The Catholic Church in Scotland : Financial Development 1772-1930

A study of the financial development of the Catholic Church in Scotland

Did you know that before the French Revolution Catholics in Scotland did not contribute financially towards their Church, nor were there any expectations that they would do so, even though today they are the principal funders of all its activities? Or that the Church relied financially on investments in Paris and Rome for the greater part of the eighteenth century? Or that many of the financial structures, investments and fundraising mechanisms found in today's Catholic Church were first developed during the nineteenth century? These are some of the issues explored in this ground-breaking history of the Scottish Catholic Church's financial development. By taking finance as its focus, without which the Church could not and cannot function, this monograph will not only chart the development of an institution but also show how the Catholic Church shared many of the same concerns and ideals of broader Scottish society.