St Moluag's Cathedral, Lismore

For the Church of Ireland cathedral, see Lismore Cathedral, Ireland.
St Moluag's Cathedral in 2006

St. Moluag's Cathedral is located on the Scottish island of Lismore just off the coast of Oban. As a congregation of the Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, the church is not technically a cathedral, in spite of its name.

History

Saint Moluag (Old Irish Mo-Luóc) (d. 592), founded a monastery on the island. It was a major centre of Christianity in Scotland, and the seat of the later medieval bishopric of Argyll or the Isles. To modern eyes it seems an isolated location for such a centre, but in an era when the fastest and most reliable transport was by water, Lismore was ideally situated.[1]

The Diocese of Argyll was Scotland's most impoverished diocese, and the fourteenth century Cathedral was very modest in scale.[2] Only the choir survives, in greatly altered form, the nave and western tower having been reduced to their foundations. The chief surviving medieval features are three doorways, one blocked, another originally the entrance through the pulpitum, a piscina and the triple-arched sedilia. Several late medieval grave slabs are preserved in the church or adjoining graveyard.[3]

Parish

The building is in use as the parish church of Lismore, a congregation of the Church of Scotland. It is also linked with Appin Parish Church on the mainland. The minister is Rev Roderick D. M. Campbell, formerly of St Andrew's and St George's Church in Edinburgh; the previous minister the Reverend John A. H. Murdoch moved to Largo and Newburn which is linked with Largo St David's, Fife, in 2006.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ History from Isle of Lismore retrieved 24 May 2013
  2. ↑ History from Scottish Episcopal Church Diocese of Argyll and The Isles retrieved 24 May 2013
  3. ↑ Site Record from Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland retrieved 24 May 2013
  4. ↑ Lismore's People from Isle of Lismore retrieved 24 May 2013

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Moluag's Cathedral.

Coordinates: 56°32′4″N 5°28′50″W / 56.53444°N 5.48056°W / 56.53444; -5.48056


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