Father George Mullan, apostolic missionary priest served Dunfermline between 1889 and 1903.  Fr. Mullan was a native of Dunfermline and came from a well-respected family of business people, "staunch and generous" Catholics. An examination of the correspondence between this determined and pious priest and his Archbishop, first Archbishop Smith and, after his death, Archbishop MacDonald, reveals a man of sensitivity and drive, a practical resourceful man whose single-mindedness was to prove greatly to the advantage of his growing congregation.

First he wiped out the debt occasioned by his predecessors' building of the modest chapel-school in 1873 on the site gifted by Archbishop Smith's brother, the local laird of Inzievar, Mr Smith-Sligo. Next Father Mullan set about his visionary project: the building of a NATIONAL MEMORIAL CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET to replace the chapel-school which, by all accounts, was considered 'disappointing' and unworthy of Dunfermline's Catholics and of their great Saint, Margaret. Fr. Mullan approached, through the Archbishop, the nobility of Scotland for help with his project. The Marquess of Bute generously funded the drawing up of plans by the architect, Dr Rowan Anderson. These began so lavishly that they had to be revised three times before a project of manageable proportions could be agreed. Nevertheless a huge baptistry incorporating a bell-tower was included, "one of the Marquess's pet ideas from the beginning", Father Mullan noted wryly in one of his frequent letters to Archbishop MacDonald in December 1893.

The original idea had been to build the Church in time for the eighth centenary of St Margaret's death in 1893. The death of Archbishop Smith and the difficulties Father Mullan encountered raising the £30,000 required (despite a nationwide appeal endorsed by all the Scottish bishops) delayed the opening until 1896. Even then only the porch, music loft, nave and aisles were completed. Despite generous donations from Father Mullan himself and his family, the people of Dunfermline and of the nation, the clergy and the nobility, money could not be found for the building of the transepts and the apse. A temporary brick wall had to be built to enclose and support the structure of the nave and an elaborate wooden altarpiece was placed against it. The Marquess' baptistry was never built and a debt of £3,000 was left outstanding.

The church is built in 12th century Transitional style (Norman with Gothic elements). Its interior elevation resembles the 12th century Abbey Church built for St Margaret by her son, David (for which French stonemasons were brought from Durham to create a striking Norman church similar to Durham Cathedral). The nave and the clerestory of Father Mullan's Church have rounded Norman arches and the nave has a barrel vault. The overall effect, however, tends more towards the Gothic tastes of the Victorians in that it has a more perpendicular feel. This is achieved by the narrower pillars with piers running up to the clerestory creating Gothic height rather than Norman solidity. Because the transepts were never built the cruciform shape of the Church, as originally planned, is lost. The intention had been to decorate the dome (where the transept would have crossed the nave) with mosaics and to cap the whole with a square tower. Had it been completed it would have been a noble structure worthy of St Margaret and her pilgrims.

Father Mullan was far from dismayed, however. He wrote to Archbishop MacDonald in September 1894 of his optimism: " .... we are likely to have our Memorial Church more complete even in the first stage than we anticipated. .. ". He mentions "a handsome offer" from Lord Bute of £1,649 to help the work and in the same month he wrote of: "a strange feeling of confidence in God. ... a feeling that a supernatural agency was at work on our behalf."

The laying of the marble foundation stone (paid for by Lord Bute) took place on St Margaret's Day, 16th November 1894. The stone was laid by Lady Margaret, wife of the Marquess of Bute.

Two years later on 17th June 1896, the octave day of St Margaret's Feast, St Margaret's Memorial Church was solemnly opened for worship by His Grace Archbishop MacDonald of St Andrews and Edinburgh. Pontifical High Mass was sung by the Right Rev Dr Smith of Dunkeld. His Lordship Bishop McGuire of Glasgow was present together with priests from all over Scotland. Behind the scenes before the ceremony frantic building activity, encouraged by the zeal of Father Mullan and by his unshakeable faith, had ensured that all was ready on the day. His concern, frustration and excitement are eloquently attested by his letters to the Archbishop during 1895 and 1896:

8th June 1895

"We have reached a crisis in the work. On Monday morning it will be necessary to begin the brickwork across the north end for the support of the nave and aisles .... .!t means of course that the foundation stone will be outside the Church and this seems a reductio ad absurdum. It seems ominous that the beginning of this mortification should happen on the very feast of our Saint ... .! will ask the people to pray. ... if we do not move the heart of the Lord, we will have the opportunity of practising resignation. "

7th May 1896

"In watching the work in progress I can hardly see how we can get entry by the octave of St Margaret's. The floor is not yet layed (sic), but it appears this is the work of ten days or so. The clerk of works is hopeful, and the architect is positive we can do it.......The Inzievar folks are off on a well-earned holiday to London but will be back for the opening."

12th May 1896 "I really think now that we will be sufficiently presentable for the opening on 17th June. I got by dint of hard pushing, all the scaffolding cleared away by Saturday, and the flooring of the Church was begun yesterday. .... The weather of course is to be all sunshine, we will pray for this; otherwise our plans will be all moonshine. I am daily on the spot urging the men to hard work."

The opening ceremony was a triumph which must have gladdened the good cleric's generous heart. The "Dunfermline Saturday Press" gave a glowing account of the elaborate ceremonial of the High Mass:

"With the first low bars of the Stately Mass, the impressive ceremony began .... Father Mullan was Master of Ceremonies ... The Chapter of St. Andrews and Edinburgh was represented by most of the Canons, and a large body of clergy were (sic) present. The proceedings throughout were of the most elaborate description. The stirring music, the continual passing to and fro of gorgeously robed priests, the swaying of the incense and the glimmering lights of the waxen tapered candles on the altar combined to form a scene both radiant and fascinating.. from beginning to end the Ceremony was entirely successful. Beautiful flowers and plants decorated the spaces round the Pulpit and the Altar, and against the dark background the white and scarlet, purple and gold embroidered robes stood out in bold relief The Church was crowded in every part by a congregation whose interest was sustained for nearly three hours by one of the most striking and impressive religious functions ever witnessed in Dunfermline."

The sermon was preached by Father James McGuinness of St. Patrick's Edinburgh. He sketched the history of the Dunfermline mission and commended "the scheme of raising a fitting Church in honour of St Margaret". He expressed his regret that "These hopes have not been fully realised," but his certainty that "the project has not been abandoned. ..... " He drew a comparison between the new Church and the old Abbey. "The Church founded by St Margaret in Dunfermline was begun before 1080, and was finished only in 1115. The congregation is accordingly reconciled to the use of an unfinished church in the hope that one day it will grow into a truly noble structure complete in all its parts."

He went on to extol the virtues of St Margaret: her piety, her devotion to learning and to education, her charitable works among the poor. On an ecumenical note he drew attention to the rapprochement taking place between Protestant and Catholic historians of the day praising the "honest researches of Protestant historians" in recognising the Catholic tradition.

These two strands of development in the history of Dunfermline's Catholics are to be taken up again. The rebuilding of devotion to St Margaret through the reinstating of the pilgrimages in her honour and the completion of her memorial church in the 1930s forms the second chapter of our brief history. The development of ecumenism will be the theme of the third chapter.