BISHOP HAY

(l:rom a portrait at Blairs College)

BISHOP HAY
A Sketch of his Life and Times
BY

CECIL KERR
With a Preface by
. The Right. Rev. ABBOT HUNTER BLAIR, O.S.B.

SHEED à? WARD
31 Paternoster Row
London, E.C.4

MADE AMD PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
THE STANHOPE FREES LIMITED, ROCHESTER

PREFACE
In the present year of grace, when English and
Scottish Catholics alike are rejoicing at the act of
the Legislature—tardy but not less welcome—
which has swept away almost the last of the penal
laws against Catholics which have so long disfigured
the statute book, nothing could be better timed than
the appearance of a popular life of one of the greatest
figures in the history of the slow dawn of religious
freedom in the northern kingdom. George Hay
was bom exactly a hundred years before Catholic
Emancipation, in a fuller sense than could ever
have been anticipated by Scottish Catholics during
the dark days of persecution, brought liberty and
peace to the faithful—reduced, alas ! to a little
more than a remnant—scattered throughout the
remotest parts of the country. Educated by a
pious Protestant mother, whose early lessons of
religion he never forgot, the boy grew out of child­
hood probably in entire ignorance of the tenets of
Catholicism, though he may have known that the
Jacobite party in Scotland, of which his father was a
zealous supporter (having, indeed, suffered severely
for his opinions), counted many members of the
old faith among its members.
It was in the second Jacobite rising, the famous
days of the Forty-five, that George Hay, as a boy
of sixteen, was thrown into the very welter of the
Great Adventure that may be said to have begun
triumphantly at Holyrood and Prestonpans, and
ended disastrously on the bloody field of Culloden.
The following pages tell in detail the stirring and
5

6

PREFACE

romantic story of the boy's initiation into the horrors
and sufferings of war, the enthusiasm with which he
followed Prince Charles into England, and accom­
panied him on his melancholy retreat back to
Scotland ; then his imprisonment first in Scotland,
then in England ; the circumstances that led to
his conversion ; the unseen Providence that led
him to the feet of the great Bishop Chailoner, and
first inspired him with the thought of his vocation
to the priesthood, and finally his entrance into the
Scots College and definite adoption of an ecclesias­
tical career.
It is a story deeply interesting—even thrilling—
in its mere outline, and still more in the particulars
as they are given in the pages of this book ; and a
wonderful prelude to the wonderful life which was
to be entirely spent in the devoted service of the
Scottish Church. What must strike every thought­
ful reader in its perusal is the unmistakable evidence
of how the finger of God was leading His young
servant, by most unusual paths, and quite unknown
to himself, to the career which, even after his con­
version to the Catholic faith, he seemed to have no
idea whatever that he was predestined to embrace.
It was to Chailoner, of course, under God, that he
owed the discovery of his true vocation ; and there
is no more touching episode in his life than that of
the pious contract made between the aged prelate
and the young convert that, should the latter attain
to the priesthood, they should mutually remember
one another at the altar so long as they both should
live.
George Hay’s fife as a missionary priest in Scot­
land during the eleven years that elapsed between

PREFACE

7

his ordination and his episcopal consecration is a
salutary reminder to us all of the difficulties and
dangers with which Catholics, and especially priests,
were environed in the discharge of their religious
duties, even in days when the more rigorous of the
penal laws had fallen into practical desuetude.
We see from the details of his life how Hay endured
the hardships and sacrifices incidental to his sacred
profession not only with patience but with cheerful­
ness, and how he was sustained by the fervour of his
unostentatious piety and the unswerving regularity
with which he practised his devotional duties.
And when in 1768 he was consecrated as coadjutor
to the venerable Bishop Grant, and ten years later
became vicar-apostolic of the Lowlands, we find him
carrying out the arduous obligations of his high
Office and standing up against the storm of bigotry
and persecution which broke out in connection with
the proposed repeal of some of the penal laws, with
the same Christian courage and manly intrepidity
which had long won the respect of all who knew him,
opponents as well as friends. If there was a defect
in the great bishop’s character, it consisted, perhaps,
of a seeming harshness of temperament, a want of
sympathy with characters weaker than his own, and
a certain impatience of mediocrity, whether spiritual
or intellectual, in those who were called to labour
under him in the missionary field. We have said
“ seeming harshness,” because the good prelate’s
austerity of manner was really on the surface,
underneath which there lay a very real warmth and
tenderness of heart well known to those who knew
how to penetrate beneath the Scottish reserve of his
character, and the apparent chilliness of demeanour

8

PREFACE

which sometimes marked his intercourse with those
among whom he lived and laboured. No one loved
him more, or understood him better, than the little
seminarists whom in his old age he gathered round
him in the rude and remote college of Scalan,
among the Banffshire hills, and afterwards in the
more civilised and commodious seminary of Aquhorties, on Donside. The concluding chapters of
this book give a touching picture of the saintly old
man, his active labours at an end, spending the
evening of his long life among these young candidates
for the sacred ministry, the hope of the renascent
Scottish Church ; sharing in all respects their simple
self-denying life, imparting to them from his own
well-stored mind and soul the elements of learning
and religion, and preparing them by example and
precept for the high and arduous labours of their
holy vocation.
Ecce sacerdos magnus ! The words come naturally
to one’s lips as one reviews the long, laborious and
self-sacrificing life of this great priest and bishop.
The author of this book has done a real service to
religion by bringing together, from sources not now
easily accessible, the successive steps of a career so
noble in its entire self-abnegation, and so fraught
with blessings to the down-trodden Church of his
beloved country. The biography of George Hay is
one full of interest and of edification, and will, it
may be hoped, find many readers—not only among
those who aspire to follow directly in his saintly
footsteps, but among all who know how to value a
faithful presentment of a very noble life.
+ D. Oswald Hunter Blair,
Abbot, O.S.B.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER

i
π
in
iv
v

vi
vn
vin
ix
x
xi
xii

PAGR

The Years of Preparation
.. ..
n
The Harvest Field
..
..
28
The Labourer in the Harvest
..
41
Coadjutor Bishop ..
..
..
.. 58
The Scots Colleges in Spain and at
Douai
..
..
..
..
69
The Suppression of the Jesuits—Mis­
sion Cares
..
..
..
..
79
The Penal Laws—First Relief Bill.,
88
Vicar Apostolic .. ·
..
..
.. 112
Scalan—Relief at Last..
..
.. 126
Death of Bishop Geddes
..
. . 144
Aquhorties ..
..
.. ■ ...
..156
Out of Darkness into Light ..
.. 1 €8

BIBLIOGRAPHY
“ Scotichronicon.” J. A. Stothert, ed. Rev. J. F. S.
Gordon, D.D.
“ History of the Catholic Church of Scotland.”
Bellesheim, trans. Abbot Hunter Blair.
“ History of the Catholic Church in Scotland.”
J. Walsh.
“ Memoirs of Scottish Catholics during the 17th and
18th Centuries.” W. Forbes Leith, S.J.
" Catholic Highlands of Scotland,” Vol. I.
Dom Odo
Blundell, O.S.B.
“ Sidelights on Scottish History.” Dom Michael
Barrett, O.S.B.
“ Bishop Hay’s Works—Introductory Memoir.”
” Life of Chailoner.” E. Burton, D.D.
“ The Dawn of the Catholic Revival in England.”
Ward.
The following pages are taken chiefly from the
account of Bishop Hay in the ” Scotichronicon.” All
extracts from letters, unless otherwise stated, are
from those quoted in that work.

CHAPTER I
THE YEARS OF PREPARATION

George Hay was bom in Edinburgh, on August
24th, 1729. He was descended from Duguld Hay of
Limplum, whose second son, George, was a friend
of John Knox and one of the leading reformers.
He appears to have been also a zealous controver­
sialist ; for Knox relates how, when the Abbot of
Crossraguel once presented himself in Maybole to
discuss about the Mass, “the voice of Maister George
Hay so effrayed him that efter ones he wearied of
that exercise.”
In the course of time the family must have fallen
sadly away from grace, for the father of the younger
George, a “ Writer in Dalrymple’s office,” was a
non-juring episcopalian and a staunch Jacobite,
whose devotion to the cause of the fallen Stuarts
led to his being put in irons and banished after the
rising of 1715.
All that is told of Mary Morrison, George’s mother,
is that she was a simple, pious woman who taught
her son to be faithful to his morning and evening
prayers, a lesson for which he was ever grateful to
her and to the practice of which he used later to
II

12

BISHOP HAY

ascribe, in part at least, his conversion to the Faith,
His godmother at his baptism was the little Lady
Clementina Fleming, the ten year old daughter of
the Jacobite Earl of Wigan.
When old enough he was sent to school in Edin­
burgh. There is no record of his youthful days,
but whatever other influences his school life may
have had upon his future career, one memory of it
he carried to the grave—a deep scar over the right
eye, where he was struck by a stone in one of the
“ bickers ” or miniature battles so beloved by the
Edinburgh boy of the time.
His father intended him for the medical profession,
and at fifteen he was apprenticed to a surgeon named
George Lauder. The famous Edinburgh school of
medicine was then coming into prominence, the
Royal Infirmary having been opened a few years
previously, but to judge by some remarks made by
George Hay many years later, the moral tone among
the students must have been deplorably low.
“ I was bom and educated in this city,” he says,
" and 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 1 am persuaded by all
accounts I can get that it is beyond any comparison
worse at present, especially in the medical line ;
in so much so, that it is my decided opinion that it is
next to a miracle if a young man, left 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.”*
♦ AU quotations from letters are taken, unless otherwise noted,
from those given in the " Scotichronicon.”

BISHOP HAY

13

George’s own studies, however, were soon cut
short by the dramatic tide of public events. In
1745 all Scotland was set on fire by the tidings of
the landing of Prince Charlie on the western coast,
and news soon came that he was marching with his
army on the capital. Volunteers were hastily
enrolled and the ancient walls restored and fortified,
but the Stuarts had many secret sympathisers in
the city and “ it was said that of the train band
captains 12 of 15 were Jacobite and the Commandant
a Jacobite.” Even the provost himself was not above
suspicion, and his “ conduct cast a damp upon all,
he was so slow in his deliberations, backward in
executing things arranged. He fixed upon a dismall
signall—the ringing of the fyre bell—to call the
volunteers or burghers, and this was a public in­
timation to the rebell friends within, and without
the city. . . . All was confusion, and they were not
knitt by discipline or authority and were raw men.”*
The result being that the all-conquering Prince
Charlie was soon holding high court in Holyrood
itself. Shortly afterwards he set out on his march
once more and inflicted a great defeat on Sir John
Cope at Prestonpans. Riding over the field of
battle and seeing so many wounded and dying, he
sent back in haste to Edinburgh for medical assis­
tance. Among those who obeyed the summons was
George Lauder, who started off at once with his
medicine chest and his students, George Hay among
the number. The boy was at first quite overcome
by the terrible sights, but he soon gained command of
himself and took his full share of the work. The
wounded of both armies were carried into Colonel
♦ " The Forty Five,” Sandford Terry, p. 43.

14

BISHOP HAY

Gardiner’s house, near Tranent, and the business of
tending them continued far into the night.
The next few months were full of novelty and
adventure for the young student, for he and his
master accompanied Prince Charlie on his dramatic
march into England and its melancholy return.
But the strain and hardship proved too much for
the growing lad—he was but sixteen—and he fell
violently ill with ague and had to be sent back to
Edinburgh. When the sun of the Jacobite hopes
finally set on the tragic field of Culloden, George Hay
was advised to hand himself over to the authorities
in the hopes that, his connection with the rising
having been confined to the care of the wounded, he
would be dealt with leniently. But this plea availed
him little, and he was imprisoned for three months
in Edinburgh Castle and then sent with a number of
other captives to London, where he was retained
for a year. His confinement was not strict, and he
and his fellow prisoners were allowed to have
visitors, one of whom was a certain Mr. Meighan,
a Catholic publisher. George, always of a serious
turn of mind, had often pondered deeply on religious
matters and was ready to accept with toleration
every creed, with the one exception of Catholicism,
which he regarded as totally opposed to true Chris­
tianity. He had even gone so far as to bind himself
by oath to do all in his power for its suppression f
He had no doubt come across many Catholics in
Prince Charlie’s army, but it was with great surprise
that he first heard any serious attempt at a defence
of their doctrines from the lips of Mr. Meighan.
In June, 1847, an act of indemnity was passed,
and George returned to Edinburgh. Finding that

BISHOP HAY

15

he was likely to be called as a witness against his
former companions, he retired to the house of a
relation, Sir Walter Montgomery, near Kilbride.
Much of his time was spent in the library, where,
among the other books, he found a copy of Gother’s
“ Papist misrepresented and represented.” His
attention having been attracted to the Catholic
Church, he took up the volume with some interest.
As he read on his surprise deepened, until he began
to ask himself if, after all, this despised religion
might not indeed be the true one. He passed
through a time of terrible distress as his perplexity
and doubts increased, and he spent many hours of
anguish on his knees, begging Almighty God with
tears to show him where the truth lay. He returned
to Edinburgh determined to seek out some Catholic
who could give him further information. It hap­
pened that he was attending a school of fencing
conducted by Mr. John Gordon, of Braes, who took
a great liking to him. As their friendship deepened,
George confided to him his troubles and told him of
his longing to make acquaintance with a Catholic.
“ Thank God ! ” exclaimed Mr. Gordon. “ I am
one myself.” He took George to Fr. John Seton,
who was then in Edinburgh, and after being duly
instructed, the young man was received into the
Church on December 21, 1748.
He was now nineteen years of age, and his mind
being at peace, his thoughts again reverted to the
carrying on of his medical studies. The famous
Dr. John Rutherford was at that time lecturing in
the Royal Infirmary, and he soon came to regard
George as one of his most promising pupils. A close
friendship sprang up between them, which con-

16

BISHOP HAY

tinued throughout life, widely as their paths were
afterwards to differ.
On October 14th, 1749, George was elected to the
Royal Medical Society of students, but he found that
the Penal Laws, still in force against the Catholics
debarred him from graduating at the University or
obtaining his diploma at the Royal College of Sur­
geons. The only opening available to him was to
start a chemist’s shop, but this could not satisfy
him for long. He longed for the fuller practice of
the religion for which he had sacrificed his worldly
prospects, and at the end of a year he sold up his
business and determined to go abroad. He accepted
a post as surgeon in a ship sailing for the Mediter­
ranean, but before joining the vessel he went to
London. Here he was introduced to Bishop Challoner, then in the full tide of his active career.
The Bishop, like so many others, quickly fell a victim
to the charm of the earnest young Scottish convert
who was so diligently seeking the Kingdom of God.
On closer acquaintance he formed a high opinion of
the young man’s mental powers, his solid judgment,
and his strength of character, and at length he told
him that he was convinced Almighty God was
calling him to the priesthood. The words fell on
fruitful soil, and George pondered them deeply in
his mind as he proceeded on his voyage to the
Mediterranean in fulfilment of his contract. It was
certainly not the pomp and splendour of the Church
of Rome which had attracted him to the fold, for the
Catholics in Scotland, even more than their brethren
in England, still lay hidden in the catacombs.
Player and study had brought him to the Faith,
but in all probability he had never dreamed that the

BISHOP HAY

17

sublime dignity of the priesthood ever could be his.
He was greatly helped by a holy Irish Augustinian
friar whom he met at Cadiz, where his vessel put
in and where he was able for some time to go ashore
for daily Mass.
Meanwhile Bishop Chailoner had communicated
with Dr. Smith, the Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland
district in Scotland, strongly recommending to him
this promising candidate to the priesthood, and
Dr. Smith immediately wrote to Mr. Hay, offering
him à vacancy in the Scots College at Rome, at the
same time urging upon him the pressing needs of
the Scottish mission. The correspondence was
carried on through Mr. Innes, the Principal of the
Scots College in Paris, who wrote to a friend : “ By
the account you give of him, it appears he is truly
a hopeful subject, and I am sorry he did not pass
this way. What Bishop Smith writes to Mr. Grant
about him has determined the matter for his going
forward to the Old Town (Rome), and I shall do all
I can, that he may meet there with everything to
his mind ; though I cannot say but I had much rather
have got him to this house.” And he wrote again :
“ I’d fain know your opinion of our last student,
Mr. Hay, sent by Bishop Smith with great eulogy of
him to our College in Rome. . . . By what I can
understand he is a lad very sincere, of good sense and
of more knowledge and experience than most we
send thither.”
And so, in September, 1751, at twenty-one years
of age, George Hay arrived in the Holy City and
presented himself at the doors of the Scots College.
His after career more than justified the golden
opinions with which he entered on his new life, and
B

18

BISHOP HAY

his long and strenuous labours were destined to
open a fresh epoch in the history of the Church in
Scotland.
The Scottish people, like every other Christian
nation, had very early established a refuge for their
pilgrims to the throne of Peter, and the well-known
church of Sant Andrea delle Fratte now marks the
site of the ancient Hospitium of the Scots. Great
as was the distance and difficult the journey, close
intercourse was maintained throughout the Middle
Ages between Scotland and the Holy See. During
the Great Schism, when England gave allegiance to
the anti-pope, Scotland remained loyal to the true
Vicar of Christ. Many a legate braved the rough
seas and landed on her troubled shores, chief among
them, the famous Piccolomini who was later on
himself to be elected pope, under the well-known title
of Pius II. Despite the ceaseless turmoil of baronial
feuds and border raids, great abbeys and fair
churches arose in every comer of the land, to the
glory of God and for the good of man. Then came
the Reformation, when all was swept away, and it
was soon seen that if the flickering spark of the
Faith were to be kept alive, some new provision must
be made abroad for the training of men who would
be ready to risk their lives by labouring as priests in
the desolate Scottish mission. In 1600 Pope
Clement VIII laid the foundation of the now
venerable Scots College. Four years later it was
moved to its present site and placed under the
direction of the Jesuits, who were still in charge when
young Hay arrived there in 1751. The rector at
that time was Fr. Lorenzo Alticozzi, one of the best
superiors the college ever had. There were nine

BISHOP HAY

19

students, with two of whom—also recent arrivals—
George soon formed a close intimacy. These were
William Guthrie, a convert like himself, and John
Geddes, who became his dearest friend and later on
his coadjutor. It is interesting to note that among
the little band were numbered three future bishops—
George Hay himself, John Geddes, and John
Macdonald, besides Charles Erskine, who later on
became a cardinal.
We have no contemporary description of George
Hay at this period of his life, but it is clear from the
impression he made upon all he met that he was
gifted with great personal attraction. He possessed
marked strength of character and pursued his high
ideals with unswerving purpose and no care or
thought of self. He was a tremendous worker,
never slackening in his application to his studies,
despite the severe headaches from which he suffered
throughout life. Yet withal he was no bookworm.
We learn from details of his later years that he
was blessed with a keen sense of appreciation and
enjoyment, and was very musical and a famous story
teller. He excelled, too, as a horseman, was a
great walker, and very fond of bathing.
We may well imagine how he revelled in his first
experience of the full and varied life of Catholic
Rome. Benedict XIV, who then occupied the Chair
of Peter, was one of the greatest of the popes, and
many famous men were attracted to his court.
Doubtless, in every age, the unsuspecting pilgrim
has jostled in the crowded streets of the Eternal
City against some unknown man or woman whose
name was later to be enrolled amongst the saints of
God. And so George Hay, as he walked with his

20

BISHOP HAY

fellow students to and from his lectures, may often
have seen the great St. Alphonsus, or St. Paul of
the Cross, the founder of the Passionists, in whose
heart burnt such flaming zeal for the conversion of
our far-off isles. Here, too, the loyal Jacobite
would often meet Prince Charlie, the hero of his
youthful days, for the fallen Stuarts, like so many
other royal exiles, had found shelter in the city of
the popes, where Henry, Duke of York, had but
recently been made a cardinal.
But the more the young convert rejoiced to see
The Bride of Christ adorned in all her splendour, the
more did he mourn over the desolate altars of his
own land, and the more earnestly did he pray and
study, that he might one day be counted worthy to
carry back the light of faith to the people who had for
so long sat in darkness.
The students at the Scots College led a strenuous
life. The day began at half-past five. At six
they assembled for morning prayers and meditation
in the little chapel so well known and loved by pil­
grims to this day. Mass was at six-thirty, and after
breakfast they set out for the Roman College, where
the Jesuits held their schools. At ten-thirty the
morning lectures closed, and the student returned
home to carry on their private studies until noon,
when they assembled in the chapel to recite the
Litany of the Saints before dinner, and afterwards
had recreation in the garden until two. A short
siesta followed, and they once more went to the
Roman College for afternoon schools. On the way
home they usually visited one of the many places of
interest, or stopped to say their prayers in some
church which was celebrating the festa of its saint.

