are also symbolic. Each time Jesus falls, brown has been used for the earth itself, if you look closely at the hands you will see that at each fall the pain is greater. A softer warmer brown is used for the wood of the cross and the strength of Simon of Cyrene. Blue expresses grief in the saddest moments, when Jesus stretches out his hand to his Mother, when he meets the mourning women and when he is taken down from the cross. Red expresses violence when Christ is stripped of his clothes and at the moment of death. The strongest red defines the most violent act, when the flesh is actually pierced by the nails. At the moment of Jesus’ death the veil of the temple was torn right down the middle. This Station shows the emptiness, the void of death when Jesus has died and is gone. Green is used for the gentleness of Veronica, for the living branches of thorns and in the final image, as a symbol of hope beyond death.

Each Station is made of two sheets of glass in the same frame. One is a flashed glass carefully etched to subtly grade the colour across the sheet. The other carries the image which is printed onto the glass with an iron oxide pigment and fired in the kiln. The distance between the two sheets and the transparency of the glass give internal reflections that soften the image and create a kind of dreamy quality. Stained glass is primarily an architectural art form and in church windows the artist uses colour and texture and sparkle and symbolism to enhance the architecture in such a way that a spiritual atmosphere is created within the building. The windows of St Margaret’s Cathedral will be an aid to prayer and meditation for many years to come.

Images

• Smc ayr2.jpg

  External View (with Cathedral Hall)

• Smc map.jpg

  Galloway Diocese in relation to Scotland

See also

• List of cathedrals in the United Kingdom

External links

• Ayr Cathedral homepage