SCOTCH COLLEGE AT DOUAI—SCANDALOUS CONDUCT OF THE COLLEGE AUTHORITIES WHEN REMOVING TO DINANT—MR. GEDDES ON THE PIETY OF SPAIN—BISHOP HAY COMMENDS DR. BEATTIE’S ESSAY ON TRUTH AND REID ON THE HUMAN MIND—HE REPAIRS TO DOUAI—AT LONDON, ON HIS WAY, VISITS BISHOP CHALLONER—PLEADS WITH THE GOVERNMENT IN BEHALF OF THE DUCHESS OF PERTH, WHO HAD BEEN LEFT DESTITUTE BY STATE CONFIS­CATION—VISITS ALBAN BUTLER AT ST. OMERS—THE PRINCIPAL OF DOUAI COLLEGE PROCEEDED AS FAR AS LISLE TO MEET THE BISHOP—SOME CHANGES MADE IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COLLEGE—THE BISHOP AT PARIS SOUGHT TO OBTAIN A BENEFICE FOR THE SCOTCH MISSION HIS FAILURE—HE PRAISES “PASTORINI”—PETITION THAT THE BISHOPS HAVE AUTHORITY OVER THE RELI­GIOUS ORDERS, AS IN ENGLAND—MR. GEDDES’ LIBERALITY TO THE MISSION— A BRIEF FROM THE HOLY SEE, GRANTING A PLENARY INDULGENCE TO THE CATHOLICS OF SCOTLAND ON THE FESTIVAL OF S. S. PETER AND PAUL, ON THE USUAL CONDITIONS—BOOKS PURCHASED BY THE BISHOP IN FRANCE, DESTROYED ON HIS ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND—SEVERE WEATHER AND DEARTH IN SCOTLAND, 1772—THE SAME YEAR MEETING OF THE BISHOPS—THEIR HIGH PRAISE OF BISHOP HUGH M’DONALD, WHO WAS UNABLE TO ATTEND.

Some account of the Scotch College of Douai in connection with the state of the Catholics of Scotland and the progress of the Scotch Mission will not now be out of place.

In the year 1576, Dr. James Cheyne, of Arnage, a Scotch secular priest, Pastor of Aboyne, and Canon of Tournay, Principal, also, of the University of Douai and Professor therein, founded a Seminary for Scotch secular clergy at Tournay. In this good work he employed the revenues of his canonry soon after the breaking up of the English and Scotch Colleges there, which took place in 1575. It was afterwards transferred to Port-a-Mousson in Lorraine. Dr. Cheyne’s numerous avocations soon rendered it impossible for him to superintend the new seminary in person. Accordingly, in March, 1580, he entrusted the government of it to F. Edmund Hay, of Megginch, a Scotch Jesuit. It thus came under the management of the Scotch Fathers of the Society till F. G. Christie left it for the Scotch Mission in 1605, when it fell, for a time, into the possession of the Walloon Jesuits. The Scotch Fathers again obtained the government of it in 1632, and had it erected into a College by their Father General, and placed it under the superin­tendence of Father John Robb. After this it remained for the most part, in possession of the.Scotch Fathers, although it was governed occasionally for short periods by the Walloon Fathers of the society. There were other benefactors of the institution besides Dr. Cheyne; among the rest the illustrious Mary, Queen of Scotland, who settled on it an annual pension of 1,200 francs, raised soon after to 400 gold crowns; and Pope Gregory XIII. The annuities bestowed by these eminent personages ended with their lives. The seminary was not, however, left destitute. Many Scotch Catholic emigrants became contributors. Mr. Wm. Meldrum, Precentor of the Cathedral of Aberdeen, devoted 87 florins to the endowment of four bursaries. Pont-a-Mousson was not favoured with a salubrious climate, and, in consequence, early in the year 1593 the Seminary was removed to Douai. This was done with the sanction of Pope Clement VIII. It was not only on account of the unhealthiness of the place, but, also, in conse­quence of the confusion of the wars, that the college was removed from Pont-a-Mousson, as appears from a letter [A printed copy of this letter is preserved at Preshome.] of Clement VIII. in favour of the institution. The college was for some time at Louvaine, and also at Antwerp, where a House was prepared for it. But it was not till after several migrations and various fortune, that it was finally established at Douai, at that time a Belgian town, in the year 1612, in a house obtained for it by the Walloon Fathers. Philip III. of Spain was applied to for permission to purchase a site whereon to build a college. The desired permission was granted and, along with it, a donation towards the same object.