BISHOP HAY

21

Private study and the rosary occupied them till
supper, when, after a short visit to the Blessed
Sacrament, they again met for recreation, and night
prayers and meditation closed their busy day.
The academical year commenced on All Saints, and
the summer vacation was spent then, as now, in
the country house amid the vineyards at Marino.
Each of the students was allowed five shillings a
year for pocket money ! Their joy may well be
imagined when Mr. Hay arrived “ with a few
guineas in his pocket, which he divided among them,
and with which they purchased combs, penknives,
beads, pictures, and above all, books—such as
De Ponte’s Meditations, and many others of a similar
kind ; and with which Mr. Hay himself bought
fiddlestrings.”
Bishop Smith took a keen interest in the progress
of his students, especially Mr. Hay and his two
friends, and enquired continually after them, sending
messages through Abate Grant, the Scottish agent
in Rome. The reports were most satisfactory.
Mr. Grant wrote on one occasion : “ Mr. Guthrie
never saw your sealed line ; George Hay got what
you wrote him ; these two, with John Geddes,
desire their best wishes to attend you. They are
doing very well, and, indeed, all in their house behave
mighty well.”
The poor Bishop, distracted for the want of priests,
urged the Abate to do all he could to get their time
of study shortened, so as to allow of their returning
home. The correspondence is of interest as showing
that many words of the secret code adopted in the
days of persecution were still in use.
“ When will Mr. Hay come to assist Mr. Sinitin ? ’*

22

BISHOP HAY

(his recently appointed coadjutor), wrote Bishop
Grant. “ Pray hasten him, as also W. Guthrie.
Where Jo Geddes and Jo Reid ? I daily mind them
all, pray mind us. Adieu.”
A friend, who sympathised with the good bishop’s
anxiety for the return of his priests, wrote : "I
doubt not but Mr. Hay’s good disposition and docile
temper will easily incline him to agree to the pro­
posal, and hasten home to his father, that he may
enter upon his trade, which he will be sufficiently
qualified for, as to the most material and necessary
branches of it.”
But Cardinal Spinelli, the Protector of the Scot­
tish mission, would hear of no such course. He
considered that the more thorough their training,
the more useful would the young priests prove in
their future work, and Dr. Smith could but submit.
“ The delay you tell of Mr. Hay’s coming home
grieves me much, though we dare not at present
complain.” In December, 1757, Abate Grant in­
formed the bishop that “ All the apprentices in our
Shop are mighty well ; Messrs. Hay, Geddes, and
Guthrie will, and must, remain where they are
another year, reckoning till next Easter ; for who
has authority over them here, will not allow them
to depart sooner, for all the representations that
can be made to the contrary.”
At last, in April, 1758, came the happy day when
Mr. Hay and Mr. Guthrie were raised to the priest­
hood by Cardinal Spinelli in his private chapel.
Mr. Geddes being unwell at the time, was not or­
dained until the following March. Mr. Hay now
consecrated his former medical training in an
especial way to the glory of God, binding himself by

BISHOP HAY

23

vow never to accept remuneration for any service
he might be enabled to render by this means in his
future labours.
In this same year the Holy See fell vacant by the
death of Pope Benedict XIV, and our three stu­
dents had the good fortune to be still in Rome for
the interesting ceremony of the Conclave, and to
witness the election of the new pope, Clement XIII.
Doubtless they were among the vast crowd which
assembled in the Piazza of St. Peter’s on Easter
Sunday when, for the first time, he gave his blessing
“ Urbi et Orbi ” (to Rome and the world). It was
a happy augury, indeed, and must have filled them
with hope and courage to face the many hardships
which lay before them on their return to their own
country. On the following Friday they bade fare­
well to Rome and to the beloved College whence so
many zealous missionaries had preceded them.
As they disappeared from view, one of the superiors
said to the remaining students : “I should not be
surprised if these three young men were to raise the
dead in Scotland.” And Abate Grant, in an­
nouncing their departure to Bishop Smith, wrote :
“For these many years three better disposed and
more accomplished young men have not gone from
this place.”
Time was to prove that these high hopes were
fully justified.
The journey across Europe was a serious business
in those days. It was no matter of a through car­
riage in a train de luxe, and the travellers were
exactly four months on the road, a great part of
which they covered on foot, so as to economise their
very slender means. Apart from the usual risks

24

BISHOP HAY

and dangers involved in such an undertaking, there
were special anxieties in their case, both from the
fact that, as Englishmen, they were liable to im­
prisonment in France (the two countries being then
at war), and that, on landing in Scotland the penal
laws exposed them to the penalty of arrest and
banishment if they were discovered to be “ Romish
priests.” However, a special Providence seemed to
watch over them and they had a prosperous, if
somewhat adventurous, journey, which as they were
young and full of hope and courage, they no doubt
thoroughly enjoyed. They went by sea to Mar­
seilles, being detained by storms at Civita Vecchia
and at Elba, in both of which places they were
able to land daily and say Mass. They met with
much kindness. In Elba, their dress (they still
wore the purple cassock of the Scots College)
attracted the attention of one of the harbour
officials, who introduced them to the Governor, a
Spanish marchese, who insisted on their dining with
him every day. The various consuls and the officers
of the garrison vied with one another in their
cordiality, and their piety and devotion astonished
the young Scotsmen so much that they wrote to
Abate Grant : “We cannot omit observing to you
the extraordinary satisfaction and singular edifica­
tion we received from the conversation of several of the
officers of the garrison, among whom we found such
sentiments of virtue and solid piety as to make us
really ashamed of ourselves. It was no small
surprise to us to find gentlemen of the sword every
day punctually reading their spiritual book as if
they had been in a cloister ; but our wonder was
still more increased when we understood, that every

BISHOP HAY

25

night, at twenty-four o’clock (the Ave Maria,
half-an-hour after sunset), they meet together in
church with their chaplain, and make three-quarters
of an hour of mental prayer in common.”
They parted from their kind friends with great
mutual regret and sailed on to Leghorn and Nice.
On the way they were held up by an English priva­
teer on suspicion of carrying French goods, but after
four days were allowed to proceed—only to be
condemned to five weeks’ quarantine. However,
this was reduced to sixteen days by the kind offices
of General Paterson, the Governor of Nice, and on
June 7th they set off in a chaise for Avignon. The
Jesuits here received them kindly and they decided
to proceed on foot to Lyons, a march of nine days.
They rested on the diligence boat up the Soane as
far as Chalons, and their funds being now alarmingly
low, they resumed their walk and pushed on as
fast as possible to Paris, where the warmest welcome
awaited them in the Scots College. They spent
two happy weeks in the gay city, providing them­
selves with suitable clothing (they had hitherto
worn their college dress) and in visiting some of the
principal sights—St. Denis and all its treasures ;
Versailles, whither they were escorted by an officer
of the Scottish Guard, who showed them the 6,000
horses in the royal stables. Louis XV was then on
the throne of France, and they saw his Queen at
Mass and watched the little Due de Berry (afterwards
the ill-fated Louis XVI) as he dined. They stood
by while the Dauphiness and the other princesses
amused themselves by fishing in a pond, and were
present at a display of the famous fountains.
When they finally left Paris, the professors and

26

BISHOP HAY

students escorted them on the first stage of their
journey, and having toasted each other in true
Scottish style at a wayside inn, they made for Douai.
Here was another Scots College with twelve students,
and the}-' were once more gladly welcomed by the
rector and the prefect of studies, Mr. Farquharson,
“ One of the most sincere, honest, affectionate,
homely men ” they had ever met. After four days
they proceeded on foot to Lille and Ghent, and then
by coach to Antwerp and Rotterdam. And now
the final and most difficult stage of their journey
awaited them. They had no passports, and under
the Penal Laws it was forbidden to land in Great
Britain. Their danger was still further increased
by the strict examination of all travellers resulting
from the war. A letter from a friend in Aberdeen to
Bishop Smith shows how anxiously news was looked
for of their arrival :
“ You’ll easily conceive the joy the good news of
the three travellers gave me. Their danger now
is in their landing in Br., seeing orders are given,
and strictly executed, to examine narrowly all
passengers from abroad. Could it be possible for
them to procure a pass, by means of some other
ambassador, from Col. York at the Hague ? If this
cannot be done, there is no other method but to
run them ashore, like contraband goods in a boat,
in the night-time in some creek. It were to be
wished that letters of advice on this subject might
find them at Grisy or in Holland. May Alm. God
preserve them, and send them safe and quickly.”
Providence was clearly watching over them.
They embarked at Rotterdam on August 9th, and
on the Feast of the Assumption entered the Forth.

BISHOP HAY

27

A kindly wind drove them ashore at the little village
of Buckhaven, in Fife, where the inhabitants, taking
them for smugglers, treated them with the greatest
civility. They thus escaped the examination which
would assuredly have awaited them at Leith, and
were able to reach Edinburgh by the ferry that
same night.

CHAPTER II
THE HARVEST FIELD

Before entering on the story of the labours of
George Hay on the Scottish mission, it will be as
well to give some account of the state of the country
as he found it on his return.
The Church in Scotland was at that time ruled by
two vicars apostolic, the boundary between their
respective districts running, roughly, from just
east of Inverness to the island of Bute. The vicar
apostolic of the Lowland district was Bishop Smith
(with Dr. Grant as his newly-appointed coadjutor) ;
the Highland district was in the hands of Bishop
Hugh Macdonald.
The ill-fated expedition of Prince Charlie in 1745
had wrought havoc to the Catholic cause. Two
thousand of his followers fell on the bloody field of
Culloden ; great numbers were hanged or shot as
spies and rebels ; hundreds were transported to
America, and many others sought voluntary exile
on the Continent. It was the Catholics who every­
where, and especially in the Highlands, had chiefly
rallied to the Stuart flag, and upon their little body
fell the full brunt of the cruel measures of repression.
Priests and lay-folk were hunted out and appre­
hended, the few poor chapels and the one tiny
seminary at Scalan were plundered and destroyed.
Bishop Macdonald was driven into exile and Dr.
28

BISHOP HAY

29

Smith lay hidden for the most part in Edinburgh,
whence he continued as far as possible to support
the heroic missionaries, who still endeavoured to
supply the needs of their scattered little flocks.
In 1747, under cover of a passport in the name of
Browne, he was able himself to visit the missions
in the North and return in safety to Edinburgh.
John Geddes was then a boy of about twelve
years old, living in the Enzie of Banff, one of the
most Catholic parts of the country, and he later
wrote an account of the straits to which they were
reduced.
"To give an idea of the state of the Catholic
religion in Scotland about this time, I shall briefly
describe what I myself observed in the Enzie where
I then was. Mr. John Godsman, who was mis­
sionary in the parish of Bellay, said Mass in various
places, commonly in barns, and always in the night­
time. Towards the end of the week, he bespoke
some barn that happened to be empty, in a place
proper for the meeting of the people in the night
between the approaching Saturday and Sunday ;
and some trusty persons were sent to acquaint the
heads of the Catholic families of this determination.
On Saturday, when it was late at night, the Catholics
convened at the appointed place ; after midnight
a sermon was made, Mass was said, and all endea­
voured to get home by daybreak. These meetings
were often very inconvenient, from the badness of
the weather and of the roads, and from the people
being crowded together without seats ; but all was
born with great alacrity and cheerfulness. They
seemed to be glad to have something to suffer for
their God and for the profession of His holy religion.

30

BISHOP HAY

Mr. Godsman was always in motion, discharging all
the duties of a good pastor, and that often in the
night-time ; and he was clothed like a decent farmer.
For several months he did not think it prudent to
make a very long stay at his own house in Auchenhalrig, and scarcely ever slept there, but in the
houses of some of his friends in the neighbourhood
of the hills. Rumours were spread that all the
Catholics were to be banished to America, and that
the goods of all who should not go to the Kirk
would be confiscated. However, I did not hear of
one in the Enzie who abandoned the Catholic re­
ligion. Two or three, indeed, went to the Kirk
once or twice, but they very soon repented and
returned to their duty. On the contrary, great
fervour appeared among the Catholics, with great
love to one another, and they seemed to be happy at
being reduced to a state something like that of the
first Christians. To their having these good dis­
positions, the example and exhortations of Mr.
Godsman greatly contributed ; and I was witness
of his receiving into the Church several persons
immediately after the battle of Culloden.
“ In Glenlivat, Strathavon, Braemar, the Western
Highlands, and the Isle of Uist the exercise of the
Catholic religion was more disturbed by frequent
searches made by troops for the missionary priests.
Fr. William Harrison distinguished himself at this
time by his courage and zeal. He presented himself
to the sheriff of Argyllshire, told him frankly that
he was a Catholic priest, but had neither done nor
meant harm to anybody, and begged protection.
The sheriff was well pleased with his confidence and
gave him a paper, signed by himself, requiring of

BISHOP HAY

31

everybody to allow him to go about his lawful
business unmolested. In consequence of this, Mr.
Harrison, in 1746 and 1747, visited almost all the
Catholics in the Highlands, administering the
sacraments, and exhorting the people to patience
and perseverance in the Faith. The missionaries
continued to be much harassed and kept in constant
alarm in many parts of the Highlands. Fr. Alex­
ander Gordon was apprehended, thrown into the
prison of Inverness, and put in irons, where he died
in a short time of pleurisy. Fr. Peter Gordon,
superior of the Jesuits, being missionary in Braemar,
was apprehended in 1746 and brought to Aberdeen.
Here Mr. Menzies, of Pitfodels, gave bail for him,
upon which he at once returned to his former mis­
sion, and was in Braemar before the soldiers who
seized him got back to their castle in that country.”*
Bishop Macdonald ventured to return to Scotland
in 1749 and continued his labours until 1755, when
he was apprehended and imprisoned, as was reported
in the Scois Magazine : “ On the 1st March, 1756,
Hugh Macdonald, brother of Macdonald of Morar,
was tried at Edinburgh before the High Court of
Justiciary, at the instance of the Lord Advocate
for refusing to purge himself of popery. He was
found guilty and sentenced to be banished the
kingdom, never to return under pain of death.”
None the less, the good bishop remained faithful at
his post, ministering as best he could to the needs
of his flock, until he died at an advanced age, in 1773
Meantime Bishop Smith was finding the adminis­
tration of the entire Lowland district a heavy burden
for the shoulders of one man of delicate health and
* “ History of the Catholic Church in Scotland,” Walsh, p. 508.

32

BISHOP HAY

advancing years, more especially as many of his
priests were still in banishment or detained in ships
of war. His earnest appeals for help from Rome
having remained unanswered, he wrote again as
follows, to Propaganda, on December 13th, 1747 :
“ Most eminent and most reverend Lords,
" We had already written at length to the S.
congregation ; but learning that our letter could
not be transmitted (which is now a much more
difficult matter than before), it is necessary to
write again more shortly. Soon after our letter
of last year, the Bishop of Misinopolis (himself)
set out for the North, against the wish of many
persons who thought that the danger was too
great. However, considering the urgent needs of
the mission, he deemed it his duty at all events
to make the attempt, and by God’s help he
carried out his plan successfully, and visited with
as little delay as possible the districts destitute
of pastors, administered the Sacraments to the
faithful, and endeavoured to revive, sustain and
console their flagging spirits. Many of the priests
had been driven away ; those, however, who had
remained at their posts still continued to minister
to their people, and he found them all, notwith­
standing so many privations and dangers, quite
ready to perform their accustomed duties. . . .
“ In the course of this visitation, what he had
already heard of with sorrow he was now still
more grieved to see—namely not only demolished
and burnt-down houses where religious assemblies
were formerly held, and the seminary of Scalan in
the same condition, but also—still more melan-

BISHOP HAY

33

choly spectacle—the ruin of spiritual edifices.
To this latter evil, however, a more prompt and
efficacious remedy seems to be forthcoming, by
the divine goodness, than to the external loss ;
for the Bishop has already himself recovered some
of the wanderers and has learnt that others are
returning, and has taken counsel with his clergy
for the bringing back of the remainder. . . .
“ Easter being past, and certain business
matters transacted, he visited the northern dis­
tricts, and did his best to complete the work
begun in the previous visitation, and to carry
through a little more fully what he had been unable
to do before. But though the violence of the
storm was now over, tranquillity did not at once
follow ; nay, the exterior wounds, there being
no one to heal them, even grew worse, but our
internal losses, by God’s goodness, are in many
cases being repaired, for many who through fear
or fraud had fallen away are now returning.
Some, indeed, persist in their errors, but this loss
is to a certain extent compensated by others
who, in spite of dangers, flock to the church of
their own accord ; and these, if not equally
numerous, are at all events greatly superior in
merit to the former.
“ With reference to the priests of the same
vicariate, Mr. Campbell has died from the effects
of his wounds (received at Culloden), and Er.
A. Cameron, S.J., has succumbed to the fatigues
occasioned by his voyages. Mr. A. Macdonald
and Mr. A. Forrester and Frs. John and Charles
Farquharson, S.J., after a lengthened imprison­
ment on board ship, have finally been banished.
c

34

M||
M|l

■I
Ml
Ml

M
M
^H|
M
^■1
^■1

^■1

^H

M

■11
■Il

HI
H|
■II

■Il
||
II

Μ
U
l|
H

BISHOP HAY

Mr. James Grant, infirm before, and still more so
now after long imprisonment, is not yet able to
return to the Highlands. These having been
taken from us, and Fr. Colgan, an Irish friar,
being also absent, the only ones now left are
Mr. Angus Maclaughlan, who, though worn out
with labours, old age, and sickness, still ministers
to certain of the faithful .... also Mr. William
Harrison and Mr. Angus MacGillis, who travel
alone with great zeal, through the western districts, and penetrate as far as the distant islands.
All these the Bishop as soon as he was able, and
thereafter as often as occasion offered, has consoled
and exhorted by letters. Lastly he saw in Braemar Fr. Gordon, S.J., diligently labouring, and
thence he returned to Edinburgh by way of the
mountains of Atholl.”
The Bishop then complains of the want of support
on the part of Rome, and continues :
"It is certain that in all former times this
mission was in such esteem and favour with the
Holy See that it never implored help in its necessities or troubles. Nor are we now conscious of
any crime on account of which we deserve to be
repulsed. But if we have haply sinned in ignorance, we beg that it may be made known to us,
that we may be justly punished unless we amend.
If, however, the Bishop of Misinopolis is in any
way the cause or the occasion of this disturbance,
why should he not be cast into the sea so that the
storm may cease ? Happy if by this, or any other
means, nay, even by his death, he may restore
tranquillity to the Church. If he be guilty why
should he be borne ? If innocent^ why punished ?

