Quote Originally Posted by Ozman1944 View Post
Yep. Holyrood Abbey was established by King David I in 1128.
St. Ninian had established a Catholic Mission in Scotland in about 425 a.d. They've been there ever since.
After John Knox (Presb. founder) in the lat 16th cent. there was no 'Reformation' in regard to clothing. "Priest/Cleric/Clerk/Clark" was worn by all Clergy, regardless of Denomination, the same applied to the Laity. Catholics & the new Protestant groups continued to dress alike. So I reckon, a group can pretty much adopt any Tartan that has meaning for them.
The above could be read to imply that the Clergy tartan was being worn during John Knox's day, so I just wanted to post to clarify that the earliest actual evidence we have of a "clergy" tartan is c. 1830.
See:
http://albanach.org/clergy_tartan.htm

Aye,
Matt