Cardinal O’Brien was born at Ballycastle
in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland on 17 March 1938. After
primary education in Ballycastle, the Archbishop moved with
his family to Scotland, initially attending St Stephen’s
Primary School, Dalmuir before continuing to secondary school
at St Patrick’s High School, Dumbarton. His family
then moved to Edinburgh, where he completed his secondary
education at Holy Cross Academy, Edinburgh and at the University
of Edinburgh where he gained a degree of Bachelor of Science
in 1959 (and later a Diploma of Education in 1966). His
studies for the priesthood were at St. Andrew’s College,
Drygrange, Roxburghshire and he was ordained priest on 3
April 1965 by his predecessor, Cardinal Gordon Joseph Gray.
Initially, serving as assistant priest in Holy Cross, Edinburgh
from 1965 until 1966, he completed his teacher training
certificate in Moray House College of Education. For the
next 5 years, from 1966 until 1971, he was employed by Fife
County Council as a teacher of maths and science, as well
as being Chaplain to St Columba’s Secondary School,
initially in Cowdenbeath and then in Dunfermline –
while assisting in St Bride’s Parish, Cowdenbeath.
He was then moved to full time parish apostolate in St Patrick’s,
Kilsyth from 1972 until 1975 and then St Mary’s, Bathgate
from 1975 until 1978. He was appointed Spiritual Director
to St Andrew’s College, Drygrange from 1978 until
1980; and then was appointed Rector of St Mary’s College,
the junior seminary at Blairs, Aberdeen from 1980 until
1985.
Cardinal O’Brien was nominated Archbishop
of St Andrews and Edinburgh on 30 May 1985 and was ordained
by Cardinal Gordon Joseph Gray, then archbishop emeritus
of St Andrews and Edinburgh, at St Mary’s Cathedral,
Edinburgh on 5 August 1985. Pope John Paul II created the
Archbishop cardinal priest, with the titles of Ss Joachim
and Anne ad Tusculanum on 21 October 2003.
The Cardinal was made Bailiff Grand Cross
of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of
Malta in 2005; and appointed Grand Prior of the Scottish
Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre
of Jerusalem in 2001; and appointed Knight Grand Cross in
2003.
The Cardinal was awarded the Honorary Degree
of Doctor of Laws from St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish,
Nova Scotia, Canada in 2004; and awarded the Honorary Degree
of Doctor of Divinity from the University of St Andrews
in 2004; and the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Divinity from
the University of Edinburgh also in 2004.
He was Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese
of Argyll and the Isles from 1996 until 1999.
After his creation as Cardinal, Cardinal
O’Brien was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council
for Social Communications and also a member of the Pontifical
Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant
People.
He is at present the President of the Bishops’
Conference of Scotland and fulfils various engagements outwith
his own Archdiocese at the request of other members of the
Bishops’ Conference.
As well as ministering in his own Archdiocese and elsewhere
in Scotland, the Cardinal has always shown an intense interest
in the missions, having visited initially the territory
previously adopted by his own Archdiocese – Bauchi
in Northern Nigeria on two occasions. He has also been with
his priests on loan in Central America, having visited El
Salvador on three occasions and Chiapas in Mexico on two
occasions, as well as recently visiting one of his priests
in Guatemala.
As a Director of the Scottish Catholic
International Aid Fund (SCIAF), the Cardinal has visited
projects funded from Scotland in successive years –
visiting Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
in 2004, Ethiopia in 2005, and Darfur in the Sudan in 2006. In 2007 he visited India, following on the tsunami, to see SCIAF projects in the affected areas; and in October of that year, he visited China with the organisation ‘Cultural Exchange with China’. Further, he has visited various projects supported by Holy Rood High School and St John’s Parish, Portobello in the Diocese of Moshi in Tanzania.
At the beginning of 2008, the Cardinal visited Cambodia to see SCIAF projects there and in January 2009 visited Myanmar/Burma for the same purpose.