BISHOP HAY

36

For hardly could a greater punishment be inflicted
than to be abandoned by our most eminent
Protectors. . . .
“ Moreover, it is necessary, as our former letters
have stated, that a coadjutor should be granted
to this vicariate by the Holy See. It is certain
that when the late Bishop of Nicopolis obtained
this favour, he was some years younger than the
Bishop of Misinopolis now is, and much stronger
both in mind and in body : besides, in our present
most serious troubles, there is a more serious
necessity for such a measure. Lastly, it is needful
: that the proper remedies should be applied without
delay to the evils under which clergy and people
have been, and still are, suffering, for our little
bark, albeit much tossed about by the waves, is
by the singular goodness of God not yet over­
turned. If, however, it be abandoned by the
Holy See, needs must that it perish. Therefore
we again and again entreat our most gracious
Protectors, with all possible humility, to raise
up the bishops and clergy who have so long lain
prostrate at their feet, and to deign speedily to
take pity on and assist this long afflicted church,
lest the remedy, if further delayed, chance to
be applied too late. That Almighty God may
long preserve your Eminences in safety to this
mission and to the whole Christian world, is the
most fervent prayer of your Eminences’ most
humble and obedient servant,
Alexander, Bishop of Minisopolis,
Vicar Apostolic in the Lowlands of Scotland.”*
* Quoted in the " History of the Catholic Church of Scotland,”
Béllesheim, Vol. iv. p. 399.

36

BISHOP HAY

The Catholics of Scotland were indeed “ sitting
in darkness and the shadow of death.” As surely
as the clouds seemed about to break, a fresh storm
was aroused, not by the government, who were in
reality inclined to clemency, but by the fanatical
zeal and hatred of the ministers, who never ceased
to feed the fire of prejudice against the unhappy
Papists. Bands of soldiers patrolled the districts
where Catholics were most numerous, and the priests
scarcely dared to appear in public. In 1751, Mr.
Maitland was brought before the High Court of
Justiciary, in Edinburgh, for the crime of being
by “ habit and repute a Jesuit priest, or trafficking
papist,” and was banished from the realm, never to
return, under pain of death. Mr. Patrick Gordon,
afterwards superior of the Jesuits, was similarly
treated in Aberdeen. Mr. John Gordon wrote from
Aberdeen to Mr. Godsman in 1751 : "We are still
kept in hopes of an end of our troubles, though, as
yet, little of the effects have appeared. On the
contrary, we are under frequent alarms here ; and
just lately when people were convening in the night
time for celebrating the solemnity of Pentecost,
there was the narrowest escape from the malicious
designs of two extravagant fellows of townsmen,
to bring the guard upon a ch(urchma)n at Mrs.
Duncan’s ; besides great threatenings against Meet­
ings in the town, from the same sergeant who appre­
hended Mr. Patrick Grant. This gentleman is now
at Edinburgh in Mr. Maitland’s place and office ;
and Mr. Maitland sailed for Dunkirk on the 15th
instant.”
The patience and constancy of the missionaries
under their many trials were unwavering. One,

BISHOP HAY

37

Mr. John Seton, wrote to Dr. Smith : “ We have ere
now withstood the brunt of their persecutions and
have got a respite. I hope we shall not degenerate
at present. Modicum et videbitis me ; a courageous
patience can do a great deal and God will send
relief, I hope, in due time, if we apply to Him with
fervent prayer.”
Principal Innes, of the Scots College in Paris,
writing to Abate Grant in Rome of the persecutions
in Scotland, said : “ Our poor distressed people are
as hard put to it at home just now, as they were
immediately after the fatal battle of Culloden.”
The Abate approached the cardinals once more and
succeeded through them in getting the Pope to
make an appeal to the Catholic powers to use their
influence at the English Court in favour of the un­
happy sufferers. The Imperial, Sardinian, and
Bavarian ambassadors warmly took up the cause,
and Bishop Chailoner, with his usual large-hearted
charity, did all he could in support of their efforts.
The result was that orders were sent from London
to Scotland to stop all persecution on account of
religion, and to ensure the good behaviour of the
soldiers. Although these orders were by no means
exactly carried out, the poor Catholics did, for a time,
enjoy a certain measure of peace. Dr. Chailoner
went to thank the ambassadors for their kind offices,
and wrote to the Scottish bishops :

“ Messieurs,
“ We are sorry our little endeavours to procure
the peace and tranquillity of your poor afflicted
Church have not met with all the success we could
have wished for. But God’s Holy Will be done.

38

BISHOP HAY

Our interest here with men in power is very
inconsiderable ; we can only join our prayers
with yours, to call upon Him, Who has ah hearts in
His Hands, to give peace in our days, and to let
the Light of His countenance shine upon His
people. In this, as in everything else that lies
in our small power, without transgressing rule
or order, we shall be ever glad to contribute our
mite towards the assisting you and yours. . . .
“ Believe me to be, Messieurs, your affectionate,
humble servant,
“ Richard Deboren.”
Meanwhile, Rome had still not complied with
Bishop Smith’s urgent request to be allowed a
coadjutor, and, in 1753, both vicars apostolic wrote
another moving appeal : “ Some months ago the
Bishop of Diana (Bishop Macdonald) weighed down
by cares, fell sick and was very near death ; nor
does he yet enjoy sufficiently good health to be
equal to his most heavy burden. As for the Bishop
of Misinopolis, worn out by labour, anxiety and
age, L has been suffering from a sickness more
prolonged than ever before, and now, after a brief
interval, he feels that it has returned and is daily
increasing ; nor can an old man of seventy look
for much relief, nor for the strength needful for
discharging duties so manifold and so important.
We both humbly entreat therefore, that, for the
good of religion, another bishop may be granted
as speedily as possible.”*
• " History of the Catholic Church of Scotland,” Beltesheim,
Vol. IV, p. 407.

BISHOP HAY

89

Their petition was at last granted, but it was not
until two years later that Mr. James Grant was, after
much reluctance on his own part, consecrated Bishop
of Sinita by Dr. Smith in Edinburgh.
James Grant was born in 1726 in the Enzie, the
nursery of so many worthy priests, and was educated
in Rome. He was stationed in the island of Barra
at the time of Prince Charlie’s expedition in 174Ô.
In the following year a man-of-war landed a party
of soldiers who threatened the islanders with destruc­
tion unless they delivered up their priest. Mr.
Grant, hearing of this, at once gave himself into their
hands, and was carried off and thrown into the
common prison at Inverness, where he shared a
room with forty other prisoners. For several
weeks he was chained by the leg to an Irish Jacobite
officer of the name of MacMahon. So closely were
they fastened that, if in the night one wished to
turn round, he could only do so by rolling over the
body of the other. Some friends brought them
each a bottle, which they used to hang out of the
window to be filled with water by any kindly passer­
by. One day, however, the guards confiscated
these bottles, on the trumpery excuse that the
prisoners were planning to hit them over the head
with them. Mr. Grant used afterwards to say that
the loss of his beloved bottle grieved him more than
any of his other trials. At last, his brother, backed
by the minister and other protestants of Barra,
managed to obtain his release, and he returned to the
Enzie to try and recruit his shattered health, which,
however, never really recovered the hardships
of his imprisonment. As soon as he had regained
sufficient strength, he took charge of the parish of

40

BISHOP HAY

Rathven, where he remained until he was elected
bishop.
Such was the religious state of the country when
George Hay and his two companions landed once
again on the shores of Scotland. It is easy to ima­
gine how eagerly their coming was expected and
how warm a welcome was extended to the three
young labourers, so full of zeal and promise, who
now entered upon the harvest.

CHAPTER III
THE LABOURER IN THE HARVEST

George Hay was a man of striking appearance
and commanding presence. He was tall and thin,
with bold features, his nose large and acquiline, his
eyes brown and very piercing ; but his somewhat
stem expression was belied by the wonderful sweet­
ness of his mouth and smile. Both his parents had
died during his absence in Rome, but, knowing so
little about his relations with his family, it is pleasant
to learn that his conversion had not led to any
estrangement between them, and that he had
obtained his father’s consent to his becoming a
priest. On his return to Edinburgh, his sister and
other relations had begged that he might be allowed
to remain some little time with them before entering
on his new duties. He wrote to Abate Grant, in
Rome, to tell him of his safe arrival : “ Without the
least trouble or molestation anywhere. My friends
and relations have all received me with the greatest
affection. Even those whom I least imagined would
do so. I believe I am kept here for a few weeks
principally on that account.”
It was no doubt of the greatest importance to
use every means to break down the insane prejudice
which still existed against the Catholic Church,
and a better instrument could hardly have been
41

42

BISHOP HAY

found than this young man, so universally admired
and liked, who was newly come from the very hotbed
of Rome itself. Accordingly, he remained for a
short time in Edinburgh, while his two friends
proceeded on their way to see Bishop Smith, then
on visitation in the North. Mr. Guthrie was at once
appointed to the vacant mission at Glenlivat, and
Mr. Geddes sent to the Cabrach, a wild and desolate
district, known as the “ Siberia of Scotland," where
he had five stations under his care, which he visited
in turn on successive Sundays. His headquarters
were at Shenval, a remote village in which Bishop
Macdonald was living disguised under the name of
Scot, and after spending some time here he was made
Superior of the little seminary at Scalan, a post which
he filled with eminent success.
Since the appointment of his coadjutor, Bishop
Smith had taken up his residence for the most part
in Edinburgh, while Dr. Grant remained in the
North, living chiefly at Preshome. Owing to the
shortage of priests, the latter had hitherto added to
his episcopal duties those of parish priest of Rathven,
and it was now arranged that Mr. Hay should live
with him and relieve him of this extra charge.
St. Peter’s, Rathven, is one of the two parishes
comprising the Enzie of Banff, so justly known as
one of the strongholds of the Faith, the nursery of
many a heroic priest, and no fewer than seven
bishops. Preshome, in the centre of the district,
had long ago been chosen by Bishop Nicholson, the
first Vicar Apostolic, as his residence, and the little
band of Catholics had formerly gathered in a tiny
chapel called the Chapel of the Craigs, hidden away
in a wooded ravine ; but this had been destroyed

BISHOP HAY

43

by the English soldiers in the forty-five, and all the
books and vestments burnt. Since then Mass
had been said in secret in a room in the priest’s
house itself. Adjoining St. Peter’s was the parish
of Bellie, at that time in charge of Mr. John
Godsman, one of the most zealous and devoted of
all the Scottish missionaries. Born in the district,
he was drawn to the Church from his earliest child­
hood, and was received when only eleven years of
age. He was educated in Rome and returned to
the mission in 1730. In 1745 he was imprisoned,
but nothing could be proved against him and he
was soon released. He then served both parishes
of the Enzie, going about disguised as a farmer. He
hardly ever slept in his own house, but used to
wander from cottage to cottage among the hills,
saying Mass and preaching, usually at midnight,
in the bams. Such was his reputation for sanctity
that at last the officers agreed among themselves
that he should no longer be molested. They ar­
ranged to meet him in the house of a Catholic, and
one Of them asked what he was doing that made him
so obnoxious to the Government. “ I say my
prayers and endeavour to make my neighbours
good Christians,” he replied. “ But you pray
against the king,” objected the officer. “ No, sir,”
said Mr. Godsman, ” I pray for the welfare of all
men ; of all whom the earth bears and the heavens
cover.” He was thereafter allowed to gather his
congregation in a large cottage, though for some
time Mass was still celebrated at midnight.
Mr. Hay arrived at Preshome in November,
1759, and the following letter to Bishop Smith,
whom he had only been able to see for a short time

44

BISHOP HAY

before leaving Edinburgh, shows the impression
made upon him by his new surroundings :
" December 12, 1759.
“ Much honoured Sir,
" I received yours by course of post, and am
sorry when I reflect upon my sudden departure
from Edinburgh, which deprived me so soon of
your paternal counsel and direction, which could
not have failed to be of particular use and ad­
vantage to me in the weighty charge I am now
entered upon.
“ However, I hope you will, with your conveniency, from time to time communicate to me
such advices and instructions as your prudence
and charity shall judge most necessary for me.
Nothing, I assure you, can be more agreeable to
me ; and I shall always receive them with that
filial submission and gratitude, which they require
at my hand. I am extremely happy and content
in my present situation. I am sensible, indeed,
how every way unfit I am for the station I am
placed in, and this makes me fear ; but I comfort
myself with the thoughts that the work I am
engaged in belongs to Alm. God, who can make
use of the weakest instruments to bring about His
own great ends, and I trust through your prayers,
in His infinite goodness, that He will not fail,
by His gracious assistance, to enable me to
perform what He requires at my hands. . . .
“ There is a great want here of proper books in
the hands of the people ; my heart bleeds to see
the effects of that want. There are several of
these pamphlets which I saw with you, such as

BISHOP HAY

45

‘ The Grounds of the Catholic Religion,’ and
‘Roman Catholic’s Reasons,’ ‘Short History of
the Reasons,’ ‘ Fenelon's Thoughts,’ etc., which
might be of unspeakable advantage had we num­
bers of them. It would be a great charity to
send me as many as you can of these pieces. I
am extremely concerned for the people of Stroyla ;
we have daily laments and complaints from that
country.
“ Mr. Geddes’ friends think they have him too
seldom already, and will not hear of wanting him
a Sunday or two more. As for me, I find more
to do here than can well be done as it ought ;
and this place would take two, at least, to have
nothing else to do. By this means poor Stroyla
is, in a manner, neglected, and yet I understand
there are above 100 communicants in that country.
It gave me, I assure you, a great concern that a
poor man died there two weeks ago, without any
manner of help or assistance. May Alm. God
look upon us in mercy, and send us soon relief. . . .
“ My apartment here is vastly open and cold in
stormy weather, but I hope to stand out this
winter, and get it some way helped when spring
comes. I humbly thank you for your care of my
musical instruments, as also those my kind friends,
who are so kind as to supply me. I earnestly
recommend myself to your good prayers, and am
with all dutiful respect and veneration, much
honoured Sir, your most obedient servant and
son.”

It was partly on account of Rathven being con­
sidered one of the most eligible of the missions that

46

BISHOP HAY

Mr. Hay had been appointed there, *’ Because his
being in all his younger days accustomed to a more
convenient way of living, would make some districts
harder to him than others.” This being so, Mr.
Godsman’s remarks throw a vivid light on the
conditions prevailing in other districts :
“ I heard from Mr. Hay two days ago ; for, as
the sickness is not ceased we cannot see one another
but seldom. As he has been accustomed with
better accommodation, I fear the room he is in,
which is that above Mr. Siniten, is so cold in winter
that it will impair his health. The flooring, ceiling,
and casement of the windows are so much worn,
that the wind and cold comes in every way. I
really think he is never warm this weather but
when in bed.”
Yet such was the state of public feeling that he
preferred to endure this discomfort rather than
attract outside attention. “ I am very sensible
of the danger of making great reparations,” he
wrote, “ and therefore, we shall do the best we can
with as little noise as possible ; and I hope Almighty
God, through your good prayers, will hinder any
bad consequences from the coldness of my habita­
tion. Alas, honourable Sir, I am almost ashamed
to mention it, when I consider the situation poor
Mr. Guthrie is in. However, God is good as well as
strong, and I hope He will enable him to bear it all.”
Cardinal Spinelli, the Cardinal Protector, con­
tinued to take a keen interest in his young Scottish
priests, and wrote encouragingly to Mr. Hay :
“You have a good return for your labour ; do not
spare yourself ; and assure yourself always, more
and more, of my goodwill. I take leave of you,

BISHOP HAY

47

in the Lord, with my paternal benediction. Yours,
most affectionately, G. Card. Spinelli.”
Life on the mission was certainly no life of luxury.
Mr. Hay received forty shillings a quarter for his
board, sharing the same room with Bishop Grant
in order to save fire and candle. He kept a pony,
for his work extended many miles over hill and dale,
by night and day, and often through deep drifts of
-snow. In his old age the boys at the seminary
loved nothing so much as to lead him on to describe
some of his adventures (he would usually try to
disguise the fact that he himself was the hero of the
stories) . One of his anecdotes was as follows :
One night when everyone else had gone to bed and
he was finishing his prayers, there came a loud
knocking at the door, as though someone were
rapping with a heavy whip handle. The servants,
too, were roused, and went to see what was the
matter. But when the door was opened no one
was to be seen, although they searched in all direc­
tions round the house. They all retired to rest,
but Mr. Hay could not sleep, and about two o’clock
the same rapping was renewed. He at once thought
it must be a sick call and, dressing hastily, he went
downstairs. This time he found a man awaiting
him with two saddle horses to lead him to a dying
woman, twenty miles away.
Besides the care of his own parish, he was often
called on to supply the needs of neighbouring con­
gregations, left desolate by the sickness or death of
; their own pastors. Often on a Sunday he would be
so exhausted as to be almost incapable of getting
home. His skill in medicine was a godsend to the
scattered country folk, and his readiness to attend

