 He studied philosophy at Blairs College, Kincardineshire, from 1942 to 1944 and then served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, at home, in India and in Egypt.He attended the Pontifical Scots College, Rome from 1947 to 1951, studying theology at the Gregorian University and being ordained a priest in Rome on 2 July 1950.After a year as assistant priest in St Bartholomew's, Coatbridge, he returned to Rome in 1952 where he took his doctorate in theology in 1954.