The Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh is the ordinary of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh The Archdiocese of Saint Andrews & Edinburgh ( la, Archidioecesis Sancti Andreae et Edimburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Scotland. It is the metropolitan see of the province of Saint Andrews and Edinburg ...

. The archdiocese covers an area of 5,504 km². The

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a ...

is in the City of Edinburgh where the archbishop's seat ('' cathedra'') is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary. The eighth and current archbishop is

Leo Cushley Leo William Cushley (born 18 June 1961) is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in Scotland. He previously served as head of the English language section of the Vatican Secretariat of State. Early life Leo Cushley was bor ...

History

After the

Scottish Reformation The Scottish Reformation was the process by which Scotland broke with the Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Kirk (church), which was strongly Presbyterian in its outlook. It was part of the wider European Protestant Refor ...

, the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

abandoned the hierarchy and for nearly a century Roman Catholics in Scotland were under the jurisdiction of the English

prefects Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

and vicars apostolic. In 1653, the

Prefecture Apostolic An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of Scotland was established, which was elevated to the Vicariate Apostolic in 1694. On 23 July 1727, Scotland was divided into the Vicariates Apostolic of the Lowland District and the Highland District, each headed by a vicar apostolic. On 13 February 1827, Scotland was divided again into three vicariates apostolic; the Eastern District (formerly the Lowland District), the Northern District (formerly the Highland District), and the Western District (created from parts of the other two districts)., ''The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, volume 3'', p. 468. On the

restoration of the Scottish hierarchy The re-establishment of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Scotland took effect on 15 March 1878. This followed the restoration of the English hierarchy in 1850. The restoration was carried out on the instructions of Pope Leo XIII and wa ...

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

on 15 March 1878, part of the Eastern District was elevated to the status of a metropolitan archdiocese with the title St Andrews and Edinburgh.

List of ordinaries

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Archbishop of St Andrews And Edinburgh Christianity in Edinburgh

History

List of ordinaries

See also

References

Bibliography