48

BISHOP HAY

all his neighbours, Catholic and Protestant alike,
won him the esteem and respect of the whole
countiyside. His first ambition was to restore the
little chapel of Our Lady of the Craigs. By the
exercise of great tact and prudence, he succeeded
in obtaining possession of the ruin, which he re­
roofed, and cautiously opened occasionally for
Sunday school—" nows and thens, and as they
found encouragement oftener,” as he wrote ; and
finally he was able to announce in triumph to Bishop
Smith : “I have got my chapel now put in good
order ; my altar is up, and pleases. The seats are
to be put in next week ; but I have been forced
to put up a loft, twelve feet long from the one end.
I expect the money I will raise by a cess on the
seats, with the help you procured for me, will go
pretty nigh defraying all the charge, which, however,
will be above thirteen guineas.” An amusing in­
cident occurred not long after the new chapel was
opened. Mr. Hay was standing vested at the altar
one Sunday, waiting to begin Mass, when the man
who, as usual, had been set to keep watch outside,
ran in to say a soldier was seen approaching. Mr.
Hay at once disappeared into the neighbouring
wood. But the alarm proved to be a false one—
the supposed soldier turning out to be a pious mem­
ber of the congregation whose bright scarlet waist­
coat had been mistaken for a uniform.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hay’s zeal and undoubted ability
soon attracted the attention of his superiors, who
made increasing use of him in many important and
delicate affairs. This involved several journeys to
Edinburgh and a large correspondence, which he
carried on with great exactness and ability. So

BISHOP HAY

49

invaluable were his services, that when a suggestion
was made of sending him to take charge of the College
in Douai, one of the senior missionaries wrote in
protest to Bishop Smith : “ As to Mr. Hay, I think
him much better fitted for being a labourer at home,
by his clever, active spirit, and great qualifications
for doing greater good in the Country than in the
narrower sphere of a Shop (seminary) and a few
’Prentices (students). Besides, the place he now
occupies could not be so advantageously filled by any
other Labourer we have at present. Moreover, it is
of no small consequence to have so near the D. of
G.’s door (whose inclinations towards us are yet
much in the dark) a person that is much loved and
esteemed by everyone, and has gained kindly many
friends among the better sort, who may be of use
to protect him, if any danger was threatened. In
fine, which with me is of great weight, he is, in my
opinion, the only fittest person, among all the
Labourers to be made a coadjutor in due time,
being neither too young nor too old, and having
abundance of qualifications, both natural and
acquired, with much zeal and a good fund of piety
. .... . So that it would be very inadvisable to let him
go out of the country, or from the place wherein
he is settled.”
It is interesting to find the secret code still in use.
Rome was commonly spoken of as “ Hilltown,”
Propaganda as ” Exchange,” and Communicants
as “ Customers.” Mr. Hay reports twenty-nine
new “ Customers,” or converts, during his first five
years at Rathven. But the fires of persecution were
slowly dying down and the Catholics were be­
ginning to breathe more freely, especially in the
D

50

BISHOP HAY

Lowland district. In the Highlands they were
more closely watched and their chief enemies were
still the ministers, who, it was said, having hardly
any congregations of their own, found occupation
in spying out the papists. Bishop Hugh Macdonald
was growing aged and infirm, but though a coadjutor
had been appointed to help him (his nephew, John
Macdonald, a fellow student with Mr. Hay in Rome),
the shortage of priests was so serious that the old
bishop was obliged to take upon himself the active
charge of some of the most desolate parts of his
vicariate.
In 1763 the Scottish mission sustained a sad loss
in the death of Cardinal Spinelli, for ten years its
devoted Protector. The first act of his successor,
Cardinal Albani, was to ask for a full report of the
religious conditions, both in Scotland and the
seminaries abroad. This was a matter of no small
difficulty, in view of the scattered and oppressed
state of the Catholics, more especially in the High­
lands, where there were at the time only seven
priests. However, the bishops did their best, and
the report contains many items of interest. They
state that the number of Catholics in Scotland had
been reduced by at least a thousand owing to the
rising of the Forty-five, while not fewer than six
thousand had been drafted out of the country for
foreign service, in the war then being waged with
France. The total number of communicants was
reckoned at about eighteen thousand, twro-thirds of
whom were in the Highlands. There were four
bishops, sixteen seculars, thirteen Jesuits, and one
Benedictine. A letter written a little later by Mr.
Hay to Bishop Smith may be quoted here as giving

BISHOP HAY

51

an interesting account of the financial state of the
mission at this time.
12 April, 1765.
“ ... . By state of funds last meeting : the whole
amounted to about £310, and out of this must be
paid : 1st—The clothing apprentices.
2nd—
Their viatic [the expenses of the students to and
from the colleges]. 3rd—Their extraordinary ex­
penses by accidents on their journey, which some­
times runs very high. 4th—When young labrs.
come home, being perfectly destitute, they would
need some extraordinary supply. 5th—Extra­
ordinary expenses, when any labourer falls sick.
6th—When old and infirm. 7th—If any should
be imprisoned. 8th—Sacred utensils of all kinds,
which, as we are exposed from time to time to
persecutions, are frequently, upon these occasions,
pillaged and lost. 9th—Postage of letters, both
at home and abroad, which will now be consider­
ably increased by the want of franks, and still more
as our good Friend at Old Town
*
is, in all ap­
pearance, soon to leave us. 10th—The expenses
of meeting from time to time, so much recom­
mended and so necessary for our affairs. 11th—
The expenses of printing catechisms, of which
great numbers are wanted, and of buying books
of devotion and controversy to be distributed or
lent to those who have need and are not able to
buy. 12th—The paying debts of those labrs.
who have the misfortune to die and leave debts
behind them, which is sometimes the case, and
the good of religion requires to be paid.
“ Now a proper allowance being made for these
* Prince Charlie.

52

BISHOP HAY

occasional and necessary expenses (and some of
them happen almost every year), Padrons [the
cardinals] will see that there will remain but a
very small pittance for particulars. In fact, till
of late it was only £1 or £8, and our present £10
is chiefly owing to the scarcity of hands we have
had of late ; if the number Padrons proposed
was complete, all our funds would scarce keep up
that to us. £10 or 40 crowns itself would not
seem a great affair to those gentlemen, when
they are also informed that out of this we must
provide bed, board, clothes washing ; that in
large country missions there is no doing without a
horse ; that in towns living is extravagant, and
proportionably so even in the country ; that we
are sometimes obliged to assist our people in
their necessities out of our own pockets, and that
well-timed charities have been found by experience
to be of the greatest service even to souls ; and
more of this kind might be done had we more to
spare. This much, honoured Sir, was the subject
I wrote to Mr. George, and added, as. Mr. Gods­
man’s opinion, that £15 was the most moderate
demand could be made for those in the country,
and £20 for those in the towns.”*
Busy people often console themselves with the
saying that work is prayer, but Mr. Hay, though
doubtless carrying out this statement to the full
in his own case, never for a moment allowed his
many arduous and distracting cares to interfere
with his spiritual life. His day was carefully
mapped out—indeed, but for this precision it would
♦ Scotichronicon, p. 49.

BISHOP HAY

53

have been impossible for him to overtake the half
of his labours. He rose very early and made an
hour’s meditation and recited the little Hours of his
office, before beginning his preparation for his Mass.
He liked, it possible, to hear a second Mass by way
of thanksgiving, and then spent some time in
spiritual reading from extracts he himself had taken
from the ascetic writers. The morning he devoted
to business until his dinner hour at noon. After
this he returned to business and finished his Office.
At eight o’clock he returned to the chapel or to his
room and spent another hour in prayer. After
supper he said night prayers with his household,
and then devoted himself to study and devotion
until after midnight. His bed consisted of a mattress
and two blankets, without sheets. He always did
the work of his own room himself. He wore no
linen, but was scrupulously neat and clean in his
dress. He ate very little—his digestion was always
weak—and for the greater part of his life he lived on
milk and vegetables and drank nothing but water.
If possible, he went to confession every fortnight.
He was an impressive preacher and at first he
found the preparation of his sermons a terrible effort,
as he describes in a letter : “ When I first began to
speak in public, in preparing what I had to say, I
made no use of notes, but, reading over such books
as I had upon the intended subject, endeavoured to
commit to my memory such things as I thought
most for my purpose, adding of my own whatever
occurred as proper thereto ; but in this I found a
great difficulty, viz., that after I had formed in this
manner the skeleton of a discourse in my mind to­
day, before to-morrow my memory (which is extra­

54

BISHOP HAY

ordinarily weak, especially when I have any of
my headaches, which, indeed, I seldom altogether
want, and what I have of it very material) failed me
and I was obliged to renew my former reading, and
then ten to one if I fell upon the same sequel of
thought as before, or to make an express act of
recalling the former ideas as it were by force, and
this I found to be extremely afflicting to my head,
and very often to little purpose. Hence, as Mr.
Grant may well remember, almost my whole study
from Monday to Sunday was reading or thinking over
and over again what I had to say, in order to fix it
in some manner in my memory.”
Later on he made more copious use of notes, di­
viding his sermons into headings. “ In following
this method the composing a sermon will cost me
three and sometimes four hours reading, studying,
noting, etc., and after that is done I have nothing
more to think about, except to read them over twice
or thrice the night before I am to speak to the people,
or that morning, if time will allow.”
Stothert, in his life of Bishop Hay, gives the
following quaint description of his preaching :
“ His manner in preaching is described by living
persons who have heard him as peculiarly animated,
impressive, and forcible. He occasionally resorted
to the ‘ percussio furoris ’ and the stamping of the
right foot, but neither noisily nor violently ; and
he gesticulated with his hands a good deal, in the
Italian manner. When warmed by his subject he
articulated very rapidly. His language was of the
simplest kind, delivered in the old Scottish dialect,
in which he always spoke. If an expression escaped
him which the common people seemed unlikely to

BISHOP HAY

55

understand, he would presently substitute another
phrase, perhaps a Scotch one. The whole appear­
ance of his countenance while he spoke, illustrated
and corresponded with the subject of his discourse.
He threw his whole soul into what he was doing,
without apparent effort or the least affectation.
His discourses, like his writings, were enriched with
numerous passages from the Scriptures. He used
frequently, also, to employ examples from the lives
of the saints, or some other authentic source to
explain and enforce his meaning. He was some­
times severe in his remarks, when anyone distracted
the attention of his auditory, by unnecessary noise in
going out or coming in, and he soon recalled the
wandering thoughts and eyes of the people to him­
self and his subject. His power over the audience
was sometimes very great. On one of his many
journeys through Buchan, he stopped a Sunday and
preached at Bythe. Many Protestants in the chapel
were in tears, and, as they came out, they were heard
to say to one another : ‘ If he preached here always
we would never go anywhere else.’ ”*
Mr. Hay’s favourite virtue throughout life was
conformity to the Will of God. For sixty years
this formed the basis of his meditation, and he
constantly inculcated it to those under his spiritual
care. He even made a collection of the passages of
Scripture relating to it. Come what might, the
expression most often on his lips and in his letters
was that of Judas Macchabeus : " Sic fuerit voluntas
in coelo, sic fiat.” It was no doubt from this
practice that he gained that unassailable peace and
serenity which was the constant wonder of his
* Scotichronicon, p. 56.

56

BISHOP HAY

friends. On one occasion only did he show signs
of outward agitation, and that was on receipt of the
news of the capture of Pope Pius VI by the revolu­
tionaries. He at once retired to his little chapel
and soon returned with his wonted calm. Nothing
in his life is more striking than his absolute sub­
mission to his superiors—a virtue not always easily
acquired by those endowed with special strength
of character. It may be noted that in after life
he required the same ready obedience to himself
from those under his authority. He was by nature
stern and somewhat uncompromising, and his own
high power of work and intensity of purpose may
have led him to fix a standard which, to weaker
men, appeared a little too exacting. But he could
be gentle, too. Children are shrewd judges, and
young people always loved him. One of his students
in later years wrote of him :
“ Although a kind of severity might, at first sight,
appear in his exterior, particularly in the expression
of his countenance ; yet if anyone went to him for
advice, particularly in confession, I never knew any
clergyman who at once engaged one’s confidence
in such a degree, by his extraordinary mildness, and
his warm and affectionate expressions of kindness.”
Neither did he by any means despise the lighter
arts of life. His company was much sought after,
for he was an excellent conversationalist and an
eminent story teller, and he never failed if possible
to carry with, him his beloved violin. He was once
asked to perform at an evening party in Edinburgh,
and he sang a song he had himself composed. One
of the company, Mr. Alexander Wood, an old medical
friend, was affected to tears, and exclaimed : - “ Eh,

BISHOP HAY

57

Geordie, mon, I didna’ think ye had sae mickle
pow’r ower me.”
This same Mr. Wood was a well-known character
in his day. He is reported to have been the first
citizen of Edinburgh who carried an umbrella.
“ Lang Sandy Wood,” as he was affectionately
known, rose to the top of his profession, and was
universally beloved. Mr. Hay used to relate with
much delight how his friend had greeted him on their
first meeting in Edinburgh, after his return as a
Catholic priest. “ Weel, Geordie,” said he, “ ye’re
a d— fuie ■ for yer pains in becoming a Popish
priest ; ye would hae made a d— guid doctor if
ye had staid wi’ us.”

CHAPTER IV
COADJUTOR BISHOP

In the year 1767 Bishop Smith died at the ad­
vanced age of eighty-three. Dr. Grant and Mr. Hay
at once hastened to Edinburgh, and, when the former
returned north, Mr. Hay remained behind to dis­
charge the double duties of pastor to the Edinburgh
congregation and Agent to the Scottish mission.
His address is given as “ The second turnpike down
Chalmer’s Close." His correspondence was of
course enormously increased, covering all the affairs
of the missions at home and the seminaries abroad.
But it in no way interfered with his duties to his own
flock. He undertook the Sunday school for the
children, and at once set about completing a scheme
of Bishop Smith’s for the establishment of a new
chapel in Edinburgh. A house had been bought
in Blackfriars Wynd, and he wrote to Bishop Grant
describing how he proposed to make it serve both as
chapel and dwelling house.
“ I find upon mensuration that Mrs. Jean’s room
and the dining-room are fully larger than both the
rooms here, and that, if an opening were made in
the partition wall in the kitchen, which could be put
up and taken down at pleasure, the use of the kitchen
could be got as a kitchen, and it would serve to
contain a good number of people on occasions. I
58

BISHOP HAY

59

observe also, that the altar could be so situated as
to be seen from Mr. Smith’s room so that a good
irtany of the better sort could be stated there, and
could hear perfectly well. Upon these considera­
tions then, could it not be practicable that that
house should serve both for chapel and dwelling­
house, and the house below be got set ? This would
extremely facilitate money matters. For example,
let the little chapel above stairs, which has a con­
venient fireplace, be fitted to a room to the missr.
in this place; let Physician (the bishop) have Mr.
Smith’s room and the servant be in the kitchen ;
let the outer garret be the library, and, if that be not
large enough, Physician’s bed be taken out of the
closet (which is too cold a place for it and too far
from the fire) and be placed in the room, and let
the closet be made a little library. . . . The sole and
only inconvenience I can perceive in this scheme,
would be the subjection Physician would be under
from people coming into his room on public days.
This inconvenience could be lessened in this man­
ner—that upon these mornings after Physician had
done his own business, he might go up to the Missr's
room about the time of people’s gathering, which,
generally, is not till just about the hour. ...”
The above scheme was duly carried out, and at
the following Whitsuntide Mr. Hay began to date
his letters from “ Robinson’s Land, near the middle
of Blackfriar’s Wynd.”
On the death of Bishop Smith, Dr. Grant had
succeeded him as Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland
district and had at once applied to Rome to have
Mr. Hay appointed his coadjutor. This was ap­
proved, and the briefs for his consecration as Bishop

60

BISHOP HAY

of Daulis " in partibus ” reached Scotland at the
end of the following year. Mr. Hay’s own feeling
on the matter are clearly shown in the beautiful
letter he wrote to Cardinal Caselli :
January 2, 1769.
“ My mind was not a little disturbed when I
learned from a very courteous letter lately re­
ceived from your Eminence that I was to be pro­
moted, by the decree of the Holy Congregation of
the Propaganda Fide, to the dignity of Bishop and
coadjutor to the Bishop of Sinita. I knew indeed,
that my name had been sent among those whom
the Vicars Apostolic in this kingdom had proposed
to the Holy Congregation for this honour, but I
continued to hope that the divine Mercy would
take compassion on my weakness, and, in answer
to my prayers, would avert from me so formidable
a burden, by laying it on another whom it knew to
be better fitted for sustaining so heavy a charge.
Since, however, the matter has turned out con­
trary to my hopes (and I am very well aware of my
own infirmities) I am of necessity greatly troubled.
One thing, indeed, I observe which ought to con­
sole me, and it is this, that the unanimous consent
of all concerned, with which the matter has been
accomplished, makes it hardly possible to doubt
of the divine Will in regard to it ; but not even so
can I entirely lay aside all my solicitude. For
when I see King Saul, at first a man of great vir­
tue, and afterwards, when promoted by the most
manifest disposal of divine Providence to the
royal dignity, fall away from the path of truth,
and cast off by the Lord who had chosen him,

BISH DP HAY

61

how much occasion have I to be afraid, who am
weak and of little experience, and far inferior to
Saul in the understanding of judgment and law.
But since I cannot oppose the divine Will so
clearly manifested, nor refuse to obey the com­
mands of his Holiness the Pope, who wields the
supreme authority in the Church of God, I have
only thus left to me, while undertaking this
burden, with fear and trembling, to commit
myself entirely to the Mercy of God, with full
confidence in Him who has called me, by His mercy
alone, out of darkness into His marvellous light,
and has condescended to promote me to the holy
priesthood, that He will not refuse me the assis­
tance of His divine Grace, in order to my pious
and holy discharge of its duties. That this
assistance may be granted to me, I humbly com­
mend myself, and trust much to the prayers of the
beneficent patron who has always cherished us
and our affairs with the affection of a father. . .
Of all the congratulations he received, none were
more heartfelt than those of his devoted friend,
Mr. Geddes, who had succeeded him at Rathven,
and who wrote :
“ My dear friend,—I remember you was once
kindly displeased at me for calling you ‘ Dear
Sir ’ at the end of a letter ; but now the circum­
stances are such that you must allow me to leave
off the too familiar appelation of Friend, and ad­
dress you in another manner. Yet, the heart of
a friend I will always bear towards you, nor would
it be easy for me to lay aside the familiarity that
becomes a friend, in treating with you, though I

