[2] On 10 June 1524 Patrick, as a secular clerk, was appointed by Pope Clement VII as coadjutor to his uncle John Hepburn, Prior of St Andrews.

The coadjutorship gave Patrick a seat in parliament, which he took up in 1525; he became secretary of King James V of Scotland, a position he held between March 1525 and June 1526.

[4] After the death of Alexander Stewart, Bishop of Moray and Commendator of Scone, Patrick was given crown nomination to succeed to both positions on 1 March 1538.

[1] Stewart and Argyll had only protected Hepburn's palace-abbey on the condition that the latter aided them with men and arms, and with a vote against the clergy in Parliament.

Yet he did not attend the Reformation Parliament of 1560, and in 1561 he and George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, advised Mary, Queen of Scots, to land at Aberdeen rather than Leith, in an effort to improve the prospects of restoring the old catholic order.

The contemporary chronicler Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie wrote that Hepburn "ever was a master of whores all of his days and committed whoredom and adultery both with maidens and men's wives".

Although he agreed in principle to modify the structure of Elgin Cathedral to accommodate Protestant forms of worship, few powerful figures on the reformist side trusted him.

During the Civil War of 1567, the bishop pledged his support to James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, and was accused of giving him shelter during his flight northwards to Scandinavia.