BISHOP HAY, ALTHOUGH PROCURATOR, UNDERTAKES THE WHOLE PAROCHIAL DUTY OF EDINBURGH IN ADDITION TO HIS EPISCOPAL DUTIES—VISITS GLASGOW—MUCH PROGRESS—A COMMITTEE ON TEMPORALS—DEATH OF MR. ROBERT MENZIES—GROWTH OF LIBERALITY—THE PORTUGUESE STUDENTS— STATE OF THE MISSION—AMIABLE CHARACTER OF BISHOP GEDDES—MORALS OF EDINBURGH—DEATH OF BISHOP M’DONALD—MUCH LAMENTED—BISHOP JOHN CHISHOLM—ONLY BISHOP HAY AT HIS CONSECRATION—STUDENTS WITHHELD FROM THE MISSION—GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGES EMIGRATION— EMPLOYMENT AT GLASGOW—BANK OF SCOTLAND—BISHOP HAY INTERESTED THEREIN—THE PRIOR OF THE CARTHUSIANS THANKED—ANARCHY ADVANCING IN FRANCE—BISHOP GEDDES AT ST. OMERS ASKED TO ORDAIN— DECLINES BEING A TITULAR BISHOP “IN PART. INF:”—PROPOSED NEW CHURCH AT EDINBURGH—GLASGOW MORE LIBERAL THAN EVER—REV. ALEX. M’DONALD THERE.

During the absence of Bishop Geddes, Bishop Hay filled his place at Edinburgh; and it was, at the time, no sinecure. The much-regretted death of Mr. Robert Menzies, who had rendered such signal service to the Highland congregation, and the sickly state of the other priest, laid on the Bishop the whole of the parochial duty. It behoved him, also, to attend to the Procuratorship as well as his more special episcopal functions. The portions of country set apart to Bishop Geddes included Glasgow; and now, Bishop Hay, in place of his coadjutor, made a pastoral visit to that city. He remained there a week, and found the rising mission in a satisfactory condition. There had, indeed, been great progress. The change for the better that had taken place, within a few years, was truly remarkable. It remained, as yet, to appoint a permanent Incumbent. The Bishop was particularly pleased to find that there was much zeal on the part of the Catholics in contrib­uting towards the support of a priest among them. He, accordingly, held a meeting of the more leading people and laid before them a plan for raising subscriptions. A committee of six was appointed for the management, and he provided them with a proper form of subscription papers.

Before the Bishop’s return to Edinburgh, Mr. Menzies had passed away. His death was like his life, most edifying. “His loss,” the Bishop wrote to Mr. Gordon, at Aberdeen, “will be severely felt in this place, as I have not one whom I can put in his place, and who has the language of his numerous congregation, without leaving an equal blank elsewhere, which, in our present circumstances, I cannot think of doing.” In the same letter it is shown how liberal Edinburgh had become. “We have just such a plan for the Poor’s House as you mention to be in agitation with you. But here our people who are taken in are no wise molested as to their religion, and are allowed to go to the chapel when they please; and we have free access to them in sickness. As the town of Aberdeen has always been favourable to us in this respect, I hope they will be no less so in the present case and, if so, I much approve of what you mention, of some poor’s money being applied that way, especially, as you are much better provided for that purpose than any other station I know; besides, I think it will be a real advantage in the main.”

In a letter which Bishop Hay had occasion to write to Mr. Fryer, the Principal of the English College at Lisbon, concerning some Portuguese medical students, a general charge of whom the coadjutor had assumed, in compliance with the request of Her Majesty the Queen of Portugal, he gives, incidentally, a very complete account of the state of the Scotch mission at this time (1791). It was necessary to show, in connection with the charge of the students, the onerous and engrossing duties of the Vicars Apostolic. The Bishop, accordingly, writes: “We have been, for many years, and particularly at present are, in the greatest distress for the want of hands. I have at present no less than eight vacant stations, some of which are very numerous, very extended and very important. By this means we have often the great affliction to hear of poor souls dying without the sacraments, the children neglected for want of instruction, and not, unfrequently, people apostatizing for the same reason, and the neighbouring missionaries harassed and exhausted with frequent and distant calls. Three yearts ago, the gentleman (Rev. Andrew Dawson) who had the care of a little seminary I have for preparing boys for being sent abroad, happening to die, I had not another to put in his place, and was obliged to take that charge upon myself; otherwise I must have shut up its doors. And to this day I have not been able to get one, so that on my coming to this place I was forced to leave it to the care of servants, with the eldest of the boys to teach the younger ones their lessons. In this city we have two chapels both having pretty numerous congregations and only one clergyman to each. Bishop Geddes was obliged to assist the more important of the two, and, last winter, from the illness of both clergymen, had for a considerable time both congregations, and for a still longer time, had one of them entirely on his hands. Although this city be his principal residence, yet, he is obliged to be out of it for weeks and often for months together several times in the year. He has to visit, from time to time, our missions in Galloway, Perthshire and Angus-shire, which I had allotted to him, having kept those in the North for my own inspection. He had the management of all the temporal affairs of the mission, and endless correspondence, both at home and abroad, relating to those affairs. He had, in fine, frequently to go to Glasgow to visit a numerous congregation there, who had no other help than from him, and, sometimes, from another living at a much greater distance from them. Such, sir, is, at present, and has been for some time past, our distressed situation, and to complete our distress, since Bishop Geddes left this, one of the two churchmen, here, is dead, which throws one of the two chapels almost entirely upon me.

