CULLEN, Andrew Burgess of Aberdeen ¹

   User ID: X357.

  General Notes:

"Andrew Cullen in 1445 granted rents to an unnamed altar to be built in the north aisle of Our Lady of Piety in St Nicholas. This is likely to have been the altar of the Holy Blood, of which he appears as tutor in 1454/55, and of which the Cullens were patrons in the sixteenth century." (page 117)

"HOLY BLOOD
First appears in 1449/50 when sir Duncan Reid is named as its chaplain. However, it was probably founded in 1445 when Andrew Cullen, burgess of Aberdeen, surrendered a number of rents totalling £2 19s in the hands of the bail lies of the town, to be delivered 'tyll ane altar to be mad in the north yill of our lady of pyte. Although the altar is unnamed, in 1454/5 Cullen acted as tutor of the altar of the Holy Blood, and in the sixteenth century the family held the patronage of the altar." (page 279)

from Medieval Burgh Kirk ¹

  Research Notes:

ALTARS

In the medieval period side altars, or side chapels, were a key feature in medieval buildings, linked to the Roman Catholic practice of praying for the souls of those who had died. A charitable foundation might be established by a patron which paid for a chaplain, or covered other expenses, to say mass, or otherwise pray, regularly, for the family members, or the members of the lay group connected to the donor.

In St Nicholas Church in Aberdeen the Cullen family had established the altar of the Holy Blood, and continued to be patrons of this intp the sixteenth century. ^{1 2}

Andrew married.