62

BISHOP HAY

endeavoured to do it, so long have I now been
accustomed to look upon you in that light. You
will guess from what I here write, that Mr. Sinitin
has informed me of the answers received from Old
Town relating to your affair. He has done so, and
I believe I may say with truth that, never in my
life, did I receive news that were more agréable
to me, as I have obtained what I most ardently
sighed for, not so much, I assure you, on my own
account (though I must own I am not so dis­
interested as to forget that entirely) as upon the
account of others, about whose general good I
am concerned. As I am not a stranger to your
sentiments, I don’t doubt but the news of the
final determination of the matter has even occa­
sioned some agitation in your mind, when you
reflected on the burden you have to undergo.
But I can easily imagine the thoughts that have
immediately succeeded these first motions ; and,
I think I see you prostrate before your God, offer­
ing yourself to do or suffer whatever shall be
known to be His Holy Will. You have certainly
all the reason in the world to persuade yourself
that what has been determined concerning you, is
what Heaven requires of you. Without an ex­
press revelation, I do not see how you could have
more certain indication of the Will of your Maker,
and you know He is well able to support you in
the work to which He calls you. It is also some
comfort to you, nay, a very considerable one, and,
at the same time, a great satisfaction to your
friends, that everybody, anywise concerned,
expected and wished for what has happened.
Y ou will not, I hope, doubt of my being as earnest

BISHOP HAY

63

as I can in my prayers for you, such as they are ;
nor need I tell you how much my inclination will
join with my duty in obeying you. The only
distinction that I ask of you in consequence of
our long friendship, is that you always use me with
less ceremony than you would do another, and
that you command me with the greater freedom.”
Mr. Hay’s consecration took place on Trinity
Sunday, 1769. Even with the improving conditions
of the Catholics it was necessary to keep such an
event as secret as possible, and the bishops therefore
met at the obscure little seminary of Scalan, where
the ceremony was performed by Bishop Grant,
assisted by both the other Scottish bishops, the
aged Vicar Apostolic of the Highland district and his
coadjutor. A shadow must have been cast on the
assembled clergy by the death, only a few weeks
earlier, of Mr. Hay’s former associate in the Enzie,
the saintly Mr. Godsman. He was taken ill on
Easter Sunday while saying Mass, and passed peace­
fully away a few days later at the age of seventy-one.
” Devout men carried him to his burial and made
great lamentation over him.” He was laid to rest
amid general mourning in the little churchyard of
St, Ninian’s in the Enzie, where he lies with Bishop
Nicholson and twenty-five other faithful labourers
of the Scottish mission. “ He had nothing at heart
but the glory of God and the salvation of his neigh­
bour,” wrote one of his fellow priests. “ His whole
time was consumed either in prayer or in labouring
for the salvation of others.”
It was arranged that Bishop Grant should continue
to reside in the northern part of the vicariate

64

BISHOP HAY

(supplying for the time the vacancy left by the death
of Mr. Godsman), and that the new bishop should
return and make his headquarters in Edinburgh.
His first efforts were directed towards a matter which
had long been troubling him—the sad lack of vest­
ments and altar requisites, and books, especially
catechisms, throughout the country. He drew up
a memorandum describing in simple terms the utter
destitution of the priests. Hardly three of them
were in good health ; many had no home, but lived
as they could, going from one cottage to another ;
the bishops were scarcely in better case. They had
not wherewithal to meet their own expenses, far
less to supply those of others. He sent a copy of
this statement to Bishop Chailoner, his old friend,
who had always shown so keen an interest in the
affairs of his Scottish brethren. The Bishop replied
very kindly, and a few days later wrote again as
follows :

“ Honoured dear Sir, admire and adore the
goodness of God. Since I wrote to you I was
visited by a person of great honour and virtue,
to whom I showed your memorial, upon the
perusal of which they proposed to me the giving
you, for the necessities of your mission, the sum of
£1,000, with an eye to your present relief, and the
procuring the prayers of your missioners for the
repose of the soul of their kinsman deceased, for
which they had destined the money. In the
meantime you are desired to let us know what
number of prayers you could procure among your
people for this intention, which they take much to
heart. They do not expect any number proper-

BISHOP HAY

65

tionate to that sum but that you can conveniently
perform—Pro Roberto Jacobo defuncto. Your
answer to this with instructions how to return the
money, will oblige your obedient servant in Christ.
R.C.”
(The generous donor was probably the young Lord
Peter, who desired the prayers for his father, lately
dead.)
At their next meeting the Scottish bishops wrote a
joint letter to Bishop Challoner to thank him for his
many kindnesses : “ I shall not undertake to express
the grateful feelings of our hearts on so affecting an
occasion, but we will not cease to praise our good
God, who has stirred up so charitable a friend to
us in our necessities ; nor will we ever forget daily
to pour forth our most ardent prayers for so kind a
benefactor. The conditions required ‘ pro anima
Roberti Jacobi ’ shall be punctually complied
with according to your directions. While we were,
among other matters, settling a plan for getting this
regularly and effectually done, your last to Mr. Hay,
of the 10th inst., came to hand, in which you inform
him of a benefaction you send us of £200, for a
present supply to such as are in greatest distress,
whether priests or laity. This new proof of your
generosity filled us with admiration, as we cannot
but be sensible how many people in distress you
must have among your immediate concerns to
provide for, and we return you our most grateful
thanks for this favour. ...”
The letter concluded with a further call upon
him for advice and assistance in another matter.
“ While, through your charity and friendship,
divine Providence has been pleased to bestow so
E

66

BISHOP HAY

great favours upon us, it has, at the same time been
pleased to send us just now a very sensible affliction
by a violent persecution which is already gone a
considerable length against us in the Western Isles.
The fatherly concern you take in the welfare of
religion among us naturally induces us to com­
municate to you all our afflictions, as well as joys ;
but we the more earnestly beg leave to give you a
full account of this affair, both because we have a
very great dependence on your advice, and also
because we have the greatest confidence that our
good God, through your means, will afford some
remedy to so great an evil.”
They enclosed a memorial, setting forth the sub­
ject of anxiety.
For some time the people of South Uist had been
subjected to a violent persecution on the part of
their laird, Macdonald of Boisdale, himself an apos­
tate. He first attacked the children, insisting on
their attending a school where they heard little but
abuse of their religion. In Lent flesh meat was
forced into their mouths, and when the parents
indignantly withdrew them from the school, he
issued an ultimatum declaring that they must either
renounce their religion or be evicted from their
homes. Poor as they were, and faced with utter
ruin, they one and all, to their eternal credit, an­
nounced that they would rather starve than deny
their Faith.
The evil soon spread to other districts as well,
but the poor sufferers found a generous supporter in
Macdonald of Glenaladale, who formulated a scheme
for emigrating them to America. This, however,
involved considerable expense, for on enquiry it was

BISHOP HAY

67

found that £2,000 would be required to purchase a
sufficient tract of land for their settlement.
" Worthy Macdonald affirms that he will sell all
he has for that end and go with them,” wrote Bishop
Hay. But even this would not suffice, and the
bishops’ memorial closed with a moving appeal for
funds.
The generous-hearted Dr. Challoner took up the
cause warmly, and forgetful of his own many needs,
he had the memorial printed at his own expense and
distributed far and wide. It had the desired effect ;
public collections were made at the ambassador’s
chapels, and a considerable sum of money raised
Before the end of 1771, Glenaladale was able to
purchase a large estate on St. John’s Island, and in
the following Spring two hundred emigrants set
sail, accompanied by a priest and taking with them
a whole year’s supply of meal. The good Mac­
donald did actually find himself so embarrassed by
his generosity as to be obliged to sell his estates and
follow them. Within a few years he was able to
report that “ the Uist people are doing extremely
well in St. John’s Island, coming fast on, and living
already far better than at home.”
This was the beginning of the Highland emigra­
tion to America, and much as the emigrants them­
selves profited by the change, it was a sad day for
Scotland, for the homes to which they bade farewell
with such aching hearts were left desolate indeed.
Dr. Johnston, on his famous tour to the Hebrides
a few years later, describes the result.
” It is not only here (at Raasay) that the chapel
is unroofed and useless—through the few islands
that we visited we neither saw nor heard of any
t !ï<

68

BISHOP HAY

house of prayer except in Skye that was not in
ruins. The malignant influence of Calvinism has
blasted ceremony and decency together. It has
been for many years popular to talk of the lazy
devotion of the Catholic clergy, over the sleepy
laziness of the men who erected churches ; we may
indulge our superiority with a new triumph by
comparing it with the fervid activity of those who
suffer them to fall.”

CHAPTER V
THE SCOTS COLLEGE IN SPAIN AND AT DOUAI

Of all the crying needs of the struggling Scottish
Mission, none was more urgent than that of" La­
bourers ” themselves. Ever since the Reformers
had driven out the priests by fire and sword, every
effort had been made to maintain the supply of
missionaries, who alone could keep alight the flicker­
ing fire of the Faith, but always the great problem
was their education. It was a capital offence to
bring up children in the ancient Faith at home, and
it was equally forbidden to send them to be educated
abroad. None the less, this latter was the one
alternative, and a steady stream of boys and young
men found their way, by one means or another, to
happier lands overseas—to return in due time as
" Massing priests," eager to lay down life itself in
their labours for the stricken harvest field. Bene­
dictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, Vin­
centians, Seculars, all were represented—in hiding
among their scattered flocks, harried from place to
place, in full likelihood of eventual capture and
imprisonment—a prospect hard enough for the
religious, but dark indeed for the secular missionaries
who had no sheltering order to whose arms they could
‘ return when age or sickness at last drove them from
the mission field. What does not Scotland owe to
69

70

BISHOP ΗΑΎ

there heroic men, for, despite all difficulties and
dangers, the supply never failed ; and nothing is
more striking than the number of converts whose
names appear upon the lists even in the darkest days,
proving the irresistible appeal the Church has ever
made to those who come within her reach.
There were already three Scottish colleges abroad,
at Douai, Paris, and in Rome, when, in 1627, a pious
Scotsman, Colonel William Semple, made a similar
foundation at Madrid. He had been for long in
service at the Spanish Court, and, being childless,
he left his money to “ endow a seminary for Scotch
secular collegians ”—" Scotchmen by birth, of good
family and character, and persons from whom the
greatest fruit may be expected in the good of souls.
They must apply as long as shall be necessary to the
study of Grammar, Philosophy, Theology, Contro­
versy and Sacred Scripture ; and when they shall be
found sufficiently skilled in these sciences they must
return to the said Kingdom of Scotland to preach
the Gospel and labour for the conversion of heretics.”
The college, like most other similar establishments
at that time, was to be under the direction of the
Jesuits.
For one reason or another the Scottish mission
had benefitted very little from this generous gift.
But few students had been entered there, and of
these the most promising had joined the ordei' of the
Jesuits. In the year 1767 the Society was driven
out of Spain, and the question of the Scottish pro­
perty came under consideration. Negotiations were
carried on with the help of Bishop Chailoner, and it
finally became clear that the only satisfactory solu­
tion would be to send out a priest and re-open the

BISHOP HAY

71

college under secular direction. All eyes turned to
Mr. Geddes, who had already proved so successful
in the administration of the seminary at Scalan.
Little as he courted the post, he wrote to Bishop
Hay : “As for me myself, if I should be thought on
for that purpose, from our old principles, and from
what I wrote you before, you will not doubt of my
endeavouring to be in the “ santa indifferenza ”
which alone can give peace. Indeed, I must own
the concern I have for my dear children here would
give me some pain in being separated from them ;
besides, my health would not agree with that cli­
mate ; the affair is become difficult and doubtful,
particularly for one so unacquainted with the
language and manners of that country, etc. But
one Go from superiors should make all easy.”
To Bishop Hay, too, it was a hard trial to think
of being thus parted from his friend. “ The thought
of parting with John Geddes is terrible,” he wrote to
Dr. Grant, and in a letter to Mr. Geddes himself he
says : "You will by this time know Mr. Sinitin’s
resolutions about who is to be sent. I own I was
rather for Mr. Reid, who would not be so much
missed as Mr. Geddes, but sic fuerit voluntas in coelo,
sic fiat.”
Shortly afterwards Mr. Geddes set out. On his
way through London he saw Bishop Chailoner and
wrote that he was charmed with the “ easy, agreeable,
and edifying behaviour ” of the great man of whom
he had heard so much. He carried on the negotia­
tions in Spain so successfully that he succeeded in
recovering all the property of the Scots College, and
arranged for its transference to Valladolid, as being
both more suitable in climate and more easy of access

72

BISHOP HAY

for the students. In December, 1770, fifteen boys
set out from London, some sailing from Leith and
others from Aberdeen to avoid arousing suspicion.
They waited on Bishop Challoner to receive his
blessing, and then proceeded to Valladolid, where
they were hospitably welcomed at the English
College until their own was ready for them. It was
not until May that Mr. Geddes was able to announce
the opening of the new house. “ After supping at
St. Adban's (the English College) all the English
and we came together to this College of St. Ambrose.
We said the Litanies in the chapel, then the English
returned home, and we retired soon to our rooms,
which were already prepared for us. . . . We have
here a very decent domestic chapel, a good refectory,
kitchen and cellar, twenty-seven or twenty-eight
good rooms, five of them are excellent, and all of
them have closets, called alcoves, for the bed ;
we have also two granaries, a pigeon house, two
courts, three draw-wells, and a little garden.”
For ten years Mr. Geddes remained in charge of
the new college, and under his wise and sympathetic
rule it soon rose to a state of great efficiency.
During this time the two friends kept in close touch
with one another, and their correspondence is of
the greatest value in estimating the true character
of Bishop Hay, for in the intimacy of these letters,
the veil is for a moment drawn aside, and we catch
a glimpse of the tenderness of feeling and depth of
piety which lay hidden beneath his somewhat stern
and austere exterior.
“ My dear Sir,” he wrote in May, 1770. “You
will, I daresay, be longing to hear from your native
country, and to know how things are going on here.”

BISHOP HAY

73

And he proceeds to give him a long and detailed
account of the affairs of the Mission, concluding :
" The above is all the news I have to communicate
to you. And now, my dear Sir, as you are likely to
be fixed for some time in these countries, God knows
if ever we shall see one another again in this world ;
but I hope we shall never fail to meet every day in
the heart of our beloved Master, and there recom­
mend to His infinite goodness our mutual necessities.
You will now enjoy that retirement from the busy
scenes and distracting employments of our state,
which is so delightful to you ; while we must here
sweat and toil, sub pondere diei et aestu ; but, as
the saints in heaven, from the experience they
have had of the miseries to which their friends
behind them are here exposed, are the more solicitous
to plead their cause at the throne of mercy, so I hope
you, copying after their sacred example, and knowing
the many hardships and toils to which your brethren
are here exposed, will redouble your daily solicita­
tions before God to obtain for us a plenteous grace
to support us under our difficulties, and that success
to our labours as may most tend to promote the glory
of God and the great end of our calling."
He confided to Mr. Geddes the great strain he was
feeling from the pressure of his work : "For my
part, I may say it to you, my friend, where you are
at present, though I would not be so rash saying it
here, the continual close application of mind, which I
am here exposed to daily, is so wasting and so exhausts
my spirit, that I am afraid my constitution is greatly
suffering by it ; my stomach is very poor, and my
digestion often so disordered, that I have several
times been obliged of late to take vomits, after the

74

BISHOP HAY

family were all gone to bed, without anybody’s
knowing anything of the matter, for that could
have served no end, but only have alarmed people
to no purpose ; but this you may make use of where
you are if you think it can be of any service. And
you see there is no help for me ; I expected, indeed,
Mr. Patterson would have been allowed to stay here,
which would have made me very happy ; but, alas,
poor Mr. Godsman’s death renders that impractic­
able, and, therefore I rest most content with the
Will of heaven, and, with God’s assistance, shall
esteem it my greatest happiness to be entirely spent,
and lay down my life in doing His will.”
In another letter he sympathises with the diffi­
culties and disappointments his friend was meeting
with in his work : “ God Almighty, as you well
know, my dear Sir, often tries His servants in this
way, when they are engaged in arduous under­
takings for His glory in order thereby to divest them
of all dependence upon themselves, and perfect
their confidence in His divine assistance ; and He is
never nearer bringing all things to the most happy
conclusion than when all human appearances seem
most combined against it. On the other hand, the
enemy of all good, fearing the detriment that such
undertakings will be to his kingdom, never fails, as
far as he can, to use all endeavours to disappoint
them. We must not, then, be surprised, my dear
Sir, that you meet with opposition ; but we must
humble ourselves the more profoundly before our
great God, acknowledge our entire unworthiness of
the desired success ; deplore our own sins which
put a stop to His more speedy aid, and increase still
more and more our confidence in Him alone. These,

BISHOP HAY

75

I well know are entirely your own thoughts, and
therefore it is needless to mention them here ; but
it is a pleasure to me to write to you upon a subject
about which I have so frequently had the most
delightful and profitable conversations with you.
These I am now deprived of for a time, and the only
supply for that want is, when circumstances will
allow, to renew the pleasing ideas by the touch of
the pen.”
In accordance with a custom of the day, they
assumed imaginary names. Dr. Hay signed himself
Staurophilus, and Mr. Geddes, Philalethes, in their
private letters : "In such,” wrote Dr. Hay, you
may depend upon it, the appelation of Friend will
always be the most agreeable address from Phila­
lethes to Staurophilus.”
Before long, Dr. Hay was himself called upon to
intervene on behalf of another of the Scots Colleges
abroad—the most ancient of them all, at Douai.
Founded originally in 1576 by Dr. Cheyne, the priest
at Aboyne, after many vicissitudes, it was finally
established at Douai and placed under the Jesuits.
Although in reality intended for the education of
secular clergy for the Scottish mission, the Jesuits
had, in course of time, come to look upon the college
and its income as their own, with the result that
when the society was expelled from France, in 1765,
the whole property was confiscated to the crown.
Long and complicated negotiations ensued, and at
length, chiefly through the efforts of the Principal
of the Scots College in Paris, arrangements were
made for the continuance of the Douai seminary
under a Scotch rector, and Mr. Grant, brother of
the Agent in Rome, was appointed to the post. But

76

BISHOP HAY

fresh difficulties arose with the former superiors
regarding the funds of the College, and finally Dr.
Hay decided to go out himself and investigate mat­
ters on the spot.
Accordingly, he set out in January, 1772, travel­
ling in the old stage coach, the “ Fly." He
visited the Bar Convent in York, where he “ spent
the day very agreeably among the good religious and
the young folks.” On his arrival in London, he of
course went to see his old friend, Bishop Chailoner,
now eighty years of age. This meeting cemented
still more closely the bond of friendship they had
formed twenty years ago, and it was probably on
this occasion that they made a solemn contract that,
when either of them died, the other would offer Mass
three times a week for the repose of his soul. There
was more than forty years difference in age between
them, and it fell to Bishop Hay to fulfil his promise
for nearly a quarter of a century.
He reached Douai in the middle of February, and
a few days later went on to Paris, where he found a
warm welcome at the College. He had hopes of
obtaining the grant of a French benefice of which the
funds should be devoted to the maintenance of
Scottish priests, but the scheme came to nothing.
He wrote an account of the proceedings to Abate
Grant in Rome, concluding with these words : “You
see, my dear Sir, that this long and expensive jour­
ney, which had such a promising aspect of procuring
some considerable help to the miseries and straits of
our poor Missions, will, in all appearance, end in air.
For my own part, I shall endeavour to keep my mind
perfectly easy. I should wish never to be wanting
on my part in doing what appears to be my duty for

BISHOP HAY

77

the common good, but, as the events are all in the
hands of God, I shall always endeavour in that to
be resigned to His holy Will, but I am sorry for your
brother [Mr. Grant], who is vastly disappointed and
vexed to think that he had a hand in promoting my
taking so long and expensive a journey to no pur­
pose ; but to be sure, his part was most laudable,
and nothing could bid fairer for success than the
appearance this scheme had. Indeed, there is no
accounting for de Muy’s conduct ; and the only
thing we can conjecture is that, as he is greatly
attached to the Jesuits and their adherents, he has
perhaps been speaking to some of that party of the
affair, and been put off it by them, for it must be
owned that though we have been as obliging as
possible to those of the Society we have a connection
with, and have not only used all our endeavours, but
even borrowed money to assist them in their straits
at home, yet we have not at all met with a grateful
correspondence, but rather been thwarted in every­
thing in their power ; and if they have had any
hand in the present disappointment, all I shall say
is, God forgive them.”
The Bishop now turned his face northward, being
anxious to return home. He stayed a day or two in
London, where it is amusing to find him engaged in
a little deliberate matchmaking.
“ I long to be home to my dear people. I do
assure you 1 would rather be home in a country
mission, in any part of Scotland, than confined to
live in the grand world ; what a continual dissipa­
tion. Yet, I must own I have been dining this day
with a most amiable noble family, Lord and Lady
Arundel, with both of whom I am much delighted.