A few words may be now bestowed on the most liberal of all the benefactors of the College of Douai. This was no other than F. Hippolytus Curle, son of a well known historical character, Gilbert Curle, Secretary to Queen Mary Stewart. He had studied at Douai College, and at the end of his philosophical course in 1618 he entered the noviciate of the Society of Jesus. Before doing so, however, he disposed of all his temporal property by a testamentary deed, signed and sealed at Antwerp, Sept. 1, 1618. In this deed he declared his intention to join the Society; and after specifying certain donations to members of his own family and others, he directed that the whole residue of his property should be given to the Scotch College of Douai, subjoining condi­tions which he desired should be exactly observed. The conditions were, the education of as many students as possible, and if anything should remain over the expense of a certain number, but not sufficient for the maintenance of another, this remainder should be devoted to the support of the persons necessary for the management of the college, and to meet the expenses of ecclesiastics who should be sent to Scotland as secular priests to ask labour in the Scotch missions. It was also provided by Curle that there should always be a full number of good and suitable subjects. He also directed that the college should enjoy his endowment as long as it should be under the administration of the Society of Jesus, but that, if it should ever be put under other government by the resignation or removal of the Society’s Fathers, the Father-General should be authorized to apply the whole of the endowment to the maintenance of the Scotch students who should be under the management of the Society. He desired, moreover, and earnestly requested that if the Father General saw fit, there should always be one Scotch Jesuit in the college in which the said students were to reside. It was further stipulated that if the Cath­olic religion should ever be re-established in Scotland, the whole capital sum of Curie’s endow­ment should be transferred to that country, at the discretion of the Father-General and the Scotch Fathers of the Society; and a college for the maintenance of as many Scotch ecclesiastical students as possible should then be founded in the University of St Andrews. The execution of this provision was entrusted to the Scotch Fathers of the Society. The endowment was to be only for students of philosophy and theology. Curle finally appointed that the deed should take effect when in two years, the usual time of the noviciate, he should take the vows as a member of the Society. If he should die before that time, the deed should be executed in the month of July or December next following the date of his death.

In 1626, Curle, when a priest and religious of the Society of Jesus, made a second deed which gave more complete power to the Jesuits over the endowment. It could not, however, be valid, as the College had been for some time in possession of the Curle bequest on the conditions laid down in the first deed. In course of time, notwithstanding, the Jesuit Fathers came to consider the Scotch College at Douai was confiscated to the Crown as part of the Jesuits’ goods. The French Government, when properly applied to, did not refuse to do an act of justice, and recog­nized the claims of the Scotch secular clergy to the property of their College at Douai. It was, accordingly, placed under the management of a Board of French civilians who allowed a certain number of Scotch ecclesiastical students to be maintained and educated in the college in charge of a Scotch president, whom they, indeed, appointed, but on the recommendation of the Scotch bishops.

It must now be told,—horresco referens—that the late professors of the College on retiring, with permission, to Dinant, in Namur, carried with them all the furniture of the house at Douai, and the richest ornaments of the church, including a precious shrine, in which the head of St. Margaret had been enclosed. The shrine was removed and the Relique was left behind!

Robert Grant, brother of the agent at Rome, was the first president. Notwithstanding the diffi­culties of the position, he continued to hold office for a considerable time. It ought to have been a cause for rejoicing to all religious people that the college, after having come through so severe an ordeal, was once more devoted to the object for which it was founded. The pious Fathers from whom the property was taken when they originally possessed it, loudly complained, and freely abused the Scotch bishops for having made interest with the French Government to recover the College for their missions. Bishop Hay, in writing to the agent at Rome concerning matters that were to be laid before the Holy Father, and among the rest, the Society’s attack on the Bishops, says: “What is mentioned both to His Holiness and Cardinal Castelli about reflec­tions cast out by some here, upon the conduct of Bishops relating to Douai College, is owing entirely to the ungenerous behaviour of some of our friends of the Society. Notwithstanding all that we have endeavoured to do for their assistance, of late years, it would appear they can never digest the vexation it gave them to see that house put into our hands. The most of them, indeed, say but little on the subject; but some among them have put such odious constructions upon that affair among the people immediately under their charge, as to make the Bishops here appear guilty of the highest injustice to their order, and of having, by intriguing and underhand dealing, got that place turned over to themselves; and Bishop Grant this very summer, in visiting some of these people, was reproached to his very face for having done so. You will easily see, my dear sir, how unjust such dealing is; as you will know how far we were from intriguing in that affair, and how uprightly your worthy brother acted with regard to these gentlemen in it. You will also see how unjustifiable their conduct is, in showing a greater willingness to have that house lost entirely to the nation than to be put into our hands. How strange a blindness! How unaccount­able a prejudice! You will likewise see how fatal a tendency their behaviour must have in prej­udicing the minds of the people against their chief pastor and how just our request is to have our conduct vindicated by the authority of the Holy See, in order thereby to confound such as may still gainsay, and to put a stop to evils that might otherwise ensue.....”

