James Donald Scanlan (24 January 1899 – 25 March 1976) was a Scottish

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

, who served first as the

Bishop of Dunkeld The Bishop of Dunkeld is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Dunkeld, one of the largest and more important of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Cormac. However, the firs ...

, then Bishop of Motherwell, and ultimately

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 Catholic Church, the title was restored by Pop ...

. Born in Glasgow, Scanlan intended to study medicine, but was sent to Sandhurst and served with the Highland Light Infantry. After military service, he earned a law degree from the University of Glasgow before deciding to enter the priesthood. He was ordained in 1929.

Biography

James Donald Scanlan was born at 511 Duke Street in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

on 24 January 1899, the fifth of the seven children of Joseph (1861–1950) and Sarah Veronica Walls Scanlan (1861–1922). His father was a medical practitioner. He was educated by the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

at St Mungo's Academy and by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

of St Aloysius' College, Glasgow. In 1915, he commenced studies at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

intending to study medicine but was sent to the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

to train as an army officer. Posted to the

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First World War, First and World War II, Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 t ...

, he saw service in East Africa and Egypt. Scanlan returned to Glasgow in 1920 and graduated from the University of Glasgow with a Bachelor of Law degree in 1923. He worked briefly for a law firm before deciding to become a priest. Scanlan studied at St Edmund's College, Ware and was ordained a priest for the Westminster Archdiocese on 29 June 1929. In 1930, he earned a

Licentiate of Canon Law Licentiate of Canon Law (; JCL) is the title of an advanced graduate degree with canonical effects in the Roman Catholic Church offered by pontifical universities and ecclesiastical faculties of canon law. Licentiate is the title of a person who ...

from the

Institut Catholique de Paris The Institut catholique de Paris (, abbr. ICP), known in English as the Catholic University of Paris (and in Latin as ''Universitas catholica Parisiensis''), is a private university located in Paris, France. History: 1875–present The Institut ...

, and in 1932, a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Appollinare in Rome.

Bishop of Dunkeld

Scanlan was appointed the

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

Dunkeld Dunkeld (, , from , "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to the geological Highland Boundar ...

and

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 an ...

of ''Cyme'' by the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

on 27 April 1946. He was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

to the

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

on 20 June 1946. The principal

consecrator A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches ...

was Cardinal

William Godfrey William Godfrey (25 July 1889 – 22 January 1963) was an English Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1956 until his death, and was elevated to the Cardinal (Catholicism), ...

, Archbishop of Westminster. The principal co-consecrators were

Andrew Thomas McDonald Andrew Thomas McDonald, O.S.B., (12 February 1871 – 22 May 1950) was a Roman Catholic clergyman who served as the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Life Born in Fort William on 12 February 1871, he ...

, Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh and Donald Alphonsus Campbell, Archbishop of Glasgow. On the death of Bishop John Toner on 31 May 1949, he automatically succeeded as the Diocesan Bishop of Dunkeld.

Bishop of Motherwell

On 23 May 1955, Bishop Scanlan was

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

to the

Diocese of Motherwell The Diocese of Motherwell () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Scotland. History The diocese, which was erected on 25 May 1947 by Pope Pius XII from the Archdiocese of Glasgow, along with the D ...

to succeed Bishop Edward Douglas, who had resigned because of continuing ill-health. During Scanlan's nine year tenure, thirteen new parishes were established and five new churches built in existing parishes.

Archbishop of Glasgow

Scanlan was translated again to the Metropolitan see of Glasgow as archbishop on 29 January 1964. Between 1962 and 1965, he attended all the four sessions of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

. On 19 July 1969, the archbishop ceremonially cut the first turf for construction of the new St. Margaret of Scotland Hospice in

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

. He retired on 23 April 1974 and assumed the title Archbishop

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of Glasgow. He died on 25 March 1976, aged 77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:SCANLAN, James 1899 births 1976 deaths Roman Catholic archbishops of Glasgow Bishops of Dunkeld (Roman Catholic, Post-Reformation) Participants in the Second Vatican Council 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Scotland Roman Catholic bishops of Motherwell