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Peter Howson has many fans.

Madonna, David Bowie and Bob Geldof are among those who own his work.

But it's a fan closer to home who has brought him his latest commission - Glasgow's Roman Catholic Archbishop Mario Conti.

"I came to judge a children's art competition at the cathedral two years ago," Howson says.

"I got talking to the archbishop and he started talking about John Ogilvy with me and that meant something to me at that time in my life."

John Ogilvy is Scotland's only post reformation saint.

Born in 1579 into a respected Calvinist family in Keith, Banffshire, he went abroad to become a Jesuit priest, returning to Scotland to conduct clandestine services for the handful of remaining Catholics in the early 17th century.

He was arrested, tortured and then hanged, just a stone's throw from St Andrew's C
Cathedral at Glasgow Cross.

It's that scene of his martyrdom that Howson intends to paint.

And it won't be a small scene.

The finished work, which will adorn the newly renovated cathedral when it reopens in 2010 will feature no less than 600 people, his biggest crowd scene to date.

"The idea of the 600 was my idea - that's typical of me to be so stupid as to decide on 600 people.

"The archbiship said he loves my work because it has so many people in it, he particularly liked the St Andrew paintings I did a few years ago which had so many people in them, so that was part of the reasoning.

"Obviously it was a true event in history but in some ways it's timeless. So I'll probably set it today.

"People haven't changed that much so it should be fun. Half the time I'm scared out of my wits about it, and half the time I'm very excited. It's a big job, it really is."

There is a slightly brighter closure to John Ogilvie's tortured end.

In 1976, he was made a saint - the first since the reformation - after a Glasgow man, John Fagan prayed to him and found his advanced cancer had vanished.

The commission is the latest by the Catholic Church in Glasgow - an attempt says its spokesperson to revive its role as a patron of the arts.

Earlier this year, they launched a small arts festival called Lentfest.

This, they claim rather grandly, is the most important commission for a Scottish Catholic Cathedral since the 16th Century Reformation.

The costs are being met by a group of private benefactors.

And it could be the start of a fruitful relationship between Peter Howson and the Catholic Church.

He's already working on a series of works based on the Irish disapora who arrived in the West of Scotland in the 19th and 20th centuries.

It's hoped he'll stage a major exhibition of the work in Glasgow next year.

Meantime, an exhibition of his current work will open at his London gallery Flowers East on 23 October.