For the above reasons he was averse to Bishop Geddes burdening himself with the charge of the Portuguese students, and ascribes his doing so to his disposition to do anything that was asked of him when he thought it was for the glory of God. He was also influenced by his esteem and affection for the worthy English Principal, as well as his desire to forward the views of that benevolent princess, the Queen of Portugal. The Bishop dwells at some length, on the qualities of the accomplished coadjutor: “He has certainly a most amiable temper, disinterested, obliging and condescending, and so cordially sympathizing that I knew it is a torment to him to do anything harsh or severe to any mortal. This, his natural disposition, has been greatly confirmed from the example of the amiable St. Francis of Sales, whom he considers as his great model, and from the wonderful success he has had in many difficult cases by the gentle and engaging manner he treated those engaged in them. And it must be owned that this, his turn of mind, has gained him the love, esteem and regard of everyone wherever he has been, and of people of all ranks and stations who have been acquainted with him.” It is to be regretted that the excellent Prelate could not give a more favourable account of the moral condition of his native town than what we find in the concluding lines of his letter to Principal Fryer “I was born and educated in this city; and had applied to the study of medicine in my younger days before I had any knowl­edge of the Catholic Faith. I know what this place was at that time with regard to morals; and I am persuaded by all accounts I can get that it is, beyond any comparison, worse at present, espe­cially in the medical line; so much so, that it is my decided opinion that it is next to a miracle if a young man, left in any degree to his own management in this vicious Sodom, and applying to the study of medicine, can ever be able to escape the contagion,” This was long ago. The high reputation of the Edinburgh School of Medicine in more recent times would seem to indicate improvement.

In less than a month after the meeting at Gibston, Bishop McDonald departed this life. His health had been failing for some time, but it would appear that death came at last rather suddenly. He was much regretted by his friends and Highland flock. Their veneration for their ancient patriarchal chiefs, no doubt, added to the affection they bore to the deceased Bishop, who was a scion of the well known family of clan Ranald. The choice which he made of a coad­jutor had been unanimously approved of by the clergy and laity of the Highland district, so that there was no question as to the fitness of Bishop John Chisholm to be his successor. There could be no other serious opposition than that of Mr. Chisholm himself, who was disinclined to under­take the responsibilities of so great a charge. As soon as the coadjutor crossed the border Bishop Hay was once more the only Bishop in Scotland. It fell to him, therefore, to consecrate the new Bishop, as Titular of Oria and Vicar Apostolic in the Highlands. On February 12th the solemn rite was performed, two priests assisting, instead of Bishops, by special dispensation. At the suppression of the Jesuits, Mr. Chisholm passed from the novitiate at Tournay to the Scotch Seminary at Douai, where he was ordained priest in 1777. He had laboured happily since that time in his native district of Strathglass. He bore with honour the dignity of the mitre for more than twenty years.

It would appear that Mr. Cameron, the Principal at Valladolid, still withheld his students from the mission. This was a cause of great displeasure and vexation to Bishop Hay. It was all the more so as seven or eight stations had been vacant for several years past in the Lowland district. Now that Bishop Geddes must be absent for a time not so much as one priest could be spared, even for the Seminary. It was necessarily, therefore, placed under the charge of a young man who directed the studies of the rest. The Highland congregation sustained indeed a severe, and at the time, irreparable loss by the death of Mr. Robert Menzies who had laboured so long and so unostentatiously. The Highlanders were entirely lost for want of a priest who could speak their own tongue; and it was for some time impossible to secure such a one for the Lowland district. It would appear that the death of the most worthy Mr. Menzies was hastened by pecu­niary anxiety. He had taken as a boarder an Irish student of medicine, at the request of the youth’s father, and this man unfortunately, never paid any board. The expense and vexation. thus caused, together with the liabilities of the good, priest for St. Andrew’s chapel, preyed upon his mind; and brought on ague and jaundice, of which he died.

