Jesuits, mission and gender in post-Reformation Scotland

This chapter assesses the role of Jesuits in preserving liturgical and prayer life of Scottish Catholics in an environment of increasingly virulent anti-Catholic legislation. It assesses Fr Robert Abercrombie’s 1580 report which offered a common-sense approach to the liturgical requirements in the context of mission-scape, the underground practice of faith. Abercrombie also singled out the importance of Scottish women as a force for maintaining the faith, later exemplified in dangers faced protecting Jesuits and trying to gain a Catholic education for their sons. It concludes with an analysis of the early eighteenth century Gaelic poet, Sìleas na Ceapaich, as an example of the enduring importance of Jesuit contacts with Scottish women. Using these examples, a more nuanced picture of the role of the Jesuits in the Scottish Mission emerges.