Mr. Robert Grant, the principal of the newly-restored college, is no less severe on the ungra­cious conduct of the pious society. In a letter to Bishop Hay of July 6th, 1772, he says: “I duly received your last with remarks on Curle’s Testament, which are both just and solid; and will pass for such with every unprejudiced person. If they (the Religious Fathers) have any monu­ments,—I mean originals,—clearer on their side, let them publish them. But, I am pretty sure they have not; neither is it possible they should, without supposing F. Curle to talk nonsense in his said Testament. Nay, their having carried off all the other original papers regarding the foun­dation of this House, without leaving any authentic copies, is a strong presumption against them. It is more than necessary that these remarks should be published in order to undeceive those who look upon us as unjustly possessing what we have no title to. The common conver­sation among their debates is that we are sacrilegious robbers, etc.; and, how these good gentlemen can connive at such injurious aspersions, is astonishing beyond measure.....” It is astonishing.

About this time it was proposed, Bishop Grant concurring, that Bishop Hay should visit Douai in order to make a personal examination of the affairs of the college. He found it necessary, however, in consequence of certain political occurrences, to postpone his journey. Meanwhile, he had the pleasure to receive very gratifying intelligence from the College of Valladolid. His friend there, the accomplished principal, wrote to him, under date Nov. 18, 1771, as follows:

........ “Say everything that is kind to Mr. Craw (a gentleman already mentioned, remarkable for his piety.) I reverence that worthy gentleman as I would do a Father of the desert, and I have great confidence in his prayers. Tell him for me, and I know it will give him satisfaction, that however depraved the world is become, there still remains a great deal of true piety in Spain; and that, not only in the convents and monasteries, but, even in the palaces and judgment seats. There are some most excellent secular gentlemen in this same city; among the rest, the comp­troller general of the Royal Revenues of Old Castile is just such a man as Mr. Craw, himself, or Dr. Gordon of Tullochallum....”

Dr. Gordon, here mentioned as an ornament of the Catholic Church along with Mr. Craw, was a brother of Bishop Gordon. He had taken part on the losing side in 1745, and so had to keep out of sight for some time. He owned a small property on Dee-side; but in his latter years lived retired in Auchendown, and died there at an advanced age, in 1763.

Bishop Hay could welcome a good book, although it came from a Protestant. Writing to Prin­cipal Geddes, he recommends highly Dr. Beattie’s essay “on the immortality of Truth,” and Reid’s “Enquiry into the human mind.” Both these works he considered likely to be useful.

At length the Bishop was able to undertake his contemplated journey to the College of Douai. On reaching London, he paid a visit to Bishop Challoner, whom he had not seen for twenty years, and who had new attained the advanced age of eighty. He gave his old friend, the Scotch Bishop, a most cordial reception, and availed himself of his visit to place in his hands what he had collected for the persecuted people of Uist, and at the same time a sum of money entrusted to him for Bishop Hay’s own use. Next day he was favoured with a visit from Father Cruik­shanks, S. J., who promised to give him all the information in his power concerning the affairs of his brethren as regarded the Scotch College at Douai. While in London, Bishop Hay made interest with the Government in order to obtain some pecuniary aid for the Duchess of Perth, whose husband’s property had been all confiscated by the State. The march to Derby was still remembered; and it was made a pretext for denying all aid to the destitute lady that she had resumed without permission the title of Duchess. Before leaving London, the Bishop saw Lord Witherington, who promised to subscribe for the relief of the Uist people. On his way from London to Douai, the Bishop visited the celebrated Alban Butler at St. Omers, and met with a most kind reception. Mr. Robert Grant, the Principal of the Scotch College of Douai, went as far as Lisle to meet him and accompanied him to Douai. Having proposed some changes in the constitution of the college he proceeded to Paris, together with Principal Grant. His object in visiting that city was to obtain from the French Government a benefice in France for the benefit of the Scotch mission. This suit was supported by the Bishop of Arras throughout, and at first by several other influential personages. But, for want of sufficient honourable influence, the Bishop declining to employ such as was unbecoming, the scheme which he had so much at heart finally failed.

