Hundreds of people have gathered at a historic Moray seminary to mark its 300th anniversary.
The secret seminary was established in the Braes of Glenlivet, eight miles from Tomintoul, as a hideout for Catholic priests who were being persecuted following the Reformation of the church in the 1500s.
The venue is hailed as playing a critical role in keeping Catholicism alive in Scotland, as fledgling priests were also trained there between 1716 and 1799.
More than 260 people from across the nation made the pilgrimage to the rural building to celebrate its milestone anniversary.
Several of the country’s leading religious figures presided over a mass, and Metropolitan Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Rt Rev Leo Cushley, was the ceremony’s chief celebrant.
A group of American nuns living in Elgin also ventured to Scalan for the event.
The Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia relocated from Nashville, Tennessee, to Greyfriars Convent in the heart of the town three years ago.
Yesterday, superior Anna Christie said she and her colleagues had been moved by tales from the building’s past.
She added: “We have visited Scalan with groups of young people before, it has a very important place in the history of the church.
“The anniversary mass was a very powerful event, we commemorated the sacrifices and the courage of the young men who stayed there.”
As well as bishops and archbishops from the length of Scotland, the American archbishop of Detroit, Allen Vigneron, took in the mass.
Special tribute was also paid to Moray-born St John Ogilvie, who was put to death because of his Catholic faith 400 years ago last July.
St John Ogilvie was formally made a saint in 1976, making him the first Scottish saint since the Reformation came to Scotland.