Bishop Hay, in a letter to the agent at Rome,. gives a singularly interesting account of emigra­tion from the Highlands and its results as regarded the destinies of the Glasgow mission. The letter is dated Feb. 18th, 1792. “.... Accounts have been received from our last Summer emigrants. They went to Nova Scotia, were kindly received, got a year’s provisions, and so much land from Government for each family. This encouragement has set others upon following them, and we hear that subscriptions are going on for a new emigration this year. There are many, however, of the poorer sort, who, not being able to pay their passage, are left at home in great misery. Would you believe it? A door is likely to be open for them at Glasgow. Manufacturers there are advancing to such a degree that they cannot get hands to supply. Chil­dren of seven years of age may make half a crown or three shillings a week, and others more in proportion. Application has been made to us to supply them from the Highlands. Our only objection was the want of the exercise of their religion. This they easily saw into; and are actu­ally concerting at present, to obviate that difficulty by providing a chapel, and have begun subscriptions among themselves to execute their plan and provide for a churchman.  Quam mirabilia sunt opera, tua Domine! If this takes place and the emigrations continue for a few years we shall have very few of our people either on the great estates of Clan Ranald or Glen­garry. Dominus novit opus suum ab oeterno. Fiat votuntas ejus!

The mission was interested to the Bank of Scotland, holding a good many shares. It was, there­fore, a pleasure to the Bishop to inform his coadjutor that it was in a prosperous condition. He had recently attended a general meeting of the proprietors, at which a plan for doubling the capital was unanimously agreed to, and the bill sent to Mr. Dundas, the governor. He also mentions that, together with Bishop Chisholm and Mr. Robertson, he was at supper, for the first time, with Lord Monboddo, the good friend of Bishop Geddes, to whom he desired to he very kindly remembered. In concluding the letter he begged his coadjutor to thank the Prior of the Carthusians, in his own name and that of Bishop Chisholm, for his steady adherence to the cause of religion and of the mission, in the late negotiations at Paris. Anarchy in unfortunate France advancing every day and everything that he could have hoped to gain by his mission having been secured, Bishop Geddes left Paris for Douai, on the 10th of April. From thence he sent to the Cardinal of Propaganda a detailed account of all that he had done at Paris. The Cardinal’s reply expressed approval of every step and complimented him on his success. After spending some time at Douai, he proceeded on his journey by Bruges and St. Omers. At the latter place they wished him to ordain students of the English Seminary, as the neighbouring Bishops were all absent. He had an impression, however, that titular bishops like himself, in partibus infi­deliun, were prohibited from exercising their pontifical functions beyond their own limits, even with the consent of the Ordinary. This impression Mr. Thomson subsequently confirmed by quoting the Brief that forbids it, a copy of which he sent to Bishop Geddes. War was now fairly begun between France and Austria. The day before the Bishop wrote, 10,000 men were marched from Lille to surprise Tournai. The Austrians repulsed them with great loss.

Bishop Hay, desiring to avail himself of the opportunity which his friend’s journey afforded, proposed that, on his way home through England, he should recommend to their friends there, a scheme for a new church at Edinburgh. It was also still strongly urged, as formerly, by some members of the congregation. “Who knows,” said the Bishop, “where a blessing may alight?” The proposed new building was intended to replace St. Margaret’s only, St. Andrew’s, on the east side of Blackfriar’s Wynd, being still retained for the Highland congregation with services, as usual, in the Gaelic language. At the time of Bishop Geddes’ return to Scotland, six leading citizens of Glasgow gave Bishop Chisholm a bond for £30 a year, to Mr. Alexander McDonell, together with a free house and all that was necessary for the chapel. It gave great delight to the Catholic people of Glasgow that they were to have a resident priest; and the gentlemen who were chiefly instrumental in carrying out the arrangement, were much pleased with Mr. McDonell. This priest, afterwards so renowned in connection with Canada, had laboured hith­erto in the district of Badenoch and at Fort William. The results of the liberal arrangement were highly satisfactory. It was no sooner heard of in the Highlands than twenty-four families, in all one hundred and thirty-one individuals, came to Glasgow in one day, and numbers were preparing to follow them.

Bishop Hay was anxious that his colleague of the Highlands should spare a Gaelic speaking priest for Edinburgh. In the meantime Mr. A. McDonald was transferred from Drummond to St. Andrew’s, Edinburgh.