History

Priests of the Parish

Fr. Conliss

The Grotto

 

Extracts from the Brochure printed to mark the opening of the church have been reproduced here. The photographs that were in the original brochure can be found on the Gallery page.

SOLEMN OPENING

 OF NEW CHURCH

SUNDAY 27th JULY 1958

At 1 p.m.

By The Right Reverend J. McGee

 The Lord Bishop of Galloway

followed by

 SOLEMN PONTIFICAL HIGH MASS

Deacon           Rev. KEVIN CONWAY

Sub-deacon      Rev. FRANCIS KIERNAN

M.C.             Rev. VINCENT WALKER

Preacher         Fr. GEORGE GIARCHI, C.SS.R.

PONITIFICAL BENEDICTION at 6 p.m.

Preacher         HIS LORDSHIP THE BISHOP

 THE OLD GARRISON CHAPEL, MILLPORT

For the Catholic community of Millport the 27th July, 1958, is a day of rejoicing, a red-letter day indeed.  Yet it is with sadness they will accept that they are finished with the old chapel.  In the words of our Bishop at the reception after the foundation stone ceremony, “it has rendered to the Catholic community and numberless visitors to Cumbrae over the years yeoman service.”

Prior to the days when it began to be used, there is no record of Mass ever having been said in Millport since the days of the Reformation.  The half-dozen, more or less, Catholics of the island who wished to attend Mass were transported to Largs by Andrew Linden, forester for the Marquis of Bute.

The old chapel has been in use as a Mass Centre over a very long period, longer than the oldest parishioner can remember.  From a Sunday School centre, Miss Taylor’s school seventy and more years ago, for the Church of England children in the days of Lord Glasgow from whom the third Marquis of Bute purchased the Garrison and the western part of the island, it was carefully and tastefully transformed for its present sublime purposes.  A dwindling few of the parishioners still recall and speak with pride of the simple beauty of this humble house of God under the artistic care of the Marchioness of Bute.

In those days there was no permanently resident priest, although Father Anacker, S.J., who ministered at the week-end almost merited that title for his prolonged stay for his coveted game at golf.  He is still remembered, the Classics professor at St. Aloysius’, after so many years, by non-Catholics as well as Catholics.

When Garrison House ceased to be used as a Home on the death of the Marchioness, Father Anacker’s familiar figure was no longer to be seen in Millport.  The Catholic community was then served from Largs in summer, and rarely if at all in the winter.

In the early years of the Second World War, with the influx of many Glasgow evacuees, a permanent priest became a matter of urgency.  Dr. Fyfe came from St. Michael’s, Parkhead, as Millport’s first resident parish priest.  Millport being at that time an outpost of the Glasgow Archdiocese.  For over seven years there was no more-kent face in Millport than that of the Doctor.

The late Bishop Mellon decided in 1948, After Millport’s incorporation into Galloway, to release Dr. Fyfe from what for a man of his years was an arduous daily round.  Wet or fine – and those who walk the front street in Millport daily will know how wet it can be – in frost or snow, the Doctor’s daily round involved two visits to the chapel, one to the school, and three times to the Cumbrae Hotel, where he had his meals.

He was known and is still remembered as a kindly and affable man, always with a smile and a joke, loved by all and especially the children, who loved to meet him on the brae and accompany him to the school.

We should have liked to welcome him to the opening ceremony, and only accept his refusal to come because of ill health.  We remember him to-day, and wish him well in health and happiness.

Father Gunning replace Dr. Fyfe in 1948, and to him fell the happy lot of making the necessary arrangements for the building of a new church.  Many have expressed admiration at the work accomplished, but in justice must it be said that what has been done may very well be the fruit of his predecessor’s prayers and sacrifices, the number and kind of which is God’s secret.  In the preparations that preceded the church’s building, no brilliance was needed, no flash of foresight that one sometimes recognises in such work manifested, nothing extraordinary, just sticking to the post and being there all the time.

At the foundation stone ceremony Bishop McGee referred to the fact, good humouredly, of course, that he had not been consulted about the title of the new church.  Fait accompli was presented to him. The parish priest has a similar complaint.  Our Lady took the whole thing in her hands and arranged even the title.  It is one we accept with pride and gratitude.  Without Our Lady’s favours and patronage, how could we possibly have succeeded without either resource or potentialities?