78

BISHOP HAY

There was a young lady there, one Miss Ravenscroft,
a very sweet agreeable young lady. She has a great
love and attachment for Scotland, and expresses
the greatest regard for everything that belongs to it.
I am told she is an heiress to a considerable fortune.
If that be true, I wish Lord Linton would try his
luck there. By all I hear about her, she would be a
good wife to him.”

CHAPTER VI
THE SUPPRESSION OF THE JESUITS—
MISSION CARES

The year 1773 saw the formal suppression of the
Society of Jesus by Pope Clement XIV. The order
had grown very strong and powerful, and already its
members had been expelled by the civil govern­
ments of most of the countries of western Europe ;
in fact, as Bishop Geddes wrote from Spain : “ Here
I may tell you in short that as far as I have been
able to learn from their friends and enemies, the
chief cause of their fall here was their too great
power.” Nothing in their history redounds more
to their credit than the prompt submission with
which they obeyed the decision of the Holy See.
There is no need here to enter into the history of
this much-discussed affair, further than to note its
effect with regard to the Scottish mission.
Scotland must ever be grateful to the Jesuits for
the many devoted labourers they provided for the
harvest during the long, dark days of persecution.
It was they who had the direction of three out of the
four colleges abroad, though here, alas, dissensions
had arisen which prevented these establishments
from exercising their full capacity in the supply
of priests. In earlier days, the Jesuit missionaries
usually lived as chaplains with one or other of the
great families which still retained the Faith, and
79

I
I

80

BISHOP HAY

from these centres they evangelised the country
round. They owed obedience to their own superiors
alone, but as the affairs of the Scottish church gradu­
ally became more organised, it was found advisable
to bring them under the jurisdiction of the Vicars
Apostolic. The unhappy misunderstanding which
so often arose between the Order and the Bishops
related chiefly, as has been said, to the seminaries,
but it is curious to note as one cause of offence the
title of “ Secular,” first used by the Jesuits in speak­
ing of the other clergy. This was much resented by
the latter as implying a certain inferiority on their
part to the members of the religious orders. Dr.
Hay, while always friendly and considerate in his
dealings with the individual Jesuits under his
jurisdiction, appears to have had no special love for
the order itself. During his visit to Douai, Mr.
Grant found him “ not a bit more attached to the
Etiamites than the rules of the Gospel oblige every
Christian.” (Etiamite was one of the secret titles
by which the Jesuits were known. It was derived
from” etiam,” usually the first word in Bulls relating
to the order. Another of their aliases was
” Birlies,” of which the origin is unknown.)
At the time of the suppression of the Society, there
were twelve of its members in Scotland. Bishop
Hay himself received the submission of Mr. John­
stone (the Provincial) and Mr. Duguid, who were in
Edinburgh. “ They were both most willing to
comply,” he wrote to Bishop Grant, “ and ac­
cordingly writ over the form of the submission
both at once, Mr. Cruikshank dictating to them, and
then delivered it into my hand, upon which I rose
up and embraced them with the tenderest affection,

BISHOP HAY

81

which they mutually returned, and hoped we should
always find them most obedient and submissive ;
and I assured them they should never have reason
to complain or regret the change of superiors on
our part.” There then followed a discussion on
details of the business. “ This being all finished, we
drank tea together and were very frank.”
Prolonged negotiations ensued with regard to the
funds of the Society and the support of the secular­
ised missionaries, but eventually a compromise
was arrived at. The seminaries in Rome which
had hitherto been under their care were taken out of
their hands, the Scots College being placed tem­
porarily under the administration of a body of five
cardinals. Mr. Geddes wrote from Spain : “I am
fully persuaded, and I think it evidently appears
from the very tenure of the Brief, that his Holiness
has taken this extraordinary step with regret, and
has been induced to take it by his fatherly desire of
restoring peace to the Church, and removing as far
as possible all cause of dissension. God grant his
prudent endeavours may have their desired effect.
But be that as it will, there are no more Jesuits, and
in all probability there will never be any more of
them. I hope those in Scotland who were of that
order will easily fall into the state of our ordinary
missionaries ; I am sure Messrs. Sinit, Tiberiop and
you will give them all encouragement to do so.
How much do I desire to hear that you are all
cemented into one united body, without any separate
interest or view. Now is the time to forget any
causes of complaint they may have given, and to
show them that unfeigned charity there is now a good
occasion of exerting. I hope they will show them­
selves worthy of this treatment,”
F

82

BISHOP HAY

Meanwhile, Dr. Hay had his hands more full than
ever, for Bishop Grant was in failing health and the
whole administration of the Lowland district fell
on the shoulders of his coadjutor. On his return
from Douai he found the shortage of priests more
grievous than ever before, as he wrote to Mr.
Geddes, November, 1772 : “ Though we have all
reason, blessed be God, to expect plenty of hands in
a few years, yet, in the meantime we are always worse
and worse. Mr. Dian (B. Hugh Macdonald) quite
ab agendo. Mr. Tiberiop (B. John Macdonald) of
late quite spent with fatigue, and seized with severe
faintings, loss Ox" appetite, etc. ; Mr. McGillis
afflicted with the gravel, and much decayed ; Mr.
McLeod, in Strathglass, far gone in a consumption ;
Mr. William Reid, at Aberdeen, threatened again
with the cancer in his lip, and otherwise in great
distress ; Mr. Roy called home to Wurzburg, and,
indeed, not fit for our business : Mr. Duthy worn
out with age ; Buchan, Angus, Drummond, without
anybody in them ; to Drummond, indeed, I must go
from time to time, and only came home from it
yesterday, where I had been for this fortnight past,
and had a number to prepare for Confirmation
besides other things ; Mr. Guthrie is, indeed, in as
good a way as we could expect, but the doctor tells
me he cannot leave this till after winter, and even
then, where can he go in the country with a tree
leg ? (He had had an accident which had resulted
in the amputation of his leg.) By this you see,
dear Sir, how great need there is for all the helps
we can think of as soon as possible.”
It was indeed a sorry state of affairs. The bishops
theinselves travelled incessantly up and down the

BISHOP HAY

83

country supplying as best they could the spiritual
wants of the people. Bishop Grant wrote an ac­
count of his visitation to the northern part of the
district : “ I was very much edified with the will­
ingness and earnestness of the honest people in
coming to that duty, the Sunday that Confirmation
was given ; some having travelled six or seven, some
ten, and one, in particular, no less than sixteen
miles—all the way from Fettercairn, on the south of
the Grampian Hills. By this means it was full
three o’clock, afternoon, before they could get
ready to begin our functions, and five before we had
done ; and, by a presumed license from the vener­
able Gentleman at Old Town (the Pope), I even
ventured without scruple, to say Mass.”
In one of Bishop Hay’s letters to his friend he
describes how : “I must now serve Dundee and
Angus, and propose till I be relieved seeing them
every six weeks or two months. I must also go every
now and then to Alloa and sometimes to Glasgow,
which, indeed, is now more easy for me, as I have
Mr. Strachen in Edinburgh, but still, you see, this
takes up a good deal of time.”
When we consider the very inadequate means of
communication which existed in those days, we may
well wonder how mortal man accomplished all he
did, for he was continually on the move. A letter
to one of his priests throws a curious little sidelight
on the customs of the day. “ I intended this
forenoon to have wrote you an answer, but it was
not in my power until now, that I am in Clochin to
take leave of my friends here, and am just writing
these few lines in the midst of four ladies, your two
sisters and your two nieces ; of whom three are
.1
I Ji­

ri

84

BISHOP HAY

busy at working stockings, and one at mittens
whilst the tea kettle boils—you will by that guess
the time o’ day—and I must send in my letter to
Fochabers to-night." Tea was apparently a regular
institution, and was called Four-hours, being usually
taken mid-way between one o’clock dinner and
supper at eight or nine.
Bishop Hay had one great consolation to counter­
balance all his troubles—his sister’s conversion to
the Faith. He at once wrote to share the glad
tidings with his friend. " I cannot omit communi­
cating to you the following particulars without delay.
My poor sister has at last happily completed her
affair, and seems to be exceedingly happy on the
occasion, only regretting she has so long been in­
fluenced by the insinuations of her relations against
it." At the end of his letter he tells of the death of
the venerable Bishop Macdonald : “ Our good,
worthy friend, Mr. Dion, died on the 12th inst. He
had been exceedingly failed all this last year, and
was worn out to the last ; he died in the seventy­
sixth year of his age, without any pain or agony,
having received all helps."
Despite his own many preoccupations, Dr. Hay
was ever ready to pour out his sympathy to his
friend. When Mr. Geddes wrote in great distress
on account of the failure of some of his students,
he hastened to console him.
"My own dear friend,—Yours of the 5th July
I received this day, and as what you write me
concerning yourself gives me no small concern, I
could not refrain from giving you a few lines by the
return of the post. Daily experience will more and
more convince us of the solidity of those sacred

BISHOP HAY

85

maxims we have often spoke and wrote of to one
another ; and, indeed, they are not only a most
efficacious support to the soul amidst whatever
trials we may meet with, but they are the only real
source of comfort, strength and peace, before which
all other motives of consolation are but cobwebs.
When we consider that God is the sovereign Ruler
of all things, that a hair of our head cannot fall
to the ground against His will, that all the powers
of Hell cannot do us the smallest hurt more than
they could to Job, but precisely in as far as they are
commissioned by Him, and not a hair-breadth
further ; and that His love to us is so great and
tender that He guards us as the pupil of His eye,
and will never allow the smallest affliction to come
upon us but what He intends for our real good. Nay,
that He so orders every circumstance in whatever
befalls His servants that * diligentibus cum omnia
cooperantur in bonum.’ When, I say, we consider
these things even in the midst of the severest trials,
what a source of peace and consolation do they afford
us. How do we feel from experience that ‘ non
contristabit justum quicquid ci succéderit ?’ How
do we with real joy say with the venerable Eli,
‘ Dominus est, quicquid bonum est in oculis suis
faciat ’ ; or rather with our divine Redeemer Him­
self, addressing ourselves to our own souls, as He
did to St. Peter, ‘Anima mea calicem quem dederit
mihi Pater meus caelestis non vis ut bibam illam ?’
It is from these divine truths, my dearest friend, that
we are to seek our great consolation, and on them
to repose our souls in the midst of afflictions ; and
happy am I to see that amidst the disappointments
you have met with in your young folks you find that

86

BISHOP ΗΑΎ

solid support from these truths which they alone
can afford us. One great point we should endeavour
to draw from them is not to lose our courage, but to
preserve a magnanimity of soul in the midst, of all
disappointments flowing from an affectionate and
filial confidence in the divine Providence ; for
nothing contributes so much as this does to engage
Almighty God to turn our very disappointments and
crosses into the greatest blessings ; and how often
does experience itself show us that what we looked
upon as real misfortunes have afterwards been
found to be the most assured blessings.”
Dr. Hay did not allow the daily pressure of work
to blind him to the wider needs of the mission which
he watched over with jealous care. The persecu­
tions in the North had driven many of the High­
landers to the towns, and a census taken in 1777
showed an increase of four hundred in the Edinburgh
congregation alone. The one existing chapel in
Blackfriars Wynd was too small to meet these
further needs, and with the approval of Bishop
Grant a new site was found in Leith Wynd,
consisting of half-an-acre of ground enclosed
within a good wall. The purchase money was
£320 and the cost of pulling down the old house
and erecting a chapel and dwelling house was
estimated at £1,100. The Bishop had little or
nothing in hand wherewith to meet this formidable
bill, but, relying on Providence, he applied to Rome
(hoping that “ Mr. Pius ” himself might be able to
contribute), to Valladolid, and to the Scottish
monastery at Ratisbon, with the result that the
building was soon in full swing.
Another undertaking was the restoration of the

BISHOP HAY

87

chapel at Stobhill, in Perthshire, where he was able
to renew the lease of the farm which had been for
some time the centre of a mission. He describes
a surprising scene at a meeting where he was finally
awarded the lease, showing that in some parts of
the country, at least, feeling was becoming more
favourable to the Catholics.
“ After the order was given to let us have the
place, one of our friends added, ‘They must also
have plenty of wood to build a Mass house,’ upon
which some of the others expressed surprise, etc.
To which one replied, ‘ They are better subjects
than the Presbyterians ’ ; and another said, ‘ As
for the best religion, that won’t be known till the
Day of Judgement.’ So orders were given to see
What wood will be wanted, and let us have it. This,
you will say, is a changed world. It is so, blessed
be God for it, and may we be grateful for so great
a mercy.’’ But with his usual prudence, he would
not allow himself to be unduly elated, and writing
again of the same matter later on, he says : “ I
trust in His infinite goodness we shall always ex­
perience the same divine protection in all our under­
takings for His glory. At the same time, if He
should in anything judge otherwise, we must en­
deavour to say with David, * Quod si dixerit, Non
places, praesto sum ; fiat mihi secundum verbum
tuum ; quod placitum est coram se faciat,’ and to
say it with the heart and all the affections of the
soul.”
It was well for him that he could thus calmly
abide events, and so prepare himself to meet with
fortitude the mighty storm which was so soon to
sweep down upon the country.

CHAPTER VII

:

THE PENAL LAWS----FIRST RELIEF BILL

i

Thirty years had passed since the expedition of
Prince Charlie in 1745, and the restoration of the
Stuarts was now enrolled among the lost causes of
history, for Prince Charles himself was childless,
and his brother, Henry, was a Cardinal of the
Church. The house of Hanover sat securely on the
British throne, and the fires of hate and prejudice
against the Papists were beginning to burn low.
Other and wider interests occupied the minds of
men, for Britain was engaged in world-wide war,
More tolerant opinions, too, were gaining ground,
and the broader-minded were ashamed of the bar­
barous code of laws which still held force against the
Catholics, for no other reason than their loyalty to
their faith—laws that were denounced by Principal
Robertson as cruel and sanguinary and a disgrace
to the age ; and of which Cunningham wrote :
“ There is no more humiliating chapter in our history
and legislation than these penal statutes against
the downtrodden Romanists. . . . They were to be
a proscribed and outcast race, denied not only the
rights of fellow citizens, but the charity which is
generally extended to the most worthless of our
fellow creatures.”*
* " Church History of Scotland," Cunningham, Vol. n, p. 543.
88

■

!
j
'
!

I

(

L

Ί:

BISHOP HAY

89

Under these penal laws all priests—all who re­
ceived or harboured them—all who said Mass or
attended it—were liable to death and confiscation
of their goods, or to immediate banishment. Chil­
dren could be taken from their parents and brought
up as Protestants. No Catholic could legally suc­
ceed to estates or property. In the case of Catholics
purchasing house or land, the deed of sale was null
and void, and the seller might retain the purchase
price and keep the property as well. These were
but a few of the disabilities under which the Catho­
lics lay ; and, though in practice the laws had largely
been allowed to lapse, they were liable at any time
to be evoked, since they still held force ; and, more­
over, the “ informer ” against his Catholic neighbour
could always claim his £100 reward.
The story of the first Catholic Relief Bill is told
by Bishop Hay himself in a letter to the Roman
Agent. It is dated from Scalan, July 24, 1778.
*
“ Dear Sir,—By what you wrote me in answer to
mine from London, I see the information you have
got of our public affairs was but imperfect, and as
none can give you a more exact account of them
than I, I shall here give you one you can depend
upon. Sir John Dalrymple, Baron of the Exchequer,
some years ago, being in Paris, contracted a friend­
ship with our present Principal, which was renewed
since Mr. Gordon came home to the Mission.
“ Sir John is a man of an exceedingly good heart,
and friendly, lately made one of the Barons of the
Exchequer, and a great favourite at Court. He was
the first who suggested to the Ministry the plan of
* Quoted in " Memoirs of Scottish Catholics,'
*
Forbes Leith,
Vol. 11, p. 368.

90

BISHOP HAY

raising some Catholic regiments in Ireland. He also
was the author of that other plan of restoring the
forfeited estates to their ancient owners, in which
great progress would have been made by this time,
had not the American War put a stop to it.
“ Encouraged by the success of these plans, he
wished something could be done for the Roman
Catholics of his own country. With this view, after
Burgoyne's defeat, and the fear of a French war,
which made it necessary that all parties should
unite in the common cause of their country, he
wrote to his friend, the Principal, and to Lord
*
Linton,
to know the disposition of the Catholics
in Scotland, and giving them hopes of something
being done in their favour. They both wrote to me
in the affair ; and soon after the Principal came to
town and made Sir John and me acquainted. We
had several conversations on the matter, the result
of which Sir John desired me to write in a letter to
himself.
“ The chief points were how the Catholics of
Scotland stood affected towards the American rebel­
lion. How far would they be willing to engage in
government service, if required, and what terms they
would expect by doing so. My answers were such
as truth required ; but withal I told him that our
numbers and property being so small, little could be
done on purpose by us, unless our brethren in Eng­
land were joined in the business.
“ Soon after this Sir John went to London, from
whence he wrote me that my letter had given great
satisfaction to the Ministry ; that he was encouraged
to go on, and wanted a letter from me to introduce
* Eldest son of the sixth Earl of Traquair.

