Scottish Archbishop suffers heart attack

Archbishop Tartaglia

After feeling unwell, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, the Archbishop of Glasgow, was admitted to hospital in Spain yesterday, Thursday 22 January. Following initial treatment and tests at the University hospital in Salamanca it has been confirmed that he has suffered a heart attack.

The Scottish Bishops are currently attending an in-service week at the Scots College in Salamanca, Archbishop Tartaglia is President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland.

Archbishop Tartaglia, 63, is conscious today (Friday) and in good spirits, he has been visited by other Scots bishops attending the meeting.

The Archbishop will remain in hospital in Spain until he is well enough to return home. Further medical updates will be released if any change in the Archbishop’s condition takes place.

Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Glasgow have been informed of the Archbishop’s illness and special prayers will be said this weekend throughout the Archdiocese for his recovery.

Philip Tartaglia was born at Glasgow on 11 January 1951. He is the eldest son of Guido and Annita Tartaglia and has three brothers and five sisters. After his primary schooling at St Thomas’, Riddrie, he began his secondary education at St Mungo’s Academy, Glasgow, before moving to the national junior seminary at St. Vincent’s College, Langbank and, later, St Mary’s College, Blairs, Aberdeen. His ecclesiastical studies were completed at the Pontifical Scots College, and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

He was ordained Priest by Archbishop Thomas Winning in the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Dennistoun on 30th June 1975. He then returned to Rome where he completed his ordinary course of studies before beginning his research for his Doctorate in Sacred Theology. In 1978 he was appointed as Dean of Studies at the College in Rome, and was also acting Vice-Rector at that time.

On completing his Doctorate in 1980, on the Council of Trent’s teaching on the Eucharist, he was appointed assistant priest at Our Lady of Lourdes, Cardonald, while at the same time becoming visiting lecturer at St. Peter’s College, Newlands, Glasgow.

A year later, he was appointed Lecturer at St. Peter’s College, Newlands, becoming Director of Studies in 1983. When Chesters College, Bearsden, opened in 1985 he was made Vice-Rector. In 1987 he was appointed Rector.

He served as Rector until 1993 when he was sent to St. Patrick’s, Dumbarton, as Assistant Priest before being appointed Parish Priest of St. Mary’s, Duntocher in 1995. In 2004, the Bishops’ Conference asked him to return to seminary as Rector of the Pontifical Scots College, Rome.

On 13 September 2005, it was announced that Father Philip Tartaglia had been nominated by the Pope Benedict XVI as Bishop of Paisley. On 20 November 2005, the Solemnity of Christ the King, he was ordained bishop in St Mirin's Cahedral by Archbishop Mario Conti. The co-consecrating bishops were Archbishop Raymond Burke of St Louis, Missouri and Bishop John Mone, Emeritus Bishop of Paisley.

On 24 July 2012, Bishop Tartaglia was appointed Archbishop of Glasgow and took possession of the See of St Mungo in St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow, on Saturday 8 September 2012, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Archbishop’s Episcopal motto is the Latin phrase, Da robur fer auxilium, taken from the traditional Eucharistic hymn O Salutaris Hostia, composed by St Thomas Aquinas. These words serve as an invocation: “Thine aid supply, thy strength bestow.”

Source: SCMO