Not far from Pluscarden, just on the other side of the River Lossie, stands the small Church of Birnie, dedicated to St. Brendan. By repute St. Brendan himself is said to have visited the site, and indeed to have established a Church there, in place of a pagan shrine, in the early 6th century. A large Pictish symbol stone near the entrance bears witness anyway to very ancient roots here. The present Church was built before the middle of the 12th century as the seat of the Bishop of Moray. After the Reformation it continued to be used for regular Protestant services. So Birnie Kirk has been a place of continuous Christian worship now for 900 years: the oldest such in Scotland. But last year the authorities of the Church of Scotland decided they had to give it up.

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in Scotland have made a bid to keep Birnie Kirk in regular use. Now an ecumenical group led by members of the Ordinariate meets weekly there for Evensong, and there is a Mass of the (Roman Catholic) Ordinariate Rite each first Saturday.

In celebration of all that, Pluscarden’s own resident stone artist Philip Chatfield recently carved for the Kirk a fine sandstone panel depicting St. Brendan in his boat.

This was blessed and solemnly installed at Birnie, in the course of an Ordinariate Mass, with Procession, on Saturday 3 August this year.

Some monks from Pluscarden were invited to sing the Gregorian Propers for this Mass, and also to lead the singing of the litany of Saints while the panel was carried up to the Church.

The occasion was a most happy one, with impressive ceremonies conducted by Fr. Len Black and an excellent team of servers, while a fine organist and trumpeter led the communal hymn singing. A good turn-out certainly in excess of 50 people well filled the Church for the Mass. A much appreciated barbecue lunch was served for all comers afterwards in lovely warm sunshine.