BISHOP HAY

91

him to Bishop Chailoner’s acquaintance for his
advice and concurrence in the affair.”
Bishop Hay declined to give letters of introduction
to any but his old friend Dr. Challoner and his coad­
jutor, Bishop Talbot, “ Both that I might not appear
too assuming in an affair of this kind, which might
perhaps disgust ; and I thought it more likely to
promote the matter in a cordial manner if we in this
country rather seem to follow than to lead ; and,
also, because I know the above two gentlemen
have great weight among our friends over all England, and can give the best advice of any others
who are the proper persons to be applied to on this
affair. The former is a venerable old gentleman,
revered by all who know him on account of his great
merit ; the other, besides his own personal merit,
is brother to the Earl of Shrewsbury.”
To return to Dr. Hay’s letter to Mr. Grant :
“ Sir John was made acquainted with some of the
English nobility and gentry then in London. They
all received his project with joy and approbation,
and constituted a committee of their number to
transact the affair in the name of all the rest with the
Ministry.
“ The first step judged necessary was to present
the address to the King, which you saw and which
gave His Majesty very great satisfaction. Circular
letters were sent by the Committee to all the no­
bility and gentry in England, who either came up
themselves on the day appointed, and signed the
address, or did it by proxy. But as there was not
time to get all advised in Scotland, Lord Linton
went up express in the name of all the rest, and took
me with him.

n

92

BISHOP HAY

“ At first the great fear was of meeting with
opposition from the Ministry ; but that fear was
soon dispelled, and several circumstances provi­
dentially occurred that made them our best friends.
Many of that party had great estates and connections
in Ireland, and from motives of humanity wished
to see the miseries of the poor Irish alleviated, but
which could not be done without giving an example
in Britain.
“ The Congress had given an intimation to all
Catholics to go and settle in America ; which made
it necessary to encourage them to stay at home, by
alleviating their miseries. The fear of a French
(invasion) added to an American war, required that
every step should be taken to suit all parties at
home for the common good. Finally, the dissenters
in England, who have been long struggling for more
liberty, took it strongly into their heads that if they
would support the Catholics on this occasion, the
Catholics would support them again ; and the
liberty they wished for, if the Catholics succeeded,
could with less propriety be denied them.
“ From the above motives the whole ministry to
a man became friends to our cause ; and some of the
principal men amongst them undertook the conduct
of it, and as we were sure of the Ministry whose affair
it was, it was carried in both Houses without a
dissenting voice. The address met with universal
approbation and applause from all ranks of people,
and the next step judged necessary to be taken was
to bring in a Bill to Parliament for the indulgences
we wished to have ; and we were admonished to be
moderate in our demands for fear of what might hap­
pen, with the full assurance that if the first favour

BISHOP HAY

93

was easily secured, and went down with the nation,
it would be a prelude to grant all the rest in due time.
“ Till this period the Committee had shown the
greatest friendship and regard for Sir John and
Lord Linton. But seeing the address so well
received, they became shy and cold and uncom­
municative of their affairs ; so that it was with
great difficulty we could get out at last what demand
they were resolved to make ; which was a repeal of
an Act of the English Parliament under King Wil­
liam, which chiefly affected the property of Roman
Catholics, and encouraged the persecution of the
clergy, by assigning a reward to the informer. As
there is just such another act of the Scottish Parlia­
ment under the same reign, we thought we could
not do better than ask a repeal of it ; and being
desirous of going hand in hand with the English in
every step, we proposed that both repeals should go
on together in the same Bill.
“ This the Committee absolutely refused, and,
assigning apparent reasons for their refusal, which we
afterwards found to be insufficient and false, they
resolved to carry on their own Bill alone, and left
us to shift for ourselves. This, you may be sure, was
not agreeable ; especially as Lord Linton and I had
few or none to adjoin with there ; and our good
friend Sir John was under the necessity of leaving
London about that time. However, by his advice
Lord Linton applied to the Lord Advocate of Scot­
land, who most cheerfully and readily undertook to
carry through our Bill, looking upon it as a national
cause.
“ The Sessions were now drawing to a close and
it was feared that in case of opposition there would

94

BISHOP HAY

not be time to finish the affair. The General
Assembly was then sitting down, and if that body
should take it into their heads to remonstrate against
us, it would occasion difficulties. It was therefore
thought advisable to defer the Scots Bill till next
session of Parliament, and let the English one go
on alone ; and the Lord Advocate pledged his
honour to us that whatever favour should be granted
to the English, he should take care that the same
should afterwards be granted to us. The English
have accordingly got the repeal they wanted, with
the unanimous consent of both Houses, and the
general approbation of the whole nation, and we will
get the same next Winter.”
That the English Relief Bill should have passed
so easily and so quickly was a source of astonishment
and congratulation to all concerned. Bishop Hay
alludes to it as an " amazing affair.” Its practical
results were, indeed, very limited. Catholics could
now legally inherit and purchase property without
fear of dispossession by the nearest Protestant heir ;
priests were no longer liable to imprisonment for
life, or deportation ; and, more important still
perhaps, the “ Informer ” could no longer claim the
/100 reward which had hitherto made the enforce­
ment of the Penal Laws no mere idle threat. But
as Charles Butler pointed out, the real benefit was
on the social side : "It smote the general prejudice
against them (the Catholics) to its centre ; it dis­
posed their neighbours to think of them with kind­
ness ; it led the public to view their pretensions to
further relief with a favourable eye, and it restored
to them a thousand indescribable charities in the
ordinary course of social life which they had seldom

BISHOP HAY

95

experienced. No Catholic who recollects the passing
of the Bill will ever forget the general anxiety of the
body while it was in its progress through the Par­
liament, or the smile and friendly greeting with
which his protestant neighbour met him the day
after it had passed into a law.” {Hist. Mem. of
English Catholics, n, 83.)
Bishop Hay had remained in London throughout
the negotiations, “ paying and receiving many
visits, some of business and others of courtesy, I
thank God I find my health much better for this
jaunt,” he wrote to Bishop Grant. Much of his
time was spent with Dr. Chailoner, who had now
reached the advanced age of eighty-seven. The old
man had lost nothing of the clearness of his vision,
as is shown by an incident related by Bishop
Douglas. During the passage of the Relief Bill
the first note had been sounded of the sad and disedifying struggle between the English Catholic
laity and their bishops, which later on worked such
detriment to their cause. " Bishop Hay dining
with Bishop Challoner, told him of the affront he
had received from the noblemen, as above related,”
writes Dr. Douglas. " B. Challoner paused and then
spoke of the disregard for their clergy, and that
many of them would fall off from their religion.
B. Hay lamented this because, as many of them
supported priests and chapels, religion would suffer
by the apostacy. On which the Bishop again
paused, then said, ‘ There will be a new people.’
This was considered by Bishop Hay as a prediction
of what would take place in a few years.”
Dr. Burton, who quotes this passage in his Life
of Bishop Challoner, p. 213, adds: "What vision

I

96

BISHOP HAY

of the future passed before the old man’s soul we
know not, only that his prophecy has in both par­
ticulars been fulfilled. Some of the old families
have fallen from the Faith, while the Church,
though never forgetting the loyal service of those
that are left, no longer rests exclusively on their
support. And there is a new people.”
Although the Scottish Catholics, who had in no
small measure helped to win the battle for their
English brethren, were themselves left unrelieved,
Bishop Hay returned to Edinburgh full of thank­
fulness and hope, confident that in a few months
Scotland would share an equal benefit. But delay
resulted in disaster ! At the meeting of the General
Assembly of the Kirk, the proposed Relief Bill
became the subject of heated discussion, and one by
one, the various Synods took up the cry. The
Synod of Glasgow and Ayr proclaimed a solemn
fast to avert the divine displeasure aroused by the
encouragement given to popery, adding that “ the
astonishing progress of this detestable, cruel, and
unjust superstitition, is so much the more alarming,
as it appears not only in remote and uncultivated
corners, but in the most populous and improved
parts of the land.” (Scois Magazine, 1778, p.
565)
Every effort was made to inflame the passions of
the people by a band of enthusiasts styling them­
selves “ Friends of the Protestant Interest,” who, as
Bishop Hay pointed out, drew their supporters
almost entirely from the most ignorant and un­
educated of the people. For it was noted that
feeling ran most high in those districts where Catho­
licism was least known, while the county gentlemen

BISHOP HAY

97

and better class of tradesmen held aloof from the
agitation.
The storm first broke out in Glasgow, then a very
different place from the mighty city into which it
has since developed. The Catholics—hardly more
than twenty souls—had no regular place of worship,
but used to meet on Sundays at the house of one,
Macdonald, a combmaker, where they said their
prayers together, and where once in a while, a priest
would come and say Mass for them. On Sunday,
18th October, Mr. Menzies was just finishing his
Mass when a mob burst into the house. While
they smashed the windows and tore down the doors,
the altar and vestments were hastily hidden away,
and the priest adroitly made his escape by mixing
with the crowd and joining in the general cry of
“ Where is the priest ? ” " The mob not only
insulted but terrified the poor people to the highest
degree. The only person like a gentleman among
the Papists escaped in a chair amidst the curses and
imprecations of the multitudes. Some poor High­
land women had their cloaks and caps torn off them
and were pelted with dirt and stones. In short, the
rabble continued their outrages until night, when
they broke all the windows of the house, breathing
blood and slaughter to all Papists and in every re­
spect profaning the Lord’s Day in a grosser manner
than ever was known to be done in Britain.” (Scots
Magazine, 1878.)
When the wretched Catholics sought redress they
were indeed kindly received by the authorities, but
advised to waive their rights for fear of arousing
still worse trouble !
However, the bishops and others interested in
G

98

BISHOP HAY

the cause were by no means willing to give up hope.
The Irish Relief Bill had by now been passed ; was
Scotland, who had taken the first step, alone to re­
main in servitude ? Accordingly, in January, 1779,
Bishop Hay and Lord Linton returned to London
to watch the progress of their Bill. But the know­
ledge that the obnoxious measure was actually
under consideration merely added fresh fuel to the
flame of agitation in Scotland. Petitions were
drawn up and schoolboys hired to sign them ;
handbills were printed of the most violent descrip­
tion, one bearing the grandiloquent but somewhat
obscure title : “ The brave and spirited resolution
of the minister, members, and congregation of the
Gaelic church in Edinburgh, against the intended
Popish Bill ; with popery dissected, and the price of
each Sin, Pardon, Purgatory opened,” while Stothert thus describes another, entitled : “ Sawney’s
defence against the Beast, Whore, Pope and Devil.”
” On the left hand of the picture and right of the
spectator, is depicted John Bull, fettered and pros­
trate on the ground ; the ' Beast,’ with seven heads
and ten horns, standing over him ; upon the Beast
is mounted the ' Scarlet Whore of Babylon,' with
the cup of her sorceries in her hand. Close by is
the Pope, the * Man of Sin,’ with his Tiara, Keys,
Rosary, etc., giving King George III absolution for
the breach of his oath ; the King’s foot is trampling
on the torn standard of the Union. On the other
side of the Tweed, which divides the picture is re­
presented the Lord Advocate holding in his right
hand the ‘ Popish Bill,’ while Bishop Hay, who
stands mitred, close behind him, is slipping into his
left hand a bag of money, containing /"40,000.

BISHOP HAY

99

The devil himself is flying over the group, with a
coronet in his hand, destined for the Lord Advocate
as an additional reward for his services. Advancing
to meet and repel these enemies of his country, we
see ' Sawney,’ in Highland costume—a Scots
thistle in his cap (or bonnet) and a stout claymore in
his hand, bearing a shield and a standard. Over
his head is the ' Woman clothed with the sun, and
the moon under her feet,’ representing the Church
as in Rev. 12. The most inflammatory scrolls
issue from the mouths of all the figures.”*
It is hardly surprising that when a Catholic was
recognised in the street he was greeted with the cry ;
“There’s a Papist. Knock him down. Shoot
him.” Incendiary and threatening letters were
sent by post or dropped about the streets. One
such read as follows : “ Men and Brethren ! who­
ever shall find this letter will take it as a warning to
meet at Leith Wynd on Wednesday next in the
evening, to pull down that pillar of Popery lately
erected there.—A Protestant. Edinburgh. Jan.
29, 1779. P«S.—Please to read this carefully, keep
it clean and drop it somewhere else. For King
and country. Unity. ”f
Principal Robertson, who was known to favour
the Relief Bill, was ferociously attacked, as he him­
self related in a speech to the Assembly : “ My
character as a man, as a citizen, and as a Minister
of the Gospel, has been delineated in the most
odious colours. I have been represented as a
pensioner of the Pope, as an agent for Rome, as
a seducer of my brethren to Popery, as the tool of
* '* Scotichronicon,” p. 158.

t

Ibid.
U

100

BISHOP HAY

a King and Ministry bent on overturning the
Protestant religion. In pamphlets, in newspapers,
in handbills, I have been held out to an enraged
mob as the victim who deserved to be next sacrificed
after they had satiated their vengeance on a popish
bishop. My family has been disquieted, my house
has been attacked, I have been threatened with
pistols and daggers. I have been warned that I
was watched on my going out and coming home ;
the time has been set beyond which I was not to live ;
and for several weeks hardly a day passed on which
I did not receive incendiary letters. Several of
these letters were signed by Lovers of Truth—
Friends to the Protestant religion. It was in the
name of Jesus I was warned that my death was
resolved on, and the instruments for cutting short
my days prepared. May God forgive the men who
have disseminated among the pious and wellintentioned people of this country such principles
as led them to imagine that assassination could be
acceptable to God, and prompted them to point a
dagger to the breast of a fellow Christian in the name
of our merciful Saviour.” (Hist, of the Church in
Scotland, Walsh, p. 523.)
The Catholics, naturally alarmed, applied for
protection to the Lord Provost and City Magistrates,
only to be told that there was no need for appre­
hension. And then, quite suddenly, on February
2nd, the storm broke in all its fury. The mob
assembled round the new chapel house, and soon the
little place was in ruins. “ Set fire to it. Set fire
to it,” yelled the crowd. Two priests who were
sitting at their dinner managed to escape, but a poor
cat, which rushed out of the burning building,

BISHOP HAY

101

was seized by savage hands and thrown back into
the flames, with the cry that it was a popish cat
and deserved to die.
Meanwhile, ironically enough, the Relief Bill,
the cause of so much fury, had been withdrawn ;
news of the excess of bigotry it had aroused in
Scotland had so far intimidated its supporters that
they thought it wiser to delay the measure until
popular feeling had subsided. Bishop Hay hastened
home to console his distracted flock. He reached
Edinburgh on the fatal 2nd February, and having
dismounted at the inn, proceeded with his saddle
bags under his arm to his house in Chalmers Street.
He found the place surrounded by a yelling mob, and
asked an old woman what the matter was. “ Oh,
Sir,” she said, ” we are burning the Popish chapel
and only wish we had the Bishop to throw on the
fire, too.” The Bishop thought it prudent to slip
quietly away, and found shelter for a few days in
the castle.
The mob, elated by their first success, swept on to
Blackfriars Wynd, where they destroyed and plun­
dered the chapel house, and then proceeded to loot
the shops and houses of the other Catholics in the
town. The city authorities seem to have looked on
with helpless apathy at these disgraceful proceedings,
but the Duke of Buccleuch, with a large body of
fencibles, did his best to quell the rioters, and by
degrees order was restored. Sir John Dalrymple,
whose own house was threatened (he being a known
supporter of the Catholic cause) wrote to Dr. Hay
a letter of sympathy in French, for fear of its being
intercepted. “ Have no fear at all, everything will
turn out to your advantage. It is reported that the

102

BISHOP HAY

City will willingly pay your damages. Let me know
where you are, I will come and see you. If you want
money, I will send you some. The City and the
Advocate will let the prisoners escape for want of
proof ; take care, then, to have proofs in the Pre­
cognition which will soon be taken. You ought to
write with a thousand thanks to the Duke of Buccleuch ; he ventured his life over and over again
to save your house and your people, and had the
Magistrates done their duty as he did, your house
would now have been standing and Mrs. Macdonald
living.” He also wrote to Lord Linton : “ If the
Corporation be not obliged to pay the damage done,
and the prisoners be not punished, then I think
there is no government in Scotland ; and if the
King’s servants leave this country to itself, they may
chance to hear of it. I did not expect to see the
day when the Non-jurors and enthusiastical parts
of this country were to prescribe Acts of Parlia­
ment for the rest of us. Their fury was the more
ungenerous that the news had come down the day
before, of your Lordships’ dropping the Bill for the
sake of quiet.”
The storm had not been confined to the capital
alone ; renewed rioting had taken place in Glasgow,
and mobs had gathered in Peebles, Perth, and
Aberdeen, but in these cities the local authorities
had shown greater promptitude and courage, and
order was enforced before material damage was
effected. But the poor little Catholic body of
Edinburgh, far from enjoying the promised relief,
found themselves in worse plight than ever—their
humble chapels burnt, and their priests driven into
hiding. The Bishop’s papers had most fortunately

-

G'

’
........................... ...............

BISHOP HAY

103

·

been saved, though his furniture and a library of
ten thousand volumes collected by his three predecessors (a priceless possession in those days) had
shared the common doom. But with his usual calm
submission to the Will of God, he made no complaint.
Writing a few days later to Mr. Reid, he said :
“ Give my kind compliments to my sister and tell
her I am safe and well, and I beg her and all my
friends not to be dismayed nor discouraged at what
has happened. The storm will soon blow over and
all will be well again?’ And he thus unburdened
himself to Mr. Geddes in Valladolid : "You see,
my dear friend, how the divine Providence has been
pleased to give me some occasion of practising those
sacred maxims w'hich you and I have so often endeavoured to plant in our souls, and I thank my
good God that I have found the greatest benefit
from them. To you, my dear friend, who know the
secrets of my soul, I may tell my mind without
restraint, because I know it will give you pleasure.
I have not had one moment's concern or regret on
the occasion, nor a single motion of resentment
against our persecutors. I pity them ; I pray for
them ; and I am as willing to give them my person
as my property, if God should so please. May His
blessed Will be done in me continually."
He lost no time in instilling similar sentiments
into the members of his flock. Hardly were the
riots over when he addressed to them this pastoral :
“ To all the faithful, both clergy and laity, under
our charge, health and benediction from the Lord.
“ Dearly beloved in Our Lord. As you will no
doubt be alarmed on seeing in the public papers what
has just now happened in Edinburgh against our

_- -· ■ - -

- .„....... - - -

5,
■;
1 I j
'’
■,
‘ <;
·' „

?
G
;
\ <

l·
<
’*·
L
’
:

· .
iΊ
j|
I]

-

_

. .

