In presenting¹ to our readers this rapid resume of the work of the Marist Brothers in Scotland since their first arrival in Glasgow just fifty years ago, we feel sure that we shall give great pleasure to the vast number of clergy and Catholic laymen who, during that period, have had the happiness of passing through the hands of those able and estimable educators of youth. Besides appreciating to the full the benefit to be derived from the secular instruction which they so ably impart, every true Catholic will estimate at its proper value the advantage of being placed during the most impressionable period of life under the influence of teachers who, themselves examples of every Christian and religious virtue, make it their avowed aim to give to their children before all else a sound Religious Education; and by the many who owe their success in life, as well as their early training in piety and virtue, to the Marist Brothers, this short history will he regarded as a fitting memorial of the Golden Jubilee of their first arrival in Scotland.

The style of Catholicity in Glasgow in those early days was very different from what it is now. The whole district of the Towhead, for example, including Springburn, had no church nearer than St Alphonsus' or St Mary's, and the want of one was becoming more and more keenly felt when, through the exertions of the pious and zealous Father Archibald Chisholm who left St Alphonsus' to take charge of the mission of St Mungo's, a new church was built in Stanhope Street, and the Holy Sacrifice was once more offered up near the spot where thirteen centuries before the great St Mungo had celebrated the Divine Mysteries. Meanwhile St Alphonsus' School in the Trongate served for the children of both parishes, until Father Chisholm was able to rent a room, first in College Street, and later ("Doon a stair") in Weaver Street, for the children of his own parish. To those accustomed to the vast proportions and faultless equipment of our modern educational institutions, these early schools will appear altogether primitive and unsuitable, but had they not existed, many a man who is now a good practising Catholic might have altogether lost his Faith by being forced to attend a non-Catholic school.

Wise and energetic pastor as he was, however, Father Chisholm would not rest content until he had his children accommodated in more suitable premises, and placed under the care of religious teachers, who, by edifying as well as instructing his future parishioners, would be a powerful aid to him in the work of forming his parish. Accordingly, after securing the services of the Sisters of Mercy for the girls in Stanhope Street, he determined to perform a similar good office for the boys, when Providence unexpectedly favoured his design. A French gentleman, Mr Thiebault, whose name will ever be remembered with gratitude for his munificence to Catholic education, in 1855 invited the Marist Brothers to establish a Novitiate, boarding school, on his estate at Rockwell, Co. Tipperary. Two Brothers were sent to view the place, and having concluded with Mr Thiebault that the moment was not opportune for such a foundation, they accompanied him to Glasgow, where he presented them to Bishop Murdoch. His Lordship at once expressed his earnest desire to have some of the large schools of the city confided to the Brothers, and Mr Thiebault offered to defray the foundation expenses of the first establishment. A house was taken at 96 Garngad Hill at a yearly rent of Ls. 35. Unexpected difficulties, however, brought about some delay, and the house remained unoccupied for three years, during which time Mr Thiebault continued to pay the rent.

At length, in 1853, and through the influence of Brother Pascal, Assistant Superior General, the project of Father Chisholm was happily realised when Brothers Procope, Tatianus, and Faust were sent from London to take charge of the school. Some time before the arrival of these three pioneers, Father Chisholm had, unfortunately, been obliged, by reason of his state of health, to retire to the Continent to recuperate; but they were received with open arms by his successor, Father Small, who ever afterwards continued to be their firm friend and supporter. The success of the Brothers in this first school soon attracted public attention, and in response to urgent solicitations from many quarters, Father Small and Brother Procope decided to begin without delay a middle class school for Catholic boys. Accordingly, with the sanction of the Bishop and the concurrence of Brother Pascal, St Mungo's Academy was opened in the Brothers' House at Garngad Hill on the 23 rd August, 1858.

