{"id":57,"date":"2023-09-03T18:23:27","date_gmt":"2023-09-03T17:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.rcda.scot\/?page_id=57"},"modified":"2025-02-11T21:34:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T21:34:21","slug":"fetternear","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/inverurie.rcda.scot\/?page_id=57","title":{"rendered":"Fetternear"},"content":{"rendered":"

The church and grounds at Fetternear are managed by a Trust, not the Inverurie Parish.
\nPlease use the contact form at the bottom of the page for any inquiries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brief History:<\/strong>
\nThe family\u00c2\u00a0Leslie of Balquhain\u00c2\u00a0received the Fetternear estate from the last pre-reformation bishop of Aberdeen and held it almost continuously thereafter until the early 20th Century. It was\u00c2\u00a0Colonel Charles Leslie, the 26th Baron of Balquhain, who had St John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s built once the estate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s catholic population had become too great to be accommodated in the family chapel in Fetternear House. It was built a few years later than the church of the Immaculate Conception that was established in Inverurie by Fr Tochetti in 1852. Colonel Leslie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s son or grandson, Charles Stephen Leslie, established\u00c2\u00a0the Fetternear Trust\u00c2\u00a0and conveyed the land, church, presbytery, outbuildings and lodge house to the trust in 1915.<\/p>\n

Jesuit Links:<\/strong>
\nWilliam Aloysius Leslie of Balquhain (1641 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 1704) was a Jesuit, ordained in France, who served as professor of philosophy in Perugia, rector of the Scots College in Douai and rector of the Scots College in Rome (twice) before returning home as superior of the Jesuit mission in Scotland. The coat of arms, the IHS symbol on the front of the adjoining residence\u00c2\u00a0and the St Ignatius of Loyola window are most likely in honour of his memory.<\/p>\n

Stained glass windows<\/strong>:
\nThe window in the west wall of the sanctuary depicting\u00c2\u00a0St Angela Medici of Brescia, foundress of the Ursulines, carries the Leslie (and Dalyell) coats of arms, celebrating Elizabeth Leslie and Frances Dalyell who were, respectively, once superioress and a simple nun in the convent in Lille. The Ursuline order allows one to make a link to the window of\u00c2\u00a0St Charles Borromeus\u00c2\u00a0and, through his acquaintanceship with St Edmund Campion and others, perhaps including\u00c2\u00a0St Ignatius Loyola\u00c2\u00a0himself, links back to the Society of Jesus.<\/p>\n