Fort Augustus Monastery

History

History

It is said that the first church in Fort Augustus was built in honour of or for St. Cuimein around A.D. 600, most probably at the site of the Kilchuimein Cemetry. Thereafter the name of the village was Cille Chuimein.

In 1125 the Diocese of Aberdeen was created and lasted up until 1577. During this period Fort Augustus was served by the Valesconian Monks in Beauly and tithes of salmon and barley were paid from here to the Beauly Priory. The site of this church is thought to be near the fort, possibly where the abbey vegetable garden was.

After the Reformation Catholicism was outlawed and Catholics in the Great Glen, Glen Morrison and Glengarry suffered terrible persecution. Despite this Glengarry and Knoydart remained a Catholic stronghold and there is record of a Catholic school in Glengarry as early as 1650 (undercover of course).

The Catholic Relief Act did not come until 1794 and it is only after this date that we have record of the first post-reformation church which was at Newton, Aberchalder. This served both Invergarry and Fort Augustus and although it was a ramshackle building the congregation was in the region of 500 people.

It was not until 1841 that a Mr. Alexander Gillis, the then Parish Priest, built the church and presbytery of St. Peter’s on the outskirts of Fort Augustus. This was in use as the parish church until 1887, after which it became St. Scholastica’s Convent, which closed in 1921. During that time it was home to both Sisters of Mercy and Benedictine Nuns. From 1841 until 1883 Diocesan Gaelic-speaking priests, the last of which was Father Coll MacDonald, served the parish. In 1883 the English-speaking Benedictine monks took over this responsibility.

From 1887 until 1998 Fort Augustus parishioners would celebrate mass with the monks in the Abbey Chapter House before the building of the Abbey Church in 1953. When the Abbey closed in 1998 the Lovat Estates kindly gave the parish permission to rent the gatehouse as our Parish Church and so today it is called St. Peter and St. Benedict’s.

We have had periods with a Parish Priest in residence and periods of being served from other parishes. Today we are happily served from Beauly. History has gone full circle.