St. Ninian Tartan Fundraiser

This weekend is the annual Eucharistic Congress held by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.  As campus minister for WCU, I will be in attendance Friday and Saturday manning our Campus Ministry Fundraising table in the vendor area of the event.  We will be selling Catholic tshirts and other goodies, and also items in the St. Ninian's Day papal tartan, which I designed for Pope Benedict XVI on behalf of the Scottish Catholic bishops for his visit to Scotland on Sept. 16, 2010.

To help expand that fundraising effort, I will donate $75 of the purchase price of any kilt in the St. Ninian tartan ordered over my web site this Friday, Saturday or Sunday (Sept. 21-23) to Campus Ministry in the Diocese of Charlotte. 

So if you were thinking about getting a kilt in this tartan, now's the time!  You can order your kilt knowing that part of your money will be going to a great cause.

Of course, a percentage of the proceeds for all items sold in the St. Ninian tartan does go back to the Scottish Catholic Church for use in their charitable work.

Here's the link to my page, to order your kilt:
http://newhousehighland.com/stninian.html

If you'd like to purchase other items in this tartan, you may do so at:
http://www.stniniantartan.com/

Here's a quick photo of me with a few of my college students at last year's event, where we also sold items in this tartan to raise money for campus ministry.

Thanks for everyone's support!

 

Another Catholic Tartan

Catholics with any interest in tartan or Scottish heritage at all were thrilled last fall at the launch of the St. Ninian tartan, which I was privileged to have been able to design on behalf of the Scottish Tartans Authority for the Scottish Catholic Church to honor the state visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Scotland on Sept. 16 (St. Ninian's Day), 2010. St. Ninian was the first Christian missionary to Scotland.

Today, a second tartan for Catholics is entered into the National Register - the St. Margaret of Scotland Youth Group

According to information in the Scottish Register of Tartans, this tartan was designed by Esther Muir (MacGregor MacDuff) in collaboration with Gemma Teviotdale (The House of Edgar) for the Saint Margaret of Scotland Youth Group (SMSYG). The SMSYG consists of over 60 members, mostly 16-25 year olds, who every year take sick Glaswegians on pilgrimage to Lourdes, France.

The notes also indicate the tartan is to be woven by the House of Edgar.

It is a great looking tartan, and it is good to see other Scottish Catholics hopping on board the "tartan train!" I'm not certain at this point how widely the new SMSYG tartan will be available to the public.

Of course, anyone interested in the St. Ninian tartan can visit www.stniniantartan.com.

Pre-Order your St. Ninian tartan

We have confirmed that Glasgow tartan company Ingles Buchan, who produced the scarves and ties in the St. Ninian tartan which were seen worn by MSPs and the Pope himself last week, will be producing more product in the tartan. They expect products to be available in November, and we are now allowing pre-ordering through the Scottish Tartans Museum gift shop.

http://giftshop.scottishtartans.org/ninian.htm

Many products available, including ties, scarves, sashes, tams, caps, shawls and yard goods. (Yes, we will have heavy kilt weight cloth available, as well!)

St. Ninian tartan created to honor Papal Visit to Scotland

Posting from Scotland: I was very honored today to be invited to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh for the official launch of the St. Ninian tartan which I designed on behalf of the Scottish Tartans Authority. The STA was contacted by the Scottish Catholic Media Office (the media outlet of the Scottish Catholic Bishops) who wished to design a tartan to celebrate and honor the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI to Scotland on St. Ninian's Feast Day, Sept. 16.

The design incorporates white and yellow (the colors of the Vatican), white and blue (the colors of Scotland), white and red (the colors of John Henry Newman's arms, who will be beatified by Pope Benedict XVI during the visit), and green for the lichens growing on the stones at Whithorn, site of St. Ninian's church.

There are also 8 threads in the wide white line, one for each of the Catholic dioceses of Scotland, and exactly 452 threads pivot to pivot in the thread count, one for each Catholic parish in Scotland.

More information in these links:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/custom-scottish-plaid-created-to-celebrate-papal-visit/

http://www.scmo.org/articles/official-st-ninian%E2%80%99s-day-papal-visit-2010-tartan-launch.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-11245080

Neck ties and scarves in the tartan were produced by Ingles Buchan of Scotland. One was given to each member of Scottish Parliament. One will also be given to each dignitary visiting Scotland with His Holiness.

I had enough cloth woven to make myself a kilt, which I wore today in Edinburgh. Photos below. I am very honored to have been involved in the project. I will be in Scotland until the 17th, taking advantage of a grant made available to the STA from Scottish Enterprise to allow me to take an educational tour of many of Scotland's tartan mills and other Highland Dress manufacturers (sporran makers, hose makers, etc.) to learn about the ins and outs of the Scottish Highland Dress industry. I'm sure there will be must for future articles and blog posts.

Just for now, though, I'm off to bed at the end of a very exciting but tiring day!