The Diocese of Brechin is in the east of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, and is the smallest of the seven diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

s of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Scottish Episcopal Church

The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 17th century, it has had an identity distinct from the presbyterian Church of Scotland....

. It covers the City of Dundee, Angus

Angus

Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...

 and southern Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

. It stretches from Muchalls

Muchalls

Muchalls is a small coastal ex-fishing village in Kincardineshire, Scotland, south of Newtonhill and north of Stonehaven. Muchalls is situated slightly north of a smaller hamlet known as the Bridge of Muchalls. At the western edge of Muchalls is the historic Saint Ternan's Church...

 in the north east down to Dundee

Dundee

Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...

 in the south, and across to Glencarse

Glencarse

Glencarse is a village in the Scottish council area of Perth and Kinross.The village is situated 4.1 miles to the east of Perth and lies alongside the A90 road...

 in the south west. The Cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 and administrative centre is St Paul’s Cathedral in Dundee. The diocese continues to be named after its mediaeval centre of Brechin

Brechin

Brechin is a former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. Traditionally Brechin is often described as a city because of its cathedral and its status as the seat of a pre-Reformation Roman Catholic diocese , but that status has not been officially recognised in the modern era...

.

The diocese is thought to have been founded in 1153 by Bishop Samson. The diocese had a continuous line of bishops leading through the Reformation

Scottish Reformation

The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...

, when Donald Campbell (1557) and John Sinclair (1565) were elected Bishops of Brechin

Bishop of Brechin

The Bishop of Brechin is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Brechin or Angus, based at Brechin Cathedral, Brechin. The diocese had a long-established Gaelic monastic community which survived into the 13th century. The clerical establishment may very well have traced their earlier origins...

, but not consecrated; the line was continued later through Andrew Lamb. In 1566, Alexander Campbell was appointed as titular bishop

Titular bishop

A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place...

. The line continued in proper form among Episcopalians with Andrew Lamb in 1610. From 1695 until 1709, the diocese was united with the Diocese of Edinburgh

Diocese of Edinburgh

The Diocese of Edinburgh is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. It covers the City of Edinburgh, the Lothians, the Borders and Falkirk. The diocesan centre is St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh...

, with the latter's bishop, Alexander Rose, being also Bishop of Brechin. The line of independent bishops of Brechin restarted with John Falconar in 1709, and has continued to the present day. Following the resignation and death of the Right Reverend

Right Reverend

The Right Reverend is a style applied to certain religious figures.*In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain it applies to bishops except that The Most Reverend is used for archbishops .*In some churches with a...

 Dr John Mantle, in 2010, Dr Nigel Peyton was appointed Bishop of Brechin in May 2011. Dr Peyton was chosen ahead of four other candidates including Dr Alison Peden.

The Diocese of Brechin is twinned with the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa

Episcopal Diocese of Iowa

The Episcopal Diocese of Iowa is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America which covers all of Iowa. It is in Province VI. Its offices are in Des Moines, and it has two cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of St...

 (Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, USA) and with the Anglican Diocese of Swaziland

Anglican Diocese of Swaziland

The Anglican Diocese of Swaziland is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.The diocese was founded in 1968. It comprises the country of Swaziland....

 (Swaziland

Swaziland

Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...

).

The manuscript records of the Diocese of Brechin are held by University of Dundee

University of Dundee

The University of Dundee is a university based in the city and Royal burgh of Dundee on eastern coast of the central Lowlands of Scotland and with a small number of institutions elsewhere....

 Archive Services. The archive collections include the administrative records of the diocease, records of individual churches, and the correspondence of Alexander Penrose Forbes

Alexander Penrose Forbes

Alexander Penrose Forbes , Scottish divine, was born at Edinburgh.He was the second son of John Hay Forbes, Lord Medwyn, a judge of the court of session, and grandson of Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo. He studied first at the Edinburgh Academy, then for two years under the Rev. Thomas Dale...

and George Frederick Boyle.