Portal:Scotland/Selected articles/28
The Rosslyn Chapel, formerly known as the Collegiate Chapel of Saint Matthew, is a 15th-century Scottish Episcopal Church chapel located in the village of Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland.
The Chapel is dedicated to Saint Matthew the Evangelist and was founded on a small hill above Roslin Glen as a collegiate church (with between four and six ordained canons and two boy choristers) in the mid-15th century. The chapel was founded by William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness of the Scoto-Norman Sinclair family. Rosslyn Chapel is the third Sinclair place of worship at Roslin, the first being in Roslin Castle and the second (whose crumbling buttresses can still be seen today) in what is now Roslin Cemetery.
Sinclair founded the college to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours throughout the day and night, and also to celebrate Catholic Masses for all the faithful departed, including the deceased members of the Sinclair family. During this period, the rich heritage of plainsong (a single melodic line) or polyphony (vocal harmony) were used to enrich the singing of the liturgy. Sinclair provided an endowment to pay for the support of the priests and choristers in perpetuity. The priests also had parochial responsibilities.
After the Scottish Reformation (1560), Catholic worship in the chapel was brought to an end. The Sinclair family continued to be Catholics until the early 18th century. Of note, while the Sinclair (surname) has its origins in Scotland, it is actually a derivation of the French surname de Saint-Clair.