Path to Priesthood

In    1596    John    Ogilvie,    aged    16,    was    registered,    by    Father William   Crighton,   as   a   student   at   the   Scots   College   of   Douai, France,    which    had    been    moved    at    the    time    to    Louvain    in Belgium.   The   college   occasionally   received   students   who   were not   Catholics   and   among   his   instructors   was   Cornelius   Lapide, (Cornelius   Van   Der   Steen)   then   a   young   Professor   of   Scripture and   later   to   become   a   great   scholar.   Poverty   at   the   college meant   that   some   students   had   to   be   dispersed,   and   in   1598 Ogilvie   was   sent   to   the   Scots   Benedictine   College   at   Ratisbon, Bavaria,   and   in   1599   went   on   to   the   Jesuit   College   at   Olmutz   in Bohemia,   supported   by   a   Papal   bursary,   and   it   is   here   that   he became a Catholic. Having   embraced   the   faith,   John   Ogilvie   wanted   to   become   a priest.    The    Jesuit    order    was    close    to    his    heart    and    he traversed   the   Continent   to   achieve   his   aim.   His   application, along    with    others,    was    deferred    because    of    plague    but    he persisted    and    in    1599    was    admitted    to    the    Jesuit    order    at Brunn     in     Moravia,     by     the     Austrian     Provincial,     Father Ferdinand    Albers.    From    there    he    was    sent    to    Graz    in    the Austrian   Tyrol,   where   he   made   his   first   vows   on   the   26 th    of December     1601,     and     stayed     there     until     1606,     teaching grammar   in   the   lower   school   and   studying   philosophy   and science   at   the   university.   He   spent   a   time   teaching   at   Vienna in    1605,    and    then    returned    to    Olmutz    in    1607    for    more studies. In   1609,   though   not   yet   ordained,   he   was   appointed,   along with    another    young    Scot,    Father    Green,    to    the    charge    of encouraging   devotion   to   Our   Lady   as   a   means   of   fortifying   a faith   that   was   under   siege.   He   achieved   success   and   a   Jesuit historian   would   later   recount   one   Lenten   exercise   which   saw Ogilvie   lead   young   pupils,   after   5am   Mass   and   Communion,   in making    a    Way    of    the    Cross    through    the    streets    of    the unfriendly    city,    carrying    crosses    and    dressed    in    sacking, returning   to   the   chapel   to   set   their   crosses   before   the   altar and lie prostrate in prayer for an hour. In   1610   he   received   orders   from   Father   Aquaviva   to   go   to   the French   Province,   and   was   sent   back   to   Paris.   He   travelled   via Prague     and     was     joined     by     his     uncle     Father     George Elphinstone.   He   was   ordained   a   priest   of   the   Society   of   Jesus in 1610, at the age of 31. His prayer had been answered. The   newly-ordained   Father   Ogilvie   was   appointed   confessor to   the   students   at   Rouen   where   he   met   priests   exiled   from Scotland    for    saying    Mass    or    ministering    to    people,    and realising   the   heavy   burden   of   Catholics   in   his   native   land   he longed   to   return   there.   He   applied   to   his   Jesuit   superiors   for permission    to    go    home.    Twice    he    was    refused,    but    his persistence eventually paid off. Then   there   was   no   other   Jesuit   priest   in   Scotland,   almost   no priests   at   all,   so   this   represented   an   extraordinary   vote   of confidence in this inexperienced priest. It was a dangerous mission.