RT Article
T1 The making of an archbishop: the journal of John Strain 1857–1859;–Journal of John Strain, 1857–1859
JF The Innes review
VO 76
IS 2
SP 97
OP 187
A1 Tierney, Darren
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1948064375
AB John Menzies Strain (1810-1883), was a Catholic priest whose journal (edited here), from 1857 to 1859 provides a vivid account of clerical life in Victorian Scotland. Through daily entries, Strain's professional dedication, pastoral duties, and engagement with civic and educational improvement are disclosed. The diary is interpreted in the introduction through interdisciplinary lenses, including literary and gender analysis, to consider themes of masculinity, respectability, and the priest's role as a moral and social guide. Strain's journal is positioned within the broader context of nineteenth-century diary writing, affording insights into Scottish Catholic historiography and the lived experience of religious leadership. The value of such sources in enriching historical narratives is drawn out and further scholarly attention to similar clerical diaries is encouraged.
K1 John Strain
K1 Scottish Catholicism
K1 Victorian priesthood
K1 diary writing
K1 Masculinity
K1 social improvement
DO 10.3366/inr.2025.0383