On the first day six pupils were inscribed on the roll, and one of these " was a candid, intelligent little .boy not yet seven years old, remarkably pious and timid, whose naine was John Aloysius Maguire r — now our beloved Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Glasgow. But the number of pupils rapidly, increased so that in 1861 Father Small was obliged to purchase a house in St Mungo's Street, to which the Academy was transferred, and this house continued to be the residence of the Brothers till 1882. Many of the present generation will bless the names of those • modest and humble religious who were instrumental in founding and fostering an institution which has done so much good for middle-class education in Glasgow and its environs. A very large number of its pupils have obtained distinguished positions in the various walks of life, while the Academy has proved a nursery of vocations to the ecclesiastical state. His Grace, Archbishop Maguire, has been pleased on many occasions to publicly express the esteem he entertains for his old teachers, and particularly for the pious and devoted Brother Procope, on whom he has more than once passed the highest eulogiums.

Another name which will always hold an honoured place in the memory of those interested in the history of the early work of the Brothers in Scotland is that of Brother Pascal, Assistant Superior-General, who not only was the real founder of the Province, but took a personal share in the good work by lending a helping hand in the schools when occasion required.

In 1859 Brother Procope was invited to visit Dundee, where he was easily induced to enter into the views of Mr Thiebault with regard to the advisability of having a branch of the Order established in that city. Mr Thiebault undertook to provide and furnish a house for the Brothers on condition that the clergy built a school and placed it under their direction. The Rev. Archibald Macdonald, pastor of St Mary's, accepted the proposal, the necessary agreements were signed by him and Brother Pascal on 8th December, 1859, and the following year the Brothers opened their First School in Dundee in two rooms underneath St Andrew's Church. Here they taught for four years until Father Macdonald found means to build a school for boys in his own parish. Many of the old Catholics of Dundee will remember the first residence of the Brothers in William Street, and the Academy which they opened in Tay Street during the directorship of Brother Chumald in 1862, and which later on became St Andrew's School. From 1866 to 1874 Brother Tatianus was Director, and it was during his time (in 1868) that a school was opened in St Joseph's parish, and dedicated to St Stephen in honour of its worthy pastor, Father, Stephen Keenan. About the same time also the Brothers sold the house in William Street, and came into possession of the present spacious dwelling and grounds oft Forebank Road.

Meantime new developments were taking place in Glasgow. Towards the end of 1860, in order to lighten the heavy financial burden which was pressing on Father Small, the Coadjutor Bishop, the Right Rev. Dr Smith, proposed to remove the Brothers from St Mango's to 71 Charlotte Street, and to give them charge of the school in Greendyke Street, which served for both St Andrew's and St Alphonsus' parishes. But an arrangement was come to by which the Brothers gave up their house at 18 St Mango Street. The boys were transferred to Stanhope Street School, and the girls to Glebe Street. Mgr. Smith died in 1861, and Dr Gray, who replaced him as Vicar-General, followed up so well the proposal of the new foundation near the then St Andrew's School, that in August of that year five Brothers took up their residence at St Andrew's House, 71 Charlotte Street, the contracting managers of the foundation being Bishop Murdoch, Mgr. Gray, and the Rev. James Mackintosh, Administrator. In October of the following year the Brothers held in that house their first Retreat in Scotland, and there they continued to reside till 1895.

In 1863 the headmaster of St Mary's School, Abercrombie Street, having died, the pious Father Forbes, then in charge of that parish, macle a request to Brother Procope at St Mungo's that until such time as a new teacher could be appointed, he would occasionally call at the school in order to direct and encourage the pupil-teachers in their arduous labours. Ever eager to extend his sphere of usefulness, Brother Procope contrived during a couple of months to visit the school several times a week, when, all the necessary steps having been taken by Father Forbes for securing Brothers to permanently take charge of the school, Brothers Faust and John took possession on the 21st- April, 1863.

Meantime, in 1857, Brother Alphonsus had been appointed to the school of St Anne's, London, and this able and energetic Brother soon perceived that the best means of assuring the success and prosperity of the schools was to throw them open to Government inspection, and that therefore, it was necessary for the Brothers to obtain certificates in order to quality for the grants paid by the Government for elementary education. With characteristic enterprise he did not hesitate to go, with the sanction of his superiors, to spend a year at the Catholic Training College at Hammersmith, and it was due to his labours, and the earnest endeavours of Brother Procope, that in a short space of time a large number of certificates were obtained. In. May, 1862, Brother Alphonsus was appointed Visitor of the British Isles, and he certainly did a great deal to improve the organisation of the schools already established, find to bring about greater uniformity in the teaching. While Visitor he still acted as Director of St Anne's, London, until, in 1867, he came to Glasgow as Director of Charlotte Street, and headmaster of St Andrew's.

