A Polish man who lived in a tent when he arrived in Inverness will be ordained as a local priest later this week.
Andrew Niski, 33, will take part in the first ordination mass at St Mary’s RC Church in the Highland capital for almost 12 years on Friday.
The last such ceremony at the church was for current parish priest and now Dean of the Highland Deanery, James Bell, who created history when he became the first married Anglican priest to become a Catholic parish priest in Scotland in 2005.
Mr Niski arrived in Inverness as a 22-year=old student in the summer of 2005 on a working holiday with a friend, initially living in a tent at the Bught Park.
His first job was as a security guard checking distillery premises, and he became a regular attendee at the church after receiving help when his belongings were stolen from his tent.
He was sent to Rome to study in 2009, and then moved to complete his training in England at St John’s Seminary in Wonersh near Guildford in Surrey.
Mr Niski was ordained a deacon in July last year by the Rt Rev Bishop Hugh Gilbert, Bishop of Aberdeen, at Wonersh, and he has just returned to Inverness from Poland, where he completed a month-long silent retreat as the final part of his preparation for the priesthood.
His Ordination Mass as a priest will take place on Friday in St Mary’s, Huntly Street.
He will be ordained by Bishop Gilbert, and due to the expected popularity of the ordination mass, the event is all ticket.