Saint Mirin's Cathedral, Paisley

Introduction

Saint Mirin's Cathedral in Paisley was designed by Thomas Baird and built between 1930 and 1932. The original parish church, built in 1808, was the first stone-built Roman Catholic church in post-Reformation Scotland. The present building was raised to cathedral status in 1948, following the erection of the Diocese of Paisley in 1947.

History

The cathedral follows the monumental form adopted in the later nineteenth century by Pugin and Pugin for suburban Catholic churches, though its Romanesque style sets it apart.

Architecture and furnishings

The cathedral is built of cream sandstone, squared and snecked with ashlar dressings and stone mullions. The south elevation has a gabled nave end with a stepped 3-light window, cushioned-capitalled nookshafts, corbel table to gablehead and cross finial, flanked by advanced panelled corner shafts. The north elevation has a canted 2-stage apse encircled at ground by piended sacristy/offices/corridor, with 3-light round-arched windows to upper stage at clerestorey.

The cathedral is neo-Romanesque in style with a plain sandstone exterior and an airy arched interior. The cathedral has sawtooth coped buttresses, nookshafts and scalloped corbel tables, with round-arched openings and an eaves course.

The chancel is principally of Italian marble. The cathedral has a pulpit by Gillespie, Kidd and Coia with a relief of the Sermon on the Mount and Latin inscriptions from the Letter of Saint James. In the apse, four colourful tripartite stained glass windows depict twelve angels, each bearing a symbol from the Bible, with a Latin inscription alluding to the Eucharist. The cathedral has Art Deco Stations of the Cross designed by Kenneth King of Dublin, painted on ceramic tiles. In 2015 modifications to the main entrance, porch and frontage of the cathedral were completed.

Parish life

The St Vincent de Paul conference at the cathedral is active in tackling poverty and disadvantage by providing practical assistance. The cathedral parish has a men's group.

The cathedral parish keeps a register of parishioners with contact details, used to email bulletins and other important information. The parish maintains a sick list and provides visits to sick and housebound parishioners. The parish appeals for volunteers to bring Holy Communion to the housebound, noting the list is long due to the large parish. The parish promotes a pro-life initiative that offers help and support to women facing crisis pregnancy.

The parish supports Retrouvaille, a marriage support programme. The parish has a WhatsApp channel for followers. Visitors are asked not to enter the cathedral's sanctuary before and after Mass, even for photographs.