Saint Andrew’s Cathedral

Saint Andrew’s Cathedral, built in 1814-16 through the initiative of Father (later Bishop) Andrew Scott was the at the time of its opening the largest Catholic Church in Britain. it was opened for the sake of the rising number of Catholic immigrants in the city of Glasgow. Over the years the Cathedral has undergone significant renovations itself and now in 2009 another such period of renovation has arrived.

[Father, later Bishop Andrew Scott is buried in the Crypt of Saint Mary’s]

The scope of the work

There was an immense amount of work to be done to bring the Cathedral up to the acceptable standards of the day and to secure the structure of the building for the future. The works would see the structure of the Cathedral renovated and restored and the inside of the Cathedral renewed through new heating and lighting schemes and redecoration.

These works were disigned to preserve our Cathedral for its third century which will begin in 2016 – the year before Saint Mary’s 175th anniversary.

Pro-Cathedral

During the year-long renovation of the Cathedral the Cathedral itself remained closed. Archbishop Conti, requiring a place in which he would exercise his ministry and where his Cathedra, the visible sign of our diocesan unity in the person of our bishop, would be sited announced that his Cathedra would be sited in Saint Mary’s and so our Church was designated Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral from the 15th August 2009, the Solemnity of the Assumption and the 167th Anniversary of the foundation of the parish and the openeing and dedication of the Church.