A large wooden cross honouring a war hero Church of Scotland minister has gone back on display after being rediscovered in a cellar thanks to an inquisitive former student.

The cross was gifted to the Rev Dr Donald Caskie in 1959 by George Watson's College in Edinburgh for his help in looking after pupils taking part in an exchange programme with Lycee Henri IV in Paris in the 1950s.  The exchange programme was designed to help rebuild relations between European nations after the devastation of the Second World War. 

It was a fitting gift for a man who already held the respect of the school for his role in World War Two when he helped save more than 2,000 Allied service personnel. 

Students played their own part in gifting the 8ftx5ft cross by donating a thrupence (three pennies) each towards the cost. 

Dr Caskie, who grew up on Islay in the Inner Hebrides, was the minister at the Scots Kirk in Paris at the time of the exchange programme between George Watson's and Lycee Henri IV - the alma mater of French President Emmanuel Macron.  He led the church in the French capital from 1938 to 1940 and again from 1945 to 1961.

His tenures encompassed some turbulent times for Europe and he openly denounced the Nazis from the pulpit.  When the Germans invaded Paris in 1940, he fled to the south of France where he gave up the chance of taking the last ship bound for the UK by going to Marseille instead where he ran a Seaman's Mission. 

There, he secretly helped British and Allied soldiers flee to safety over the mountainous border with Spain and British intelligence officers sought out his assistance with a network of safe houses they had established stretching all the way to Dunkirk in the north. 

He was betrayed by a traitor and arrested and interrogated by the Vichy Police, but he escaped with his life after they banished him from the city.

Despite his close shave in Marseilles and calls from British Intelligence and the Church of Scotland to return home, Dr Caskie went to Grenoble where he helped more soldiers, seamen and airmen to flee.  

The Gestapo finally caught up with him, imprisoning him and sentencing him to death.  But he evaded death again when a German pastor intervened, although he would have to live out the rest of the war years in a Prisoner of War camp. 

After the war ended, he returned to church ministry in Paris.  He died in 1983 at the age of 81. 

The cross hung for around 40 years at the Scots Kirk in Paris until the building was demolished, at which time it was put into storage. 

Even after the church was rebuilt in 2002, the cross was largely forgotten about until a former student of Dr Watson asked of its whereabouts. 

Edinburgh-born Andrew Brown was taught by Dr Watson from 1952 to 1963 and was one of the students who had helped to raise money for the purchase of the cross. 

He felt that the cross should be on public display and thanks to his efforts, it is now hanging once again in the Paris church. 

Mr Brown formerly lived in Paris and was baptised at the Scots Kirk. Although he now lives in Brussels, where he attends the international St Andrew's Church, he still has fond memories of Dr Caskie, the old Kirk and cross, and the exchange programme with Lycee Henri IV.

"I am delighted with the outcome," he said. 

A rededication service is taking place at the Paris Kirk on Sunday, the same day as a permanent exhibition on Dr Caskie's life will be opened at the church.  The exhibition will display photographs, documents and some personal items belonging Dr Caskie, including his Gaelic Bible, which was gifted to the church by his nephew Tom Caskie.

Rev Jan Steyn, who has been the minister at the Scots Kirk in Paris since 2017, said he was "delighted" to have the historic piece back on display. 

"The cross was donated to the Scots Kirk during the time of Donald Caskie and it is part of the congregation's beautiful story," he added.

"For 20 years it was stacked away in the church's cellar after the existing church was built." 

He continued: "It tells the story of 'paying it forward' - giving something small which unknowingly influences the future.

"It reminds us of our Christian roots and belief and is something of an anchor and a compass."

The dedication service will be joined by some of Dr Caskie's relatives as well as current principal of George Watson's College, Melvyn Roffe. 

"It represents a really good link with the generations of Watsonians who were involved in the exchange programme immediately after the war," he said.

"It was a formative part of their lives and education experience.

"Clearly the Watson's boys who took part in the exchange programme that we then had with Lycee Henri IV were much impressed by the charismatic minister of the Scots Kirk who helped to look after their welfare whilst they were in Paris."