We shall now have Bishop Hay’s opinion of a work that became famous—Pastorini’s Letters. Writing to Principal Geddes at Valladolid, the Bishop says; “There is a very curious piece published in London, by B. Walmesley, whom you may remember at Rome, of the order of St. Benedict, and came there to be consecrated in our time. It is a general history of the Church by way of commentary on the Apocalypse. It is thought this work will be a greater stroke to the Protestants than either Cardinal Pole, or, “The Free examination.” Several copies of this work were sent to Edinburgh by Bishop Hay’s orders, for his friends in Scotland.

About this time authority over the Religious Orders was given to the Bishops in England. Bishop Hay was anxious that the like authority should be conferred on the Scotch Bishops. This measure had become necessary for the maintenance of discipline and the normal condition of the Church. Benedict the XIV., therefore, was earnestly petitioned through the Abbate Grant, to extend to Scotland the benefit of the decree with which he had favoured England. Bishop Hay, writing to the agent on the subject, says: “I assure you there are more than one of the society of whose conduct I have got complaints from his own hearers; and yet, for want of some such backing, Bishop Grant will not, and I dare not speak to them. I could give you some instances that would surprise you.” The Bishop concludes his letter by desiring his thanks to the Italians for the handsome sum which they had contributed towards the relief of the Uist people.

The benevolent Principal of the College of Valladolid, sent at this time, to Edinburgh, in his own name and that of his two companions, £39.12, the result of their savings, for the benefit of the Scotch mission. Bishop Hay wrote from Paris to thank him, under date of March 17th, 1772: “In my own name and on the part of all our brethren, I return you and your companions hearty thanks for your supply; and I bless God Almighty, who, having given you the means, has given you the heart also to make so proper a use of it. * * Having sacrificed our persons to the service of religion in our poor country, how inconsistent would it be to refuse to part with the pelf of this world for the same end? For my own part, I thank God I have nothing so much at heart as the common cause, and shall think myself happy to sacrifice everything that is near and dear to me in this world; but, it is superfluous to mention this to you, who know me so well already.” Bishop Hay returned to Edinburgh after an absence of eleven weeks, in better health than he had enjoyed for many years. Being so blessed, he renewed his missionary labours with extraordi­nary vigour. This same year, a Brief was obtained from the Holy See, granting a plenary indul­gence to the Catholics of Scotland, on the Festival of SS. Peter and Paul, to be gained any day within the octave, on performance of the usual conditions.

As illustrative of the narrow spirit which still reigned in England, it may be mentioned that books to the value of £10, which Bishop Hay had purchased at Paris, were seized on his arrival and destroyed. There is certainly a very close relation between bigotry and vandalism.

There was unusually severe weather in Scotland from the beginning of the year 1772. “Such frost and snow,” says Bishop Hay, in a letter to Principal Geddes, “have not been seen in the memory of man—no, not even in 1740. This hard weather and the consequent dearth added considerably to the miseries of the poorer people. The Bishop states that, in addition, there was great sickness and mortality about Stobhall, in Glengarry and Strathspey.

This year the general meeting included all the Bishops, with the exception of Bishop Hugh McDonald, who was now so feeble from old age as to be unable to undertake a long journey. His colleagues in their annual letter to the Prefect of Propaganda, Cardinal Castelli, of date July 18th, speak of the venerable Bishop in the following kindly terms “Hugh of Diana, now worn out by old age, and the labours of forty years, during which he has discharged the duties of vicar apostolic, has failed in strength this year, so much as to be unable to be with us here; and it seems, indeed, hardly possible that his life can be protracted much longer. He is a man who has merited very highly of religion; and by his toils, his vigilance, his concern for the common cause; by his gentleness and the sweetness of his manners; and by his assiduity in the preserva­tion of fraternal charity, in the administration of the mission affairs, he has always endeared himself to, every one.”