Looking back at this stage on the happenings over the past ten years, one cannot fail to detect a touch in the enterprise – something more than human.  At one time we were filled with disappointment, and indeed dismayed, at our failure to erect a building which would have been a very poor substitute for this beautiful new church in such a lovely setting.  That frustration by human agency was indeed a blessing.

It is surely remarkable, too, that as the years passed, all kinds of seemingly insuperable problems did disappear, and when things began to take shape it was with such a complete smoothness and sweetness that the architect remarked on one occasion on the harmony and pleasantness of the work.

The new church, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, is just across the street from the old chapel. It stands in a most pleasing and prominent site at the corner of College Street and George Street.  It is a tribute of love and devoted reverence to the Mother of God, from a vast number of people, who down through the years helped in a variety of ways.

P.J.GUNNING.

ST.  MARY’S  LARGS

What would now be the status and condition of Catholics residing in Millport had there been no Great War in 1939, might largely be a matter of conjecture.  With the arrival of evacuee children, their parents, and Dr. Fyfe on the island, a long association between the Garrison Chapel there and St. Mary’s Star of the Sea, Largs, on the mainland, came virtually to an end.  So it has proved…

For more years than a long lifetime, Catholics in Millport had depended on the priests in Largs for the maintenance of their spiritual life.  In the costmary phrase, Millport was “served” from Largs.  The register of baptisms, confirmations and marriages kept at St. Mary’s included many names from the island among the recipients; they thus record at once the fact, that Millport’s Catholics were, indeed, recipients of the Church’s Sacraments and also that they were, under difficulties, unswerving in their loyalty.  For this above all else redounds to their credit, that they were by their geographical position deprived from a Catholic milieu and yet successfully maintained, without a resident priest, their corporate existence.  Surely a notable achievement, even in friendly surroundings.

When, however, the war brought swarms of children and adults to their island, they were delighted to welcome with them the Rev. Dr. A. Fyfe as a resident chaplain.  Largs had no longer a duty to see to their requirements.  And what was, as I believe, thought of as a temporary measure, His Lordship the Bishop decided should become permanent.  The Garrison Chapel has never since been without its daily Mass, and Millport was “born again,” almost imperceptibly.  It has attained independence and a separate existence.  Floreat et vigeat!

Yet another step forward has now been made when a fine new church has been built; with Father Gunning as parish priest, guided, directed and encouraged by His Lordship Bishop McGee, Millport is set for a great future.

The Catholic community of St. Mary, Largs, has of course looked on at this growth and development with respect and not a little admiration.  And with its prayers, it greets the new Millport under the title of “Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.”

CANON CLEMENT McGOWAN

ARCHITECT’S DESCRIPTION

The new church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour is situated at the corner of George Street and College Street in the island town of Millport.  The buildings consist of a church to accommodate 272 persons, a sacristy, and a presbytery, and are constructed of brick and rough-cast, with green Norwegian slates on the roof.  The internal finish is plaster on the walls, acoustic tiles on the ceiling and plastic tiles on the floors.  The design is contemporary in its conception and is oriented with the entrance at the west and the sanctuary at the east of the nave.  A bronze cross, ten feet high, is a feature of the west gable, and a square tower, forty-one feet high, dominates the whole group.  The altar is built of oak and sapele hardwoods, and is illuminated by means of concealed lighting in the canopy.  The pews are of solid oak.  The colour scheme is light and fresh, and creates an atmosphere of simple reverence.

  ROBERT RENNIE, T.D., A.R.I.B.A., Chartered Architect, Saltcoats.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

One special purpose I had in mind in having a souvenir brochure for the official opening of the new church was to avail of the opportunity it offers of placing on record my sincere gratitude to all those who at any time or all the time during the past ten years have supported me in this enterprise.

My gratitude in the first place goes to our own bishop, Bishop McGee, for his interest and unfailing support over a long and trying period before he could give the all clear, and for his untiring watchfulness during the period of building.

To the builder and sub-contractors for a most pleasing work, completed in the minimum of time.

Lastly but in no secondary place, thanks to all those who by their work and contributions great and small, over the years, made the project possible financially.

Finally, a word of thanks to Dean Douglas of the Cathedral of the Isles, to whom we are indebted for the fine site and lovely setting for our new church.

