In 1963 my mother Rosalie Jean Brydon attended St Colm’s Missionary College, Church of Scotland in Edinburgh ahead of working for four years as a midwife in India. (You can read about her Indian adventues in her book Rosalie: In her own words.)
St Colm’s was a hugely important and spiritually forming experience for Mum. She often spoke fondly of her time at Colm’s and throughout her life would attend reunions and keep up with the other missionaries she met there.
Mum was delighted when I started my studies at the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church (TISEC) in 1997 which for the first few months was housed at St Colm’s, before it moved to Old Coates House next to St Mary’s Cathedral on Palmerston Place. I got to worship in the same wee chapel that Mum did 34 years before me.
While sorting through some of Mum’s papers recently, I found a booklet written by Jean Fraser, printed in February 1962 giving the reader a brief history of St Colm’s as well as a practical tour through the building.
I thought this information would be better in the public domain for any interested in the history of this predominantly women’s missionary college.
Continue reading A brief history of St Colm’s Missionary College, Edinburgh
