‘The Formation of the Catholic community in the West of Scotland: Some Preliminary Outlines’ by Bernard Aspinwall is a detailed, primary material-based article that analyses how the absence of religious infrastructure in the West of Scotland was changed and in response allowed a solid framework to grow. Throughout the article, Aspinwall shows the Catholic church at the head of this framework, from education, recreational to social services, the church and its benefactors played a key role in consolidating a Catholic community in the nineteenth century.
Centring on three aspects; expansion, embellishment and architectural achievements, the article tracks the progress of this catholic infrastructure. The church, at the head, through various programmes such as Sunday schools to professional lectures allowed the community to grow in knowledge and faith. In addition, the church provided job and social opportunities for example shop keeping which, as Aspinwall argues, allowed spirituality to be sold. Expansion can be seen in the clergy. Aspinwall mentions numerous clergy that preached in Catholic communities or who were crucial to the development of the catholic community such as Charles Eyre, the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow. New orders such as the Jesuits helped reform and keep the values of the church alive. Benefactors helped embellish the church with the gifting of land, altars or organs which suggested a communal pride in the church. Embellishment then turned to architecture as churches got bigger and more prominent within society and thus a community was consolidated.
Aspinwall article is generally clear however he mentions the word landau several times which is a coachbuilding term for a carriage.
A large number of primary sources are used, with Aspinwall relying heavily on the Scottish Catholic Directory, a catholic database, for much of his material. Archival material, from the Jesuit Archives to the Rosminians archives, in the form of letters, correspondences and diaries are also referenced in excess. However, Aspinwall frequently refences Catholic newspapers such as the Tablet. Newspapers tend to be bias, towards one particular side and with Aspinwall using only catholic newspapers, the result is no perspective from non-Catholic communities.
There are frequent citing of James Handley’s work, a published historian on the Irish, as well as Emmet Larkin and Stewart Meckie, both published historians on Scotland and the Irish Catholic community. Although, other works such as Thomas Fitzpatrick’s, ‘Catholic Education in Glasgow, Lanarkshire and South-West Scotland before 1872′[1]or Anthony Ross’s, ‘The Development of the Scottish Catholic Community 1878-1978′[2]ould have been useful material in aiding the argument.
The article fits into the topic for session two of Irish immigration in the nineteenth century by detailing the ways in which the Catholic church created a catholic community most of whom were Irish immigrants. The Irish in response found their own identity within Scotland, perhaps to the dislike of Scottish society, which addresses one of the themes of the course.
[1] The Innes Review, Volume 29 Issue 2, Page 111-139, 2010
[2] The Innes Review, Volume 29 Issue 1, Page 30-55, 2010
This blog post describes the main points that the author Bernard Aspinwall makes upon the formation of the Catholic Church within the west of Scotland, and how its absence effected society during the 19th century. This allows the reader to gain a good understanding of the context of the source without having read the full text themselves. The sources main arguments are well described, as well as the texts three main aspects on the progression of Catholic infrastructure. The types of sources the text contains are also highlighted, such as the use of primary databases and newspapers which help the reader to think of possible bias, and the sources credibility. Lastly a really great feature at the end of the blog, was the suggested further reading, allowing the reader to learn more about the topic from another viewpoint.