JOHN M’DONALD, 2nd VICAR APOSTOLIC OF THE HIGHLAND DISTRICT, 1761-79— NEPHEW TO BISHOP HUGH M’DONALD—STUDIED AT ROME—MISSIONARY IN LOCHABER AND UIST—CHOSEN CO-ADJUTOR IN 1761—SUCCEEDED HIS UNCLE-DIED IN 1779. ALEXANDER SMITH—1735-1766—STUDIED AT, PARIS—PRIEST 1712-CO-ADJUTOR 1735—PROVIDES FOR THE SPIRITUAL COMFORT OF PRISONERS AT CARLISLE, 1746-1747—MUCH RESPECTED—COMPOSED CATECHISMS FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF HIS PEOPLE—MR. HAY ON OBEDIENCE TO SUPERIORS— POVERTY OF THE MISSION—INDULGENCE TIMES AGREED UPON—MR. HAYS MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE USEFUL TO THE CHURCH—DEATH OF BISHOP SMITH, AGED 84, IN 1766.

Bishop John McDonald, Second Vicar Apostolic of the Highland District, 1761-1774, was a nephew, by his mother, of Bishop Hugh McDonald. He was born in Argyleshire in 1727 and studied at the Scotch College at Rome from 1743 till 1752, when he was ordained priest. He came to Scotland the following year, and at first laboured for some time as missionary apostolic in Lochaber. He was afterwards appointed to the mission of South Uist. In January, 1761, he was chosen co-adjutor to his uncle, Bishop Hugh McDonald, under the title of Bishop of Tibe­riopolis and was consecrated at Preshome on the 27th September of the same year. He succeeded his venerable uncle as Vicar Apostolic of the Highland district, and died on the 9th of May, 1779, after a few days’ illness.

Bishop Smith, a native of Fochabers, Scotland, went to prosecute his studies at the Scotch College of Paris in 1698. He returned from that seat of learning in 1709, and was afterwards ordained priest in 1712. He did duty as a missionary apostolic in Scotland till May, 1718. He was then appointed procurator of the college in which he had studied. In 1730 he returned to the mission in Scotland. In May, 1733, we find him once more at Paris. His stay there was not to be of long duration. Bishop Gordon, when Bishop Wallace died, petitioned the Holy See to appoint Mr. Smith his co-adjutor. This was done accordingly; and briefs were promptly issued, 1735, nominating him to the said office by the title of Bishop of Misinopolis. The same year, he was consecrated at Edinburgh by Bishops Gordon and McDonald.

Bishop Smith fulfilled the duties of the episcopal office with great edification, unmolested, and apparently without any remarkable occurrence, when in 1746-47, it fell to his lot to perform the difficult and dangerous task of providing spiritual assistance to several victims of Culloden who were detained under sentence of death, at Carlisle, in England. These prisoners, MacDonald of Kinloch Moidart, MacDonell of Teindrich and Charles Gordon from Mill of Smithston, contrived to make application to Bishop Smith for spiritual aid. According to his desire, the Rev. George Duncan, who had been missionary apostolic in Angus, and had been also, for a short time, a prisoner, gladly undertook the perilous mission. He obtained admission to the prisoners, as one of their friends, and enjoyed the happiness of administering the sacraments, not only to the few above mentioned, but also to several English gentlemen who were likewise under sentence. They all had the consolation and benefit of the Holy Communion, the good priest having borne the Blessed Sacrament along with him, Mr. Duncan then made haste to leave the gaol; and it was not a moment too soon; for he had no sooner reached Scotland in safety than he learned that search was made for him a few hours after his departure, information against him having been given by the magistrates. Bishop Smith appears to have been honoured with the greatest reverence, as we learn from a letter of Mr. Hay, of which the following words are an extract: “Believe me I have nothing more at heart than to discharge my duty to the best of my weak abilities; and when I fall into any fault or mistake (as what other can be expected from my weakness), I assure you I will receive, as the greatest piece of charity that can be done me, to be advertised of it, particularly by you, whom I am bound to regard as in the place of God himself, and whose reprehensions I shall always esteem as the surest sign of your affection for me.”

