Francis Paul Moore, 82, sexually assaulted one young boy at a primary school in North Ayrshire and the other two, both altar boys, at a leisure centre and beach at Irvine between 1977 and 1981, the Crown Office said.
At the time the boys were aged between five and 13.
The student priest was assaulted between 1995 and 1996 at a property in Prestwick.
Moore was sentenced to nine years in prison and placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday.
One of his victims, Paul Smyth, waived his right to anonymity to speak to the BBC.
He said he now had closure and urged any other victims of sexual abuse to come forward.
Mr Smyth told the BBC: “I still remember very clearly the first incident, as if it was yesterday.
“Everybody thought he was a good guy, as if people thought he was a saint.
“It’s cost me years of anxiety, years of anger which shouldn’t have been there.”
In her sentencing statement Judge Lady Rae said Moore had been convicted of “despicable crimes”.
The judge said: “In carrying out these crimes you took advantage of your position as a minister of religion, a profession from which the public, including children, ought to be able to expect integrity, trust, support and pastoral care. What you did was a gross breach of trust.
“In my view you have neither shown nor expressed any remorse for these crimes. It is clear from…
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