Bishop Dunbar's Hospital

Feeling that when something is left, after supplying the needs of the church and our own life, and remembering the words of almighty God :- ‘Give of thy bread to the hungry, and take the poor and the wandering under the shelter of thy house, and clothe the naked…” In this preface, Dunbar confirms his Christian practice of enacting "corporal works of mercy".

[5] “… we desire therefore, by means of a new charitable institution, to obtain some help towards earning divine favour [author’s emphasis] by relieving the want of the Christian poor, and supporting them, and we have resolved to make, construct, and found a hospital near the cathedral … but outside the cemetery, and to form and endow it in the following manner…”Dunbar makes explicit his wish to ‘…[earn] … divine favour by relieving the want of the Christian poor…’ In this and in other acts, Bishop Dunbar’s Catholic faith in salvation is clear.

[6] To the late medieval Catholic, Purgatory was as ‘real’ as Heaven or Hell or pestilence or the existence of most of the population in poverty.

Dunbar as a prelate of the Church would have held what Karen Armstrong calls a ‘mythic’ belief in the practice of saying prayers for the dead.

After the downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1567, Bishop Gordon appears to have accepted the authority of the new Church of Scotland since he retained his see until his death on 6 August 1577.

His successor was David Cunningham (bishop) who managed to negotiate an understanding between James VI and the 4th Earl of Huntly.

The men were to be: ‘…always present at the Sunday and weekly sermons … unless they be confined to their beds by sickness .. , as also at the public morning and evening prayers .. especially in summer.

ALSO, I ordain that in their own chapel a portion of the Word of God be read twice daily, and prayers offered up by a suitable reader … who shall have fifty merks paid him therefore yearly … to be properly chosen by the patron, which service shall be between nine and ten in the morning or forenoon, and between three and four in the evening or afternoon: and whoever .. except through sickness … shall be once absent, let him be admonished; if twice, punished by the director; and if thrice, removed from the hospital…’ (1887 translation)A dutiful prayer-full day was to be observed, under penalty of exclusion, in post-Reformation Aberdeen.

“….between supper time and the closing of the gate, the poor men shall enter the oratory and every one in his place in a line shall repeat devoutly the hymn of our Lady on behalf of the souls of those before mentioned.

Then if so disposed, they may go away and sleep till three o'clock, when every poor man shall repeat in his room the hymn of the most blessed Virgin Mary …”[9] The Charter can be read in a number of ways.

It is a prescient description of care for the poor and the elderly, which was not to be fully enacted in Scotland until the nineteenth century.

In late pre-Reformation Scotland Dunbar, the King, the Court and the vast majority of people would have found nothing amiss in endowing men and women to pray for the dead.

He placed an unambiguous belief in the power of prayer to mitigate the purging of his soul before its eventual and certain elevation into Paradise.

Duodecim pauperibus domum hanc Reverendus Paper Gavinus Dunbar hujius alme sedis quondam pontifex aedisicari jussit anno a Christo nato 1532”.

Gavin Dunbar, reverend Father in God, who was sometime Bishop of this holy see, ordered this house to be built for twelve poor men, anno 1532 – Glory To God] Within the Oratory there is an further dedication (which includes) .. “Gloria episcopi est pauperum opibis providere.

Ignominia sacerdotis est proprijs studere divitijs Patientia pauperum non perbit in sinem..” [ Trans.

The Lord will not suyffer the poor to perish..][10] The armorial costs of King James V are on the south side of the Hospital along with that of Bishop Dunbar.

[13] In about 1789, the original building was in a state of disrepair and the owner of the land adjacent to the Hospital and St Machar’s Cathedral Church, James Forbes-Seaton arranged for a house he owned in Seaton Gate (modern Don Street) to be used for the Bedesmen.

The charity, Bishop Dunbar’s Hospital Trust, continued support the elderly poor in Old Aberdeen through the 19th and 20th centuries.

The location of two windows in the wall of Seaton Park, adjacent to the Cathedral Church of St Machar, Old Aberdeen. These window cills are the only remains of the 1531 Hospital.
The Beginning of the 1531 Charter from James V to Bishop Dunbar (in the University of Aberdeen Archives)
The Manuscripts, seals, and assorted papers covering the period 1531 to 1900. A catalogue of the archive is held by the University of Aberdeen.
Bishop Gavin Dunbar - holding a "model" of St Mary's hospital ( 1531). From the "Dorcas" window in the Cathedral Church of St Machar, Old Aberdeen. The text "FRANGE ESURIENTI PANEM TUUM ET EGENOS VAGOSQUE INDUC IN DOMUM TUAM" [ ...give thy bread to the hungry and the needy and bring the wandering into your house...] comes from the Foundation Charter. (quote from The Bible (King James) Acts 9:36 & Isaiah 58:7)
Bedesmen at the Cathedral Church of St Machar, Old Aberdeen in 1922 during the visit of Queen Mary to Aberdeen.
Early drawing of Dunbar's Hospital – exact date unknown, c. 1700 .
The Lintel from Bishop Dunbar's Hospital (c1820) - "Per Executores" (See Orem, 1782) From a drawing by Mr J Logan, Aberdeen in a Collection held by the National Library of Scotland by George Henry Hutton, a professional soldier and amateur antiquary. (With permission)
Aberdeen Psalter from the National Library of Scotland (Adv. MS 18.8.14)
From the National Library of Scotland - Adv.MS.18.8.14 Aberdeen Psalter and Hours, 15th century
Bishop Dunbar's Hospital c1789/90 - From a drawing by William Ogilvie (1736 - 1819), Professor of Philosophy, later Professor of Humanity, King's College, Old Aberdeen in a Collection held by the National Library of Scotland by George Henry Hutton, a professional soldier and amateur antiquary. (With permission)