Saint Giles and the Book of Common Prayer

Today is the feast of St. Giles on the calendar for the 1962 Roman Missal and for the Church of England. He is the patron saint of the Church of Scotland Cathedral in Edinburgh. It was, course, founded as a Catholic church, but in the throes of the Scottish Reformation during the regency of Mary of Guise for her daughter, Mary, changed hands between the Catholics and Reformers a couple of times.

According to the History page on the Cathedral website, John Knox took over in 1559:

John Knox was a Scottish priest who converted to Protestantism in the 1540s and fled into hiding and exile. In Geneva he befriended the French reformer John Calvin. On his return to Scotland he marched an army of followers into St Giles’ and preached there for the first time. The following week he was elected its minister and the building was stripped of its Catholic decoration.

And by government fiat in 1560, it was desecrated and descralized as a Catholic church:

The Scottish Parliament abolished papal authority in 1560 and decreed that Scotland was now a Protestant country. This was despite Scotland still having a Catholic queen, Mary Queen of Scots. St Giles’ 400 years as a Catholic church officially came to an end. Inside the building the stained-glass windows were removed and old church silver was melted down and sold to raise funds for redecoration. To read a more detailed account of the Reformation, click here.

When King Charles I of England and Scotland attempted to impose the Book of Common Prayer, there was a riot:

Scotland and England began to share the same monarch following the 1603 Union of the Crowns, though the two countries still had separate legislatures. In 1637 King Charles I attempted to draw the Scottish church, which was Presbyterian, into line with the English church, which was Anglican. Scottish opposition came to the boil when Charles I attempted to impose a new prayer book in St Giles’ and made St Giles’ a cathedral. A local woman named Jenny Geddes picked up her stool and threw it at the preacher, starting a riot. Church services were suspended for a week for fear of public uprising.

And that event is depicted above!

Although he didn't succeed in imposing the Book of Common Prayer, St. Giles in Edinburgh is still a cathedral.