Abbé Peter Grant (1708 - 1 September 1784) was a Scottish Roman Catholic priest, agent for the Scottish Catholic Mission and, later in life, an important liaison for British Catholic visitors in Rome.
Life
editGrant was born in the diocese of Moray, a member of the Grant family of Blairfind in Glenlivet. He was a Gaelic speaker. He entered the Scotch College at Rome in 1726, and returned to Scotland as a priest in 1735. He was sent to the mission at Glengarry. There he remained until 1737, when, after the murder of the Scottish Catholic Mission's Roman agent Stuart, he was appointed to fill that office. In Rome he occupied apartments in the Piazza di Navona.[1]
He became valued as a well-connected contact by British travellers visiting Rome, and rendered them many services. Although widely regarded as a Jacobite, he secured the patronage as cicerone of influential visitors, including William Beckford, Lord Shelburne, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Sir James Grant and Lord Hope. He also acted as chaperone to Catherine Read and Anne Forbes. For a long period hardly any British subject of distinction visited Rome without being provided with letters of introduction to the Abbé Grant. Clement XIV was very fond of him, and intended to create him a Cardinal; but died before taking steps.[1]
Grant died at Rome on 1 September 1784.
References
edit- ^ a b Skinner, Basil C. (1966), Scots in Italy in the 18th Century, National Galleries of Scotland, pp. 14 - 23
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Grant, Peter". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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