Prior to the restoration of the Catholic
Hierarchy in Scotland (1878) the Catholic Emancipation of 1793 allowed
Catholics in Scotland the freedom to practise their faith, a freedom
that they had been deprived of since the Reformation. Around 1800
the Catholic population of Dundee was somewhere around 50, with the
congregation worshipping in a Chapel in Seagate and moving on to
Medowside.
As the 19th century progressed the area saw a boom in the
Catholic population, thanks to economic migration, both from Ireland
and the Highlands of Scotland (which had been a stronghold for
indigenous Scottish Catholics since the Reformation). By the
1830's the Catholic population was estimated at 5000 with around 250
Baptisms per year. In order to provide a suitable place of worship for
this growing Catholic population building work began in the Nethergate
area on June 1st 1835.
Completed is less than a year and opened on 7th August 1836, it
was said by a local newspaper "the interior of the chapel is in keeping
with its outward elegance; and a stranger, upon entering, is deeply
impressed with the capacious and finely executed interior of the whole."
Prior to the restoration of the Catholic heirarchy in Scotland,
by Pope Leo XIII, Catholics in Scotland had worshipped in secret,
ministered to by a network of 'underground' priests who were overseen
by Apostolic Prefects, and then Apostolic Vicars in the hope that in
time the country would generate enough Catholics and stability for its
Catholic institutions, to warrant the re-establishment of
dioceses. Eventually this hope was realised and the heirarchy in
Scotland was restored with two arch-bishops and six
bishops.
In 1887 the Church was designated the Pro-Cathedral of the
Diocese and elevated to Cathedral status in 1923. It remains to
this day the mother Church of the diocese of Dunkeld