P. J. Gunning

A Retrospect

by Dr. ALEXANDER FYFE,

FIRST PARISH PRIEST OF MILLPORT

Eighty or so years ago (1880’s), on fine Sundays a handful of people might have been seen putting out in an open boat from the shore of Cumbrae.  Their destination was Largs.  Their purpose was to hear Mass.  It was the Catholic congregation of Millport.   They had no priest and no church.  Sheep without a shepherd or a sheepfold.

In those days Garrison House belonged to the Earl of Glasgow.  There was a building in the grounds, stable or byre, which was fitted up as a chapel and where Anglican services were held for many years.  Later Garrison House passed over to the Marquis of Bute, the third marquis, whose conversion to the Catholic Church made a great sensation in the seventies of last century.  The chapel in the grounds became a domestic chapel.  Later still, after the death of the Marquis in 1900, the house became the home of his widow.  The chapel really became the church of the Catholic people and got the name “Garrison Church.”  Almost always a priest was staying in the house, which meant pastoral care for the people and a tradition of seemly worship.  This state of things, however, came to an end in or about 1910 with the death of the Dowager Marchioness.  Garrison House was never again occupied.  But we Catholics still met in its grounds and had a roof over our heads at a nominal rent.

The next period was a long one when the Garrison Church became part of Largs parish and was well and faithfully served by the clergy there.  That meant regular Mass on the crowded summer Sundays.  In winter, of course, Mass had always to be omitted.  None the less, the people were visited and the children instructed, and when I came in 1939 it was to find a strong Catholic nucleus.

In 1939 came the great disaster of our time, the Second World War.  But as we are told, “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good.”  In September 1939, Pollokshaws Catholic School was evacuated to Millport, and that meant, since most of the children were accompanied by their parents, a newborn congregation of about 300.  At the same time the stately halls of Garrison House were filled with patients, mostly children and many of them Catholics from a Glasgow sanatorium.  Something had to be done, and what was done was that I was sent down to take charge. 

It was bright soft September weather.  The evacuees and I reveled in sunshine and pure air.  At first, we thought that we had come to a kind of earthly paradise.  So for about a month.  But the days went on: Millport became always quieter, always colder, and always more wind-swept.  There started a steady trek back to Glasgow.  By the beginning of 1940, all or nearly all the new congregation had melted away. Still we had our nucleus; Mrs. Kennedy, Mrs. Leddy, Mrs. McColl and their families; Mrs. John Leddy, then Alice Rooney, our single and invaluable collector; loyal and patient altar boys shivering beside me on winter mornings.  We had a gorgeous summer in 1940 to raise our spirits.  All the same, the winter of 1940-41 was a bleak experience.  Just at the end of it, there was another ill wind.  The Clydebank “blitz” was an ill wind indeed.   But it blew down to us in Millport another flock of evacuees who were more chary of going back to Glasgow than the first lot had been. 

Another ill wind came nearer to us in May with the Greenock raid, and that brought us new friends and fellow worshippers.  With the official end of evacuation in 1944, our congregation got smaller.  But somehow it has never vanished altogether.  “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”

The old Garrison Church deserves an epitaph.  It was too small; it was too hot in summer; in winter it was too cold.  Yet no one who knew it will remember it without affection.  It was a singularly devotional little building.  All its rotten timber seemed to be soaked in prayer.  These prayers, among others, will be answered when its congregation meet at last under their own roof in a church dedicated appropriately to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.

Priests of the Parish

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Fr. Conliss

Fr John Conliss S.V.D., of the Divine Word Missionaries, retired from his duties as parish priest here at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour July 2005 on the advice of his doctor due to illness.  He returned to the Donamon Community in Ross Common, Ireland.  It was discovered that he was suffering from a brain tumour, of which he subsequently died on 3 January 2006.  Fr John Conliss is buried in the Societies cemetery at Ross Common. During his time here on Cumbrae Fr John designed two windows, which can be found either side of the altar.  He designed a further window, which was positioned near the altar in the small chapel within the manse, used to celebrate Mass during the winter months.  Although without a title, it is believed to be of the Crucifixion. (see right).

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The Grotto

The Grotto in the church grounds was gifted to the church by Ida Saroli in memory of her husband, Victor.  The Saroli family are related to the Coia family who were the first proprietors of the Ritz Café.  Ida Saroli returned to Italy where she has a marble replica of the statue of Our Lady in her private gardens.

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