Bishop Smith was full of zeal for the instruction of his flock. About the time just referred to, he had completed the preparation of a work which he had, for a long time, in contemplation. This was nothing less than a good catechism, the want of which had been long felt by the Catholics of Scotland. The work was twofold. It consisted of a shorter, or more elementary catechism, and a longer one for the use of children that were more advanced. The manuscript, when complete, was sent to Rome in order to be examined, and, if necessary, to be corrected, so that it should be published with authority for the instruction of the people. Abbate Grant, as earnestly requested by the Bishop, interested himself in the matter: and the Irish Dominicans at the Minerva were deputed to examine both catechisms. When their task was completed, they assured Cardinal Spinelli that the works were thoroughly orthodox, and adapted, as they judged, to be highly serviceable in Scotland. It might have been expected that such a decision would have rendered all opposition impossible. It was not so, however, and such opposition arose as induced the Cardinal to defer the publication of the little books. On hearing of the Cardinal’s decision, Bishop Smith urgently represented that delay would be a great hardship and would seriously injure the cause of religion in Scotland. The Cardinal was prevailed on to reconsider his judgment, and caused the catechisms to be translated into Latin in order that he might examine them himself. As he enjoyed a great reputation as a theologian, his opinion, confirming that of the Dominicans, was accepted by the Holy Office. This Tribunal, at the suggestion of the Cardinal, published a formal approbation of the catechisms, dated March 10th, 1750, a proceeding which it rarely has recourse to. Thus was Bishop Smith amply rewarded after a delay of seven years. He now hastened the printing of the catechisms and circulated them widely throughout his Vicariate.

About this time there passed many letters between Preshome and Edinburgh; and among the rest, a rather remarkable one in which obedience to the authority of superiors is strongly incul­culated. Mr. Hay, the writer, stating that “he made it a rule for himself, in everything in which the authority of superiors is concerned, that their will should be his law, whether they conde­scended to make known their reasons to him or not, or, in whatever light their reasons might appear to him.” It is illustrative of the poverty of the missions at the time, that, even at the head mission of Preshome, they could not afford a Ciborium for reserving the Blessed Sacrament, or a Pyx wherein to carry it to the sick. The church had been thoroughly robbed of everything. In the letter just referred to, Mr. Hay informs the Bishop that they had not yet had the happiness of retaining the Blessed Sacrament at Preshome for want of a Pix, (Ciborium) and begs the Bishop, if at all possible, to favour him with one.

As Preshome was the chief seat of the missions, the centre of a Catholic population and conven­iently situated both as regards Highlands and Lowlands, it continued to be long the place where the Bishops met for consultation. At the time of which we are treating, Bishop Smith attended a meeting of Bishops there, and published an important pastoral letter regarding plenary indul­gences that had just been granted by the Holy See to the Catholics of Scotland. These indul­gences were to be annual and the times for them at the discretion of the Vicars Apostolic. Mr. Hay made some suggestions to Bishop Smith in regard to them; and it was regulated in the pastoral letter referred to that there should be seven periods of indulgences in the course of the year—Christmas, the first week of Lent, Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption, All Saints and St. Andrew’s day, the term for gaining the indulgences continuing throughout the octaves of those festivals. It was made obligatory on the priests of each mission to announce duly, beforehand, the times of the indulgences, lest any who should wish to avail themselves of them, should lose the opportunity of so great a grace. The conditions for gaining these indulgences, the clergy could learn from the appendix to Bishop Challoner’s edition of the Roman Ritual. Prayer for the Church was one of the conditions; and with these were to be distinctly included prayers for the necessities of the missionary priests, as well as for each congregation in particular. All missionary pastors were required by the same pastoral letter, to be careful to impart the Plenary Indulgence to the faithful in articulo mortis (at the hour of death), according to the form prescribed by Pope Benedict XIV., and printed in the ritual above alluded to. The necessity of causing to be baptized infants, in cases where animation was doubtful and labour difficult, was also earnestly insisted on in the same pastoral letter. It required that matrons and nurses should be carefully instructed in their duty regarding such cases lest unfortunate infants should lose “the blessing of baptism and eternal life.” No proof of death, short of decomposition, was to be accepted;—a wonderful agreement with the latest decisions of medical science. The conclusion of the letter shows how well the medical knowledge of Mr. Hay had served in its preparation. We read the following words: “As it often happens in drowned persons and other dying people, especially in instant and sudden deaths, that they appear to be dead before they really are so, it is also earnestly recommended that nothing be done with the bodies of such persons which might finish the small remains of life, far less to bury them hastily; and that pastors be not over scrupulous in proceeding with extreme unction, once begun, upon persons in their last moments; because it is frequently observed that after they have seemed to have breathed out their last, they fetch several gasps at large intervals, by which the last remains of life appear.
(Signed)
“ALEX EP. MISINOP: V. A. in Scotia. Preshome, August 1st, 1762.”

From the time of Bishop Gordon’s death in 1746, Bishop Smith was Vicar-Apostolic of the Lowland district, and continued so till his death, which occurred at Edinburgh on the 21st August, 1766, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.