A parish
with a long memory.
For over 180 years St Mary of the Assumption has served the Calton — a place of prayer, of schooling, and of civic life for generations of Glasgow families.
St Mary of the Assumption stands on Abercromby Street in the Calton, one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Glasgow. From the earliest days of the parish, it has been at the centre of Catholic life in the East End — a place of Mass and sacrament, of schooling and social action, of confession and consolation.
For a short period, from 2009 until the reopening of St Andrew's in 2011, the church served as the Pro-Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Glasgow. Today it continues as a parish church, open every day for private prayer.
Selected dates.
- 1842
Foundation
St Mary of the Assumption is built to serve the growing Catholic population of the Calton in Glasgow's East End.
- 1887
Celtic FC founded
Celtic Football Club is founded in the parish hall of St Mary of the Assumption on Abercromby Street, to raise funds for the poor of the East End.
- 1919
National system
Catholic schools enter the national system of education, replacing the School Boards. In 1919 there are 2,554 pupils on the school roll.
- 1939 – 45
Wartime
500 boys and girls are evacuated to Aberdeenshire for safety. When air-raid shelters are built, pupils drift back to Glasgow, carrying gas masks.
- 2009
Pro-Cathedral
On 15 August the church is created Pro-Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Glasgow during a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Mario Conti.
- 2011
Return to St Andrew's
The Pro-Cathedral status transfers back to St Andrew's on 10 April, when the restored cathedral is reopened.
Founded in the hall on Abercromby Street.
The parish has had a long association with Glasgow Celtic Football Club. On 6 November 1887, Brother Walfrid, a Marist and pupil of the Marist Brothers who ran the parish school, gathered a group of parishioners in the church hall and Celtic Football Club was founded — established to raise money to feed the poor children of the East End.