Source:[3] St Mary's combines two roles, as the cathedral for the diocese and as a large [citation needed] urban congregation.

St Mary's enjoys a strategic position at the heart of Glasgow's inner west end, and has sought over a number of years to broaden its outreach by making the cathedral a centre of artistic activity, concerts, art exhibitions and a variety of other events are hosted from time to time.

An adult voluntary mixed choir sings to a professional standard under the Director of Music, Friðrik (Frikki) Walker.

The dedication was carried out by Bishop Derek Rawcliffe with Provost Malcolm Grant, with the cathedral choir singing Ding Dong Merrily on High.

The largest works to date that required the congregation to worship at the nearby Lansdowne Parish Church from October 2000 to March 2002.

The earliest contemporary report of the congregation, from Robert Wodrow,[8] describes a service which took place in 1703 to mark the anniversary of the execution of Charles I.

The service was held in the lodgings in Saltmarket of Sir John Bell, a former Provost of Glasgow, and resulted in a riot.

The earliest reference to Alexander Duncan dates from 1710 when, with John Fullarton, he attends the deathbed of Lady Dundonald in the Place of Paisley.

Glasgow's Episcopal clergy had been operating outside the law (non-juror), but in 1712 a clergyman arrived prepared to take the oath to make him 'qualified'.

His sermon on that occasion survives,[9] with a list of the congregation, which includes established Glasgow families such as the Bells, Barns, Crawfurds, Grahames, and Walkinshaws, and Alexander Duncan.

Sir Donald MacDonald of Sleat played an important part, and his Highland retainers, Gaelic-speaking and in kilts, acted as guards.

Members of the congregation played an active part in the Battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715, fighting for the Old Pretender, whilst the rest of Glasgow supported the Hanoverian side.

John Walkinshaw escaped from Stirling Castle by changing clothes with his wife,[10] and made for the Old Pretender in Avignon;[11] later he acted as the Prince's envoy in discussions for his marriage to Princess Clementina Sobieska.

In 1728 a meeting house was opened in Broad Close opposite the university, with Duncan (a college bishop since 1724) assisted by a Mr Wingate.

Evidence is sketchy as to the nature of the Christian observance by the Episcopal congregation in Glasgow in the first half of the eighteenth century, and mostly comes from Wodrow.

David Lyon, by now the only Scottish Episcopal priest ministering to a flock scattered across the West of Scotland, took part in the secret meeting held in Moffat in 1769 to discuss a Protestant bride for Bonnie Prince Charlie.

[7] Macdonald wrote novels, poetry, and plays, and is the only member of this lineage to appear in the Dictionary of National Biography.

The incumbents of the Renfield Street chapel were George Almond (1825–1848), Bishop Walter Trower (1848–1853) and Richard Oldham.