Father Walter Lovi (1796 – 1878) was a Roman Catholic priest and architect, active in Scotland in the mid-nineteenth century. [1] He was born in Edinburgh in 1796, [2] the son of a Scottish mother and an Italian father. [3] He studied at Scots College in Rome, and at St Sulpice's seminary in Paris, [4] where he was ordained at the age of 26. [2]
It is possible that Lovi may have worked with James Kyle on the design of St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Dufftown, Banffshire between 1824 and 1825, [5] and he worked with the architect William Robertson on St Thomas's in Keith between 1831 and 1832. [6]
In 1832, Kyle dispatched him to Wick to establish a Roman Catholic chapel there, to serve the needs of the large migrant workforce, a significant proportion of whom were Irish Roman Catholics, who came to the area seasonally to work in the herring fishery. [3] [7] [8] Initially he found the local Protestant population unwilling to rent him a place that he could use to celebrate mass, but he was eventually given a choice of plots on which to build a church by the townsfolk in gratitude for his efforts in setting up a hospital and tending to the needs of the victims of a cholera outbreak in the town. [3] [7] He chose a site on Malcolm Street and, again working with William Robertson, built St Joachim's Church, [9] which opened in 1836 and is still in use as an active place of worship. [7] St Joachim's, so named because the feast day of St Joachim falls within the fishing season, [8] was designated a Category B listed building in 1979. [10] A plaque mounted on the wall of the church reads "This church was built c.1835 by Father Walter Lovi on a site made available to him by a grateful community for his heroic services during the cholera epidemic of 1832". [3]
Lovi left Wick soon after the church was built, and helped tend the sick in cholera outbreaks in various different parts of the country. [3] [7] He also supervised construction of St Andrew's Roman Catholic Church in Braemar in 1839, [11] and assisted Kyle with the completion and remodelling of the Church of The Incarnation in Tombae between 1843 and 1844. [12]
Lovi died in 1878. [4]
Father Walter Lovi (1796 – 1878) was a Roman Catholic priest and architect, active in Scotland in the mid-nineteenth century. [1] He was born in Edinburgh in 1796, [2] the son of a Scottish mother and an Italian father. [3] He studied at Scots College in Rome, and at St Sulpice's seminary in Paris, [4] where he was ordained at the age of 26. [2]
It is possible that Lovi may have worked with James Kyle on the design of St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Dufftown, Banffshire between 1824 and 1825, [5] and he worked with the architect William Robertson on St Thomas's in Keith between 1831 and 1832. [6]
In 1832, Kyle dispatched him to Wick to establish a Roman Catholic chapel there, to serve the needs of the large migrant workforce, a significant proportion of whom were Irish Roman Catholics, who came to the area seasonally to work in the herring fishery. [3] [7] [8] Initially he found the local Protestant population unwilling to rent him a place that he could use to celebrate mass, but he was eventually given a choice of plots on which to build a church by the townsfolk in gratitude for his efforts in setting up a hospital and tending to the needs of the victims of a cholera outbreak in the town. [3] [7] He chose a site on Malcolm Street and, again working with William Robertson, built St Joachim's Church, [9] which opened in 1836 and is still in use as an active place of worship. [7] St Joachim's, so named because the feast day of St Joachim falls within the fishing season, [8] was designated a Category B listed building in 1979. [10] A plaque mounted on the wall of the church reads "This church was built c.1835 by Father Walter Lovi on a site made available to him by a grateful community for his heroic services during the cholera epidemic of 1832". [3]
Lovi left Wick soon after the church was built, and helped tend the sick in cholera outbreaks in various different parts of the country. [3] [7] He also supervised construction of St Andrew's Roman Catholic Church in Braemar in 1839, [11] and assisted Kyle with the completion and remodelling of the Church of The Incarnation in Tombae between 1843 and 1844. [12]
Lovi died in 1878. [4]