Thomas Joseph Winning (3 June 1925 – 17 June 2001) was a Scottish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as

Archbishop of Glasgow The Archbishop of Glasgow is an archiepiscopal title that takes its name after the city of Glasgow in Scotland. The position and title were abolished by the Church of Scotland in 1689; and, in the Scottish Episcopal Church, it is now part of ...

from 1974 and President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland from 1985 until his death. Winning was elevated to the

cardinalate The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are appoi ...

in 1994.

Early years

Tom Winning was the oldest child of two born to a devout Roman Catholic family in

Wishaw Wishaw ( sco, Wishae or Wisha ; gd, Camas Neachdain) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The Burgh of Wishaw was formed in 1855 within Lanarkshire. it form ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

. His father, the son of an Irish immigrant from

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

, had worked as a coal-miner, served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and was then employed in the

steel industry Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant t ...

. On losing his job, his father invested in machinery for making boiled sweets which he sold around the houses in the district as a way of bringing in money for his family. Winning attended St Patrick's Primary, Shieldmuir, Craigneuk. He served as an

altar boy An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helps bring up the gifts, brings up the book ...

and chorister. Then, while at Our Lady's High School, Motherwell, he expressed the desire to become a priest.

Priesthood

Winning was appointed to St Peter's Seminary, Bearsden, at age 17. He began training in Saint Mary's College, Blairs,

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, where philosophy students of St Peter's were temporarily being housed and taught and then moved to St Peter's, Bearsden. When a fire in Bearsden destroyed the seminary during renovation works the entire college community was moved from there to St Joseph's College,

Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross. Mill Hill was in the historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it became part of Greater London. Its population counted 18,45 ...

, London. After the war ended, he was part of the first group of students to be sent to re-populate the Scots College in Rome. The college had been empty of students since 1939. He was ordained in the Church of St John Lateran, in Rome, on 18 December 1948 for the Diocese of Motherwell. His first appointment was as an assistant ( curate) at St Aloysius, Chapelhall,

, but after a year he returned to Rome to study

Canon Law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

, gaining in 1953 a Doctor of Canon Law (J.C.D.). Thereafter he was curate in St Mary's Church in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

from 1953 to 1957 and from 1956 priest-secretary to Bishop James Donald Scanlan of Motherwell. After a period in Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral in Motherwell from 1957 to 1958 he became Chaplain to the

Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

in Bothwell until 1961. At this point he became Spiritual Director at the Pontifical Scots College. Soon after his arrival in Rome, the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

was convened and he was therefore uniquely placed to be involved with the bishops during those historic years of the various Sessions of the council. At the same time he continued his studies becoming an advocate of the

Sacred Roman Rota The Roman Rota, formally the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota ( la, Tribunal Apostolicum Rotae Romanae), and anciently the Apostolic Court of Audience, is the highest appellate tribunal of the Catholic Church, with respect to both Latin-r ...

in 1965. In the late 1960s, after his return to Scotland, he was appointed minute secretary for the meetings of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland. In 1966 he was called back to Scotland where he was appointed to his first charge as Parish Priest in Saint Luke's, Motherwell, where he remained until 1970 when he was appointed as the first Officialis of the newly formed Scottish National Tribunal.

Episcopate

On 22 October 1971 he was nominated to the

episcopacy A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, as Auxiliary Bishop to the

, being consecrated

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox ...

of '' Lugmad'' on 30 November 1971 and three years later on 23 April 1974 succeeded Archbishop Scanlan when he was translated to the Metropolitan see of Glasgow. In 1975 he became the first Roman Catholic Archbishop to address the

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray, ...

in the history of that Church. After his appointment to the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are app ...

(see below), he was invited once again to address the General Assembly. Winning was often outspoken, and unafraid to publicly expound the Roman Church's understanding of moral matters such as abortion and homosexuality (becoming a supporter of a campaign in 2000, led by businessman

Brian Souter Sir Brian Souter (born 5 May 1954) is a Scottish businessman. With his sister, Ann Gloag, he founded the Stagecoach Group of bus and rail operators. He also founded the bus and coach operator Megabus, the train operating company South West Train ...

, against the repeal of

Section 28 Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received R ...

, and ecclesiastical matters such as the celibacy of priests. He challenged the

Act of Settlement The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...

. He also began a scheme to give financial support to young mothers, as an alternative to abortion. He rejected a plan to renovate and extend St Andrew's Cathedral, as the money would be better spent on the poor of the Archdiocese. He played a major role in bringing Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

to Britain in 1982, a visit that was almost called off because of the

Falklands Conflict The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland I ...

that coincided with the visit. Winning is thought to have convinced the Pope to continue with the visit which was the first official visit to the United Kingdom by a

Pontiff A pontiff (from Latin ''pontifex'') was, in Roman antiquity, a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term "pontiff" was la ...

Cardinalate

On 26 November 1994, he was elevated to the

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

and appointed

cardinal-priest A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

Sant'Andrea delle Fratte Sant'Andrea delle Fratte ("Saint Andrew of the Thickets") is a 17th-century basilica church in Rome, Italy, dedicated to St. Andrew. The Cardinal Priest of the ''Titulus S. Andreae Apostoli de Hortis'' is Ennio Antonelli. History The current c ...

. Winning was only the second cardinal since the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

to be based in Scotland. He was awarded honorary degrees from the universities of

(LL.D. 1996),

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

(DD, 1983) and

Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government et ...

(D. Univ, 1992);

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

made him an honorary Professor in the Faculty of

Divinity Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

in 1996. He was appointed by Pope John Paul II to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity and to the

Pontifical Council for the Family The Pontifical Council for the Family was a pontifical council of the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church from 1981 to 2016. It was established by Pope John Paul II on 9 May 1981 with his motu proprio ''Familia a Deo Instituta'', replacing the Com ...

, November 1994 until his death.

Death

Thomas Winning died in office in June 2001, following a heart attack and is interred in the crypt of

St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew or Glasgow Metropolitan Cathedral is a Roman Catholic Cathedral in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow. The cathedral, whic ...

. His successor as Archbishop of Glasgow was Mario Conti. In June 2011, two separate schools in

combined into one new school located in Tollcross which they voted to call Cardinal Winning after the late

. The new Cardinal Winning Secondary opened on Tuesday, 21 June 2011 and contains pupils from St Joan of Arc and St Aidan's, two schools located in

References

External links

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'Great Scots

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winning, Thomas 1925 births 2001 deaths Roman Catholic archbishops of Glasgow 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Scotland 20th-century British cardinals Scottish people of Irish descent People from Wishaw Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People educated at Our Lady's High School, Motherwell Scottish cardinals Scottish Roman Catholics