St.Paul's was
where we'd planned to go to church on Sunday. Unfortunately,
Regina woke up on Sunday morning with a bad combination of
jet lag and a cold. Two more hours of sleep and a hot cup of
tea brought her back to normal, but we missed the service.
Typical of our
luck, in our random exploration of Edinburgh that
afternoon we stumbled on Old St. Paul's anyway. It was hidden away down an
old passageway and inside it smelled of incense and candle
wax.
Old St. Paul's
started as a breakaway group from St. Giles' Cathedral.
There were years of struggle during and after the Jacobite
rebellion against the new Protestant monarchy. In 1719
priests were prohibited from ministering to more than eight
people at a time. Penal laws were gradually repealed in 1788
and the Scottish Synod resolved that George III would be
prayed for in all Episcopal churches. Still, Scots being
Scots, the first
prayers for King George in Old St. Paul's were drowned out by groans, sighs,
coughing and loud nose blowings from the pews.
The setting was
more sedate on our visit.
