St John Ogilvie was a Jesuit priest, martyred for his faith at Glasgow on 10th March 1615. He is the only canonized martyr of the Scottish Reformation.

Today is the 400th anniversary of the martyrdom of St John Ogilvie.

1579 John Ogilvie is born at Drumnakeith in Scotland.

1592 Travels to Helmstedt (an illustrious Lutheran school founded in 1570) to begin his formal education, age 13.

1596 Enrols at the Scots College (which had moved from Douai to Louvain), undergoes instruction from Cornelius a Lapide SJ and shortly becomes a Roman Catholic. Then continued his studies at the Jesuit university at Olmütz (Olomouc, founded 1570) in Bohemia because of the poverty of the Scots College.

1598 Continues studies with the Benedictines at the Schottenkloster St Jakob, Ratisbon (Regensburg).

1599 Returns to Olmütz.

Nov/December 1599 Enters the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Brno in Moravia.

1601 Takes his first vows as a Jesuit at Graz in Austria and then teaches grammar in the Jesuit school (founded 1573) while studying philosophy at the Jesuit university (founded 1585/6).

1606 Teaches at Vienna (Jesuit college and university founded 1551).

1607 Returns to study at Olmütz to study theology and appointed Prefect of the Sodality of Our Lady.

1610 Ordained priest at Paris.

1610 Appointed Confessor to the students of the Jesuit college at Rouen.

1613 Returns to Scotland, landing at Leith.

14th October 1614 Betrayed and arrested in Glasgow.                                                               Imprisoned and tortured for five months in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

10th March 1615 Executed at the Mercat Cross, Glasgow.

1616 Ogilvie’s Relatio (his own account of his arrest, imprisonment and torture, written in prison) is printed in various cities in Europe and circulated secretly in England and Scotland.

1629 The process to have John Ogilvie declared ‘Blessed’ is begun but not completed for another 400 years.

22nd December 1929 Declared ‘Blessed’ by Pope Pius XI.

17th October 1976 Declared a ‘Saint’ by Pope Paul VI.

10th March 2015 400th Anniversary of the martyrdom of St John Ogilvie SJ.