CANON LAWRENCE FISCHER

Lawrence Walls Fischer was born at 72 Frank Street, Gateshead, Northumberland, England on 31 August 1904. He was the son of Frederick Fischer, a butcher and his wife, Mary Ann McCluskie. Sadly, Frederick Fischer died in Gateshead just 29 days before his son was born. The family later moved to Dumfries.

Lawrence Fischer was educated at Saint Mary’s College, Blairs, Aberdeen and The Scots College, Rome.

He was ordained in the Lateran Seminary, Rome on 16 February 1930.  In his early priesthood, he was on loan to the Archdiocese of Saint Andrew’s and Edinburgh. He served at Saints Ninian and Triduana, Restalrig from 1930 to 1931; Saint Joseph’s Church, Kilmarnock from 1931 to 1939; the Church of Our Lady and Saint Cuthbert, Maybole from 1938 to 1945 and Saint Francis Xavier Church, Waterside from 1945 to 1953.  He became Parish Priest of the Church of Saint Peter in Chains in October 1953.


Lawrence Fischer was made a member of the Cathedral Chapter in October 1966. He was for many years Diocesan Master of Ceremonies and Treasurer of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the Diocese of Galloway.


Canon Fischer died in Ballochmyle Hospital, Mauchline, Ayrshire on 10 October 1980. He is buried in Ardrossan Cemetery.

The first photograph above was taken on 16 February 1955 and the other one in October 1966.


The obituary below is from the Scottish Catholic Directory, 1981.

The death occurred in Ballochmyle Hospital, Ayrshire on 10th October, 1980, of Canon Fischer, for twenty-six years parish priest of St. Peter in Chains, Ardrossan. His Requiem Mass was celebrated by most of the clergy of the diocese, and the homily was given by Monsignor Francis Duffy, Vicar-General, in the absence abroad of the bishop. He was laid to rest in Ardrossan cemetery.

Lawrence Fischer was a native of Dumfries where he received his primary education. He studied in Blairs College, Aberdeen, before going to the Scots College, Rome, for philosophy and theology. He was ordained in Rome in 1930. His first year on the mission was spent, not in his own Diocese of Galloway but at St. Ninian's, Edinburgh, where he was "on loan" for one year. Most of his years as an assistant were spent in St. Joseph's, Kilmarnock, when that was the only parish in the town. He lived long enough to rejoice at the expansion of Catholic population that today merits four churches in the town.

He was parish priest in Maybole during the war years, and then in Waterside till 1953, when he was appointed to St. Peter-in-Chains, Ardrossan. It is not given to many men to celebrate both the Silver and the Golden Jubilee of their priesthood in the same parish. But it happened to the Canon.

His last years were darkened by illness, tedious and prolonged, and it was a matter of supreme regret to him that he was very limited in what he could do for his people. Until the days of his illness, his priesthood was characterised by this salient feature; he wanted the best out of people because the Lord he led them in serving deserves nothing but the best. There was no place in Lawrence Fischer's plan for the sloppy and the half-hearted. He urged his people, in season and out of season, to be wholehearted in their pursuit of Christ; and if people might find him impatient at times, they were witnessing an impatience born of his hurt that Christ and his Church might have been better served. His love for the liturgy - and a well-prepared liturgy always - was proverbial through the diocese, and the people of St. Peter's gave him their full support in his zeal for God's house. For a number of years he was the diocesan Master of Ceremonies, a task he carried out with meticulous care and reverence. His preaching was clear and forthright; a man concerned for his flock and sure in his own faith can preach in no other way.

He loved his parish and his church and was never really happy away from home. Indeed, his final sadness was that his request to be allowed home from hospital had to be sidestepped because by then he was too ill.

Apart from his work for his immediate flock, his many years of service to the missions as diocesan treasurer for the Propagation of the Faith gave him great personal satisfaction. What in others might just have been a job - sending out cold receipts, acknowledging contributions, was for him an apostolate; and the little comments as he acknowledged parish contributions from the diocese were always noted with satisfaction. There was always a friendly and personal comment.

Canon Fischer never sought the limelight; it was sufficient that he was running his parish to the best of his very fine ability. Early in 1980, he had made it quite clear that his golden jubilee of priesthood should be marked only by the prayers of his friends, and nothing could shake him in that resolve. And in his will he directed that his Requiem Mass and funeral should be performed very simply. The emphasis was to be on prayers for the repose of his soul.

In the absence of Bishop McGee who was abroad, Monsignor Duffy, the Vicar-General was the principal concelebrant at the Requiem Mass shared by over fifty priests and attended by a very packed congregation. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.