| Admin_History | Born in Maxton, Roxburghshire in 1874, the son of a Presbyterian minister. Educated for the ministry in the Church of Scotland at St. Andrews University (1889 to 1896). Ordained minister to the parish of Avondale, Lanarkshire in 1901. Was received into the Catholic Church in 1903. Seminary studies and ordination as a priest at the Scots College in Rome in 1906. Parish work from 1907 to 1917. Appointed Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh with the title of Bishop of Tipasa in Numidia in 1917, he assisted Archbishop Smith for 13 years. Returned to Glasgow as parish priest of Holy Cross, Glasgow when Archbishop McDonald succeeded Smith in 1930. Remained in that post till his death in 1959. Well-known controversialist, speaker and writer on religious topics.
Bishop Henry Grey Graham was a “son of the manse”, born into a Presbyterian family in Roxburghshire. After studying and receiving his MA and BD degrees at St. Andrews University, he followed his father into the ministry and took over the parish of Avondale in Lanarkshire.
At age 29, he converted to Roman Catholicism and after three years’ study at the Scots College in Rome, returned to Lanarkshire, an area marked by sectarian disturbances. As a convert priest, he was a conspicuous target of extremists and himself engaged in the local religious controversies by extensive writing and public speaking.
In 1917, he was appointed as Auxiliary Bishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh and, because of the poor health of the incumbent, Archbishop Smith, he shouldered virtually all the responsibilities of the Archdiocese.
1917 was a crisis year- the worst year of the Great War and the crucial stage in the negotiations between the Church and the Scottish Office which led to the landmark legislation of the 1918 Education Act. Though the Act gave Catholic schools financial security and a place in the public education system, it caused intense controversy within the Church.
When Smith died in 1930, the Auxiliary relinquished his role in Edinburgh and took over the Parish of Holy Cross in Glasgow. He seems never to have regretted this change to a narrower sphere of activities and became a model parish priest, much admired for his meticulous fulfilment of all his duties. |