In 1863, the school at St Mango's had begun to receive Government grants, but the house then occupied by the Brothers so threatened to endanger their health that the following year Father Small, with the consent of the Bishop, bought for them the house at 16 St Mungo Street for Ls 575. On the 6 the of August, 1865, the Passionist Fathers took charge of the parish of St Mungo's, and under their splendid management a handsome new church was soon erected in Parson Street. The girls and infants took possession of the old church,, and in course of time the old building occupied by the boys, together with the two houses in St Mungo Street, was levelled tó the ground, and 'a magnificent new building erected through the exertions of the Rev. Father Albert, with the hearty support of his parishioners.

But to return to Brother Procope, with whose biography the progress of the Brothers in Scotland is so connected. It was inevitable that his worth, capacity, and zeal should be recognised by his superiors. In a General Chapter of the Order, held in 1873, at which the British Isles (including South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia) was erected into a separate province, he was appointed Assistant Superior General with special charge of the new province. His first care was, naturally, to establish a local Novitiate, for up to this time, it must be remembered that, subjects from the Isles made their Novitiate at Beaucamps, in the North of France, of which Province the British Isles was till then a part. Providence Again seemed to intervene. That great admirer and constant friend of the Marist Brothers, Father A. M. Donald, had left Dundee for the South of Scotland, where he took charge of St Andrew's, Dumfries, and at Christmas time, 1872, Brother Ignatius, whose skill in that direction was well known, was by special request allowed to visit him for the purpose of putting up a crib. The upshot of this was that, in 1873, Brother Ignatius took charge of the boys' school at St Andrew's, Dumfries, and for some tine lodged with the good Father.

The same year found Brother Procope on a visit to his old friend, Father M' Donald, as a consequence of which a large building was secured for the Brothers, in September, through the instrumentality of Father M' Donald and Mr Murphy. In July of the following Year, Brother Procope had the happiness of seeing for the first time the yearly Retreat given at Dumfries, and on the 29th November the transfer of the Novitiate took place. The novices were welcomed most cordially by the late Archbishop Strain then Vicar-Apostolic of the Eastern District, who said Mass in their private chapel on that memorable morning.

Scarcely had the Brothers settled down in this new abode when they were urgently entreated to open a boarding-school, and as the house was large and the number of novices small, it was found possible to make a beginning. Thus it Came about that in 1875, St Joseph's College was formally opened by Brother Alphonsus, Provincial, who acted for some time as Director of the new establishment. Some twelve pupils entered immediately, and amongst these were the Rev. Dr Rogan, Paisley; Mr MacLauchlan, afterwards founder of the extremely successful Past Pupils' Association and Mr J. Mc Intyre. Very soon the house was found to be too small to accommodate both novices and boarders, and Father M' Donald, who had built a comfortable dwelling in Brooke Street for the three Brothers by this time teaching in St Andrew's School, kindly placed that house at the disposal of the Community, and the Novitiate was removed there in 1876.

But Brother Alphonsus was not satisfied with this temporary arrangement, and while casting about for more suitable provision for the Novitiate he was delighted to find, in 1877, that the beautiful property of Laurel Mount, adjoining St Joseph's, was offered for sale. He immediately apprised Brother Procope of its suitability for their purposes, and the consent of the Rev. Brother Superior-General having been obtained, Brother Alphonsus set about purchasing the new property.

In the hands of the Brothers, and especially under the tactful guidance of Brother Luperque, who has been Procurator of the province for many years, the new property, dedicated to the great patron of Dumfries, under the title of Mount St Michael, soon eclipsed all its former beauty. In 1889, for the purpose of a Novitiate and Juniorate, a commodious and solid building was erected upon it, at the cost of Ls. 4000. In a corner of the property is to he seen the pretty little cemetery set apart by Brother Alphonsus as a last resting-place for the members of the Community, and it is a touching fact that he himself was the first to occupy a place in it.

(To be continued).