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Parish
Priest: Rev. Hugh White STL LSS
36 Carnethie Street, Rosewell EH24 9AT Telephone:440
2150
Our Lady of Consolation, Hawthorneden Avenue, Bonnyrigg
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THE PARISH OF
ST MATTHEW - ROSEWELL
The Church of St Matthew celebrated its Centenary in 1989.
Although the parish was small in number, its people have proved
strong in faith for over a hundred years.
Before 1882, the Catholic population of Rosewell was served
from St. David's, Dalkeith. When in 1882 the Parish of the
Sacred Heart, Penicuik was established from St David's, Rosewell
became part of the new parish. At this time the population
of Rosewell was largely Catholic, most of the people were
of Irish descent or had come directly from Ireland to work
on the land or in the local coal mines.
The Catholic Directory of 1889 recorded that a chapel was
in the process of building in Rosewell.
This chapel (the present St. Matthew Primary School) was opened
on 3rd February 1889 during the Archbishopric of William Smith;
the parish continued to be served from Penicuik.
Five years later, through efforts of the people themselves,
an extension to the chapel was built to provide education
for the Catholic children of the village.
The school opened its doors for the first time on 24th September
1894.
St. Matthews continued to be served from the Sacred Heart
Parish until the present Church was built under the
auspices of Father Dominic Woods in 1923. The foundation stone
was laid by Auxiliary Bishop Henry Graham in 1922
and the new Church formally opened in 1923. The people of
Rosewell had at last a priest of their own with the appointment
of Father Woods as the first Parish Priest.
The church is built and furnished in local brick and was constructed
and paid for by the people of Rosewell. It is not difficult
to imagine the effort and sacrifice which the building of
St. Matthew must have entailed at a time of depression and
deprivation. The parishioners of today have reason to be proud
of and grateful to their forebears who have left such a beautiful
building in which to worship God and have handed down through
succeeding generations a legacy of faith which has proved
to be strong and enduring. |
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