St John Ogilvie

John was born into a well-connected family in 1579; the son of Sir Walter Ogilvie, baron of 

Drum-na-Keith, whose father, James, had been Treasurer to Mary Queen of Scots. His mother was Lady Agnes Elphinstone, who died in 1582, when John was only 3 years old. The family tree is said to have stretched back to William, King of Scotland, and Queen Margaret, herself later to be made a Saint.

Like many, the Ogilvies were once staunch Catholics but the Reformation of 1560 had changed the face of Scotland. Just 20 years before John Ogilvie’s birth, John Knox had succeeded in switching Scotland’s state religion from Catholicism to Calvanism, later known as Presbyterianism, and there were fierce purges to stamp out the Catholic faith.

The saying of Mass was outlawed, priests were banished, and anyone suspected of being a Papist could be thrown into prison. Even being found with a rosary or crucifix would lead to punishment. And, yet, brave souls were still prepared to risk danger, imprisonment and death to practise their faith in secret.

Although some of the nobility, particularly in the northern part of the country, may have retained Catholic leanings few were willing to show them for fear of losing their lands, their wealth, and their status. So, young Ogilvie was brought up a Calvinist.

Such was the fear of the influence from still Catholic Europe that permits had to be granted for travelling abroad, and Sir Walter Ogilvie obtained one for his son, who set off from home in 1592, aged 13, to further his education, his experience of life, so he would be better equipped to play, what his father hoped, would be a prominent role in Scottish affairs for his first born. He travelled with his Uncle George Elphinstone. But the path of life that John was to take was not the one that his family had planned.

He travelled widely and studied, in France, Germany and Italy, and listened to scholars both Calvinist and Catholic discussing religion. That proved a source of inspiration, and at the age of 17 he converted to Catholicism. It was the first of many brave moves.

We can only imagine the torment this must have caused. How had he broken the news to his family? It must have caused him great anguish and led to all financial support to him being cut off. It is not thought he ever saw them again.