The Diocese of Moray was a regional bishopric unlike the pre @-@ eminent see of the Scottish church , St Andrews , which had evolved from a more ancient monastic Celtic church and administered scattered localities . It is uncertain whether there were bishops of Moray before c . 1120 but the first known prelate — possibly later translated to Dunkeld — was Gregory ( or Gregoir ) . He was probably bishop in name only , with the first resident diocesan being Richard of Lincoln . Gregory was a signatory to the foundation charter of Scone Priory , issued by Alexander I ( Alaxandair mac Maíl Choluim ) between December 1123 and April 1124 , and again in a charter defining the legal rights of the same monastery . He is recorded for the last time when he witnessed a charter granted by David I to Dunfermline Abbey in c . 1128 . After the suppression of Óengus of Moray 's rebellion in 1130 , King David must have regarded the continued presence of bishops in Moray as essential to the stability of the province . These early bishops had no settled location for their cathedral , and sited it successively at the churches of Birnie , Kinneddar and Spynie . Pope Innocent III issued an apostolic bull on 7 April 1206 that allowed bishop Bricius de Douglas to fix his cathedral church at Spynie — its inauguration was held between spring 1207 and summer 1208 . A chapter of five dignitaries and three ordinary canons was authorised and based its constitution on that of Lincoln Cathedral . Elgin became the lay centre of the province under David I , who probably established the first castle in the town , and it may have been this castle , with its promise of better security , that prompted Bricius , before July 1216 , to petition the Pope to move the seat from Spynie .