■

104

BISHOP HAY

friends there, we think it our duty to administer
to you both advice and consolation, as the circum­
stances permit and the occasion seems to require. . . .
For some time past, but especially since the middle
of January our friends in Edinburgh had been fre­
quently alarmed with threats of destruction from
the mob, sometimes by word of mouth, sometimes
by incendiary papers dropt in different parts of the
city, and sometimes even by threatening letters
sent to their own houses ; and on Tuesday, the
2nd inst., these threats were effectually put in
execution. The mob assembled that day with
very great fury, attacked the houses possessed by
both our clergy in Edinburgh, burnt the one lately
built—with all its contents—to the ground, and
pillaged and destroyed the other. Then they at­
tacked the shops and houses of some others of our
people, which they treated in the same manner, and
threatened the same destruction to all the rest. . . .
Though we cannot help being deeply afflicted for
these sufferings of our dear people, and for the
interruption of the exercises of our holy religion, yet,
confiding in the arm of the Most High, we hope for a
speedy relief from His infinite goodness. We,
therefore, earnestly beseech you all not to be dis­
couraged under the afflicting hand of God, but to
put your trust in His all-powerful goodness, who
when He is angiy remembers mercy, and when He
chastises us as children for our sins, intends at the
same time our greater advancement in virtue ; let
us not fail to co-operate with His fatherly views,
but remember that the time of suffering is the time
of trial—the showing our fidelity to God and our
sincerity in His service. ... It was by persecutions

I? i

BISHOP HAY

105

and trials that the greatest saints arrived at their
crowns, and who knows what the divine goodness
? may have in store for us ? Let us only imitate the
sacred example they have left us amidst their
fiery trials, and this persecution, like theirs, shall
undoubtedly, through the mercy of God, turn
out to His greater glory and our greater good.
Above all things we enjoin you not to allow the
smallest resentment to enter your hearts against
those who injure us ; remember they are only the
instruments in the hands of God, who, like a tender
Father, chastises us, His children, by their means,
but who could not touch a hair of our heads except
in so far as they are permitted by Him. In this
view let us have all compassion towards them, and
pity their mistaken zeal, which makes them think
that by persecuting us they are doing God a service.
Let us imitate the example which our Lord gives us
on the Cross, and pray for them in His words,
‘ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
are doing,' and let us earnestly beg of Him not to
lay their sins to their charge, but, by granting them
sincere repentance, bring them to eternal happiness.
It is thus we will show ourselves children of our
heavenly Father, and draw down a large benediction
on our own souls, according to these comforting
words of our Lord : ‘ Blessed are ye when men shall
persecute you and revile you, and say all manner of
evil against you, for my name’s sake : rejoice and
be exceeding glad in that day, for great is your
reward in heaven.’
“ May the God of Heaven bless you all and pre­
serve you for ever in the practice of all good, and
in the Faith and love of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

B·

|ΐ ίί
r■
4< 1
ίί ’î

Hίί'

■ c
>

105

BISHOP HAY

February 8, 1779·” (History of Church in Scotland,
Walsh, p. 524.)
One outcome of these events was the public
recognition by the Catholic body of Scotland of the
reigning House of Hanover. So long as there had
remained any prospect of the restoration of the
Stuarts, they had remained faithful to the old
allegiance, but all such hopes were at an end, and
at a meeting of the clergy in the autumn of 1779,
Dr. Hay proposed that for the future it would be
proper for them to pray by name for King George III.
The proposal was unanimously agreed to, in fact,
it was the wish of the whole Catholic body, for under
existing circumstances there was no other means
open to them of proving their loyalty to the Crown.
A mandate was therefore issued to all the Scottish
missionaries to mention King George and the royal
family by name, and to recommend them to the
prayers of their respective congregations.
Earnestly as Bishop Hay exhorted his people to
patience under their trials, he was not one to submit
tamely to such flagrant injustice, and he was deter­
mined to obtain redress for their losses, which, it
was estimated, amounted to £3,000. He addressed
a long letter to the Provost, setting forth his claims,
but no answer was vouchsafed to him. The letter
was read at a meeting of the Town Council, who
expressed themselves as much annoyed that a
person of the Bishop’s character should presume to
write to them, fearing, no doubt, that the “ Friends
of the Protestant Interest ” should come to hear of
the correspondence. Seeing small hopes of ob­
taining a hearing in Edinburgh, the Bishop returned
with Lord Linton to London, where they presented a

BISHOP HAY

107

petition to the King, which was kindly received, and
another to the House of Commons. Mr. Burke
spoke with great eloquence in its defence in a speech
lasting an hour and a half. He denounced in glowing
terms the brutal bigotry of the fanatics who had so
cruelly incited the mob against peaceful and lawabiding subjects ; and, producing an abstract of the
Scottish penal code, he read the laws out one by one,
challenging any member to say he wished them to be
retained. Perceiving at this point that the Prime
Minister, Lord North, was peacefully asleep, he
paused. “ Behold !” he said, “ what I have said
again and again ; the Government, if not defunct, at
least slumbers ; brother Lazarus is not dead, only
sleepeth.” The whole House burst into a peal of
laughter, and having won them to good humour, he
closed by eloquently appealing to them to grant the
Catholics of Scotland assurance of protection for
their lives and property, and the free exercise of
their religion.
Lord George Gordon, “ the lunatic Apostle of
Protestantism,” as Walpole called him, who was
soon to set London itself in flames, opposed the
motion. Mr. Fox called for the repeal of all the
penal laws without further delay ; and so the debate
went on. Bishop Hay remained all the time in
the lobby, interviewing the Prime Minister in the
Speaker’s room, and consulting with the Attorney
General and the Lord Advocate. The result was
that the member for the City of Edinburgh wrote
to the magistrates urging them to make compen­
sation. This threw the Town Council into no small
agitation. " Gentlemen,” said the Provost, at a
meeting, " we must either do something for these

108

BISHOP HAY

people, or appear at the Bar of the House of Com­
mons.” Finding they could no longer evade their
liability to pay, the next question was how to raise
the money, and once again the storm rose high.
The “ Friends of the Protestant Interest ” were, of
course, in arms, and some of them wrote to Mr.
Burke, who replied with delicate satire. “ It is not
perfectly easy to convince the body of the clergy
and laity of so many great countries that they are
real villains and reprobates as you describe them,
and I assure you that they do not take the descrip­
tion itself as a very particular civility. As to those
of that communion in Scotland, I cannot be brought
to believe that there is any peculiar malignity in
the air of North Britain, which can operate to make
them so much worse than they are in this, and in
other countries. I have never had the honour of
conversing with any of them, but Lord Linton and
Mr. Hay ; and of them candour obliges me to say
that from what I have observed in several conversa­
tions, as well as what has been the result of some
enquiry, if your Committee be composed of more
worthy men, and more deserving the protection of
Government, than they are, it will give you a very
high place in my esteem.”
The final result of the negotiations was that the
Catholics were granted £1,600 in compensation,
one-half being paid by Government, the other by the
City of Edinburgh. Inadequate as was this sum to
cover their losses, it was gratefully accepted, and
Bishop Hay was glad to let the matter rest, trusting
that the fires of bigotry would gradually die down.
But if they were burning low in Scotland they were
to burst out with redoubled fury a few months later

r

BISHOP HAY

109

in England, when London witnessed scenes which
far exceeded anything that had taken place in
Edinburgh. Twenty thousand fanatics, under the
leadership of Lord George Gordon, paraded the
streets, burning, looting, destroying ; Newgate was
rased to the ground, and three hundred thieves and
felons were set free. Lord Mansfield’s house, with
his priceless collection of legal documents, was given
over to the flames. As many as thirty-six great
fires could be counted at one time in the “ place
that once was London.” The authorities seemed
paralysed, but at last the king himself intervened
and ordered out the military. Two hundred of the
rioters were shot and two hundred and fifty others
wounded, and gradually order was restored, and
Gibbon wrote : “ Our danger is at an end, but our
disgrace will be lasting, and the month of June,
1780, will be ever marked by a dark and diabolical
fanaticism which I had supposed to be extinct, but
which actually subsists in Great Britain perhaps
beyond any other country in Europe.”
So ended the first chapter in the history of the
repeal of the Penal Laws.
There was one outcome of these troubles which
must have brought real consolation to the heart of
Bishop Hay, and that was the universal expression
of regard and esteem for his personal character which
they elicited from friend and foe alike. It was well
for the Catholics that, at a time when all eyes were
thus turned towards them, their leader should have
been a man of such sincerity, learning, and true
piety. One of the “ Friends of the Protestant
Interest ” wrote : " As to Mr. Hay and Lord Linton,
• ” Scots Magazine,” 1779, p. 137.

110

BISHOP HAY

I believe what you say of them. Mr. Hay I have
never been in company with, though I have known
him many years, even as far back as 1745, I never
heard his character as a gentleman blamed. I know
he is as zealous a Catholic as I am a Protestant,
and none of us will deny our principles.”
Sir John Dalrymple and his brother wrote a joint
letter to the Bishop in which they said : “ We are
sorry to understand from you that you are uneasy
at a report spread in England that you are a man of a
meddling and turbulent disposition. To a person
disagreeably situated, as you are, next to the cons­
ciousness of innocence is the testimonial of private
friendship. You are welcome to ours if it can be
of any use to you. We know you to be of a gentle,
modest nature ; giving offence to none and forgiving
it when given to you yourself. We have, indeed,
known you to meddle ; but it was only to reconcile
the people under your care to the King’s Govern­
ment ; and we do, in our consciences, believe he has
few more loyal subjects.”
Mr. Alexander Wood, his fellow student and early
friend, hastened to add his testimony also : “I
knew him from his earliest years with esteem ; and
afterwards, when he resided in this place, it was
heightened and confirmed by a conduct uniformly
becoming the honest man, the citizen, and, I think,
the Christian ; for he always seems to possess that
extensiveness of charity and freedom from bigotry
so essential to that character.”
Expressions of sympathy and appreciation also
came to him from Ireland, and his brother Bishop,
John Macdonald, the Vicar Apostolic of the High­
lands, wrote : “I trust in God he will come out of

BISHOP HAY

111

this affair with much greater lustre of reputation
than he had before. Everyone here has such a sense
of his merit, and so great an opinion of his goodness
that they are convinced everything will prosper in
his hands. The truth is, we are all, in general, under
such obligations to him, as ought never to be forgot ;
and may Our Lord amply reward him for it.”
But, as ever, it was Mr. Geddes who alone was
able to share his inmost feelings throughout the
whole affair : “I know you must have felt much
on some occasions, within this twelve months ;
even I at this distance have been much afflicted.
We must have recourse to the goodness of our in­
finitely good God; in Him we meet with super­
abundant comfort and strength. You were long
since resolved to be a saint, with the divine aid ;
but your present circumstances seem to force you
in some measure to it. For, indeed, what else can
you do, but throw yourself entirely into the hands
of our divine Master, and do what He requires of
you to the best of your knowledge.”

CHAPTER VIII
VICAR

APOSTOLIC

We must now return to the history of events in
Scotland. In the year 1778, while the clouds were
still gathering before the storm, good Bishop Grant
died, in the twenty-fifth year of his episcopate, and
was laid to rest among his brethren in the little
churchyard of Our Lady of the Snows, at Aberdeen.
" He was one of the few who in their whole life
escaped censure,” wrote Bishop Macdonald, "be­
cause censure could find no access to one who entered
on the stage of the world with the maturity of old
age and whose conduct from the beginning was
regulated by the most solid maxims of prudence and
religion.” Bishop Hay succeeded him as Vicar
Apostolic of the Lowland district, which tidings
brought the following letter from Valladolid :
". . . . Though your last letter has prepared us for
it, you will believe, when it has now come, it affects
us sensibly. . . . Although you have already had long
the principal burden of that vicariate, yet this
alteration will at first be felt by you ; but you will
know in whom you confide, to whom you should
have recourse, He will direct, He will support you.
I hope I scarcely need tell you my disposition with
regard to him whom I have now immediately and
principally, under God, to obey. . . . But how critical
112

BISHOP HAY

113

are the circumstances in which you come to that
office.”
A few months later Bishop Macdonald was also
called to his reward, and Dr. Hay was thus left sole
Bishop in Scotland ; and this at a time when all
his thoughts and energies were centred on the issue
of the Relief Bill. “ Alas ! my dear friend,” he
wrote to Mr. Geddes, ‘‘ I am now all alone. Our
worthy and most valuable friend Mr. Tiberiop is no
more. . . . You will more easily imagine than I can
describe the situation we must all be in in that
melancholy event. May Almighty God in His in­
finite mercy look upon us with pity and direct us
what to do.”
Mr. Alexander Macdonald (the third in succession
of that name) was shortly afterwards appointed to
the vacant Highland Vicariate, but owing to the
stormy weather his consecration had to be post­
poned till Passion Sunday, when the ceremony was
performed by special dispensation by Bishop Hay
alone at Scalan. There remained the question of a
coadjutor for Dr. Hay himself, and there could be
little doubt where his choice would lie. Sending
up the suggested names to Propaganda, he added :
“ I must confess that with common consent, I must
say, Mr. Geddes, ' non est inventus similis illi.’ ”
His choice was confirmed, and Mr. Geddes thus
expressed his own feelings : “ With God I can do all
that He requires of me. Among the means of
rendering things easy to me, I hope one that Provi­
dence will make use of will be that of preserving long
in life my good friend, B. Hay, so that I may have
little to do but to execute his orders, in the doing of
which, with the divine aid, I do not apprehend
H

114

BISHOP HAY

much difficulty.” His peculiarly sweet and lovable
nature had endeared him to all, and during his long
stay in Spain he had made many lifelong friends.
They all now vied with one another to do him honour.
He was consecrated with great solemnity in Madrid
on St. Andrew’s Eve, by the Archbishop of Toledo,
who presented him with his own ring. The King of
Spain settled an annual pension of £100 upon him.
The Duke of Hijar undertook the expenses of his
consecration and gave him a beautiful ring and cross.
“ Deo gratias,” cried Bishop Hay, “ the happiness
of my friend increases my own ; and those who are
friends to my friend are friends to me. May God
reward them.”
The new Bishop of Morocco (such was his title)
started home in February, 1780, after a residence of
nearly eleven years in Spain. On his arrival in
London, he found that the venerable Dr. Challoner
had gone to receive the reward of his long and
faithful labours, in the ninetieth year of his age and
the forty-first of his episcopate. His mental
faculties had remained unimpaired to the last. He
had ever been a friend to the Scottish mission, and
from the time of his death Bishop Hay faithfully
fulfilled the compact entered into long ago of saying
Mass thrice a week for the repose of his soul.
The three Scottish Bishops met in Edinburgh.
Twenty years ago they had been fellow students in
the College in Rome, and it is easy to imagine their
joy on this happy occasion, and the earnestness and
zeal with which they discussed their hopes and plans
for the future welfare of the Mission. There were
many important matters requiring attention, both
at home and abroad, and it soon became evident

BISHOP HAY

115

that the only satisfactory way of settling them would
be for Bishop Hay himself to go to Rome. He
accordingly set out early in August under the as­
sumed name of Signor Tommaso Scotti, having, we
are told, discarded his wig. The journey to London
in the “fly ” took four days ; he crossed over to
Ostend and proceeded to Wurzburg, where he was
kindly welcomed at the Scottish monastery. He
called on the Prince Bishop, “ a most worthy
prelate who acts much in the episcopal character,”
and who lent him his coach for the time of his visit.
Thence he proceeded to the other ancient Scottish
monastery at Ratisbon, and on the 15th October, he
arrived in Rome.
The colleges were still in “ villeggiatura ” and the
Scottish students were at the country house at
Marino, whither he followed them. They “ were
all much overjoyed to embrace him, and he was much
delighted with the company and the place.” He
went over to Frascati to pay his homage to the
Cardinal Duke of York, the last of the Stuart House,
to whom his family had been so devoted. The
Cardinal received him most kindly, and promised to
assist him in any way he could during his stay in
Rome. On his return to the Holy City he was
waited on by Cardinal Antonelli, who placed a coach
at his disposal, and he was then presented to the
Pope Pius VI, “ who was very affable and kind.”
The good Bishop seems to have won the esteem of
all, for Abate Grant wrote that “ he was much liked
and honoured in Rome and was mightily caressed.”
His chief business related to the condition of the
Scots College itself. Ever since the suppression of
the Jesuits, it had been in a most unsatisfactory

116

BISHOP HAY

state, having been under the direction of a succession
of Italian secular priests who had proved quite
unfitted for the task. They had allowed the
finances to become involved, had sold many valu­
able books and pictures, and worse than all, they had
failed utterly to understand the Scottish character.
Discipline was relaxed, studies had fallen into
neglect, and many of the students had left or been
expelled, so that when Dr. Hay arrived in Rome
there were but six in residence. The Bishops had
drawn up a memorial, which Dr. Hay presented to
the Pope, begging for the appointment of a Scottish
rector who could also act as Agent for the Mission.
The English and Irish Bishops were pressing for a
national superior for their colleges also, but the
suggestion roused such a storm of opposition that
it had to be relinquished. Dr. Hay was deeply
disappointed and wrote to Bishop Geddes : “ Since
my last of December ist, which you received, I have
never wrote to Scotland ; and I suppose so long a
silence will make you fear things have not succeeded
to our wish. In some things your fears are just ;
in others, not ; and I am sorry to tell you that they
are just as to the main affairs of this house. . . .
However, I shall not fail to make some more at­
tempts, which, though I scarce expect that they will
have success, yet, they will at least exonerate my
own conduct and conscience. Albani assures me
that he is still of his own opinion, and will not fail,
as soon as the present heat subsides, to take the
properest measures for bringing about what we
want. This, however, I lay no stress on ; being
convinced that if I be once gone, it will never more
be thought of till the same miserable scenes being

SE

BISHOP HAY

117

renewed in these colleges, or the not sending any
boys to this place, to be exposed to the same miseries,
shall convince them of the truth of what I have
again and again represented to them. . . . But what
shall I say ? Si fuerit voluntas in coelo, sic fiat.
May Almighty God bless and direct us continually.”
Nearly forty years were to elapse before the
Bishop’s wisdom in this matter was acknowledged,
and the affairs of the college were put on a satis­
factory basis by the adoption of his suggestions.
Although disappointed as to his main business,
he was more successful in some of the minor objects
of his visit. He obtained the necessary sanction
for a code of statutes for the use of the missionaries,
and the printing of a small ritual at the Propaganda
Press. This contained only what was actually
necessary for daily needs, and was easily portable, a
matter of no little importance to the priests in
their weary tramps over hill and dale. Further­
more, he received the welcome grant of two hundred
crowns a year for the use of the Mission.
During his stay in Rome, he ordained three of the
students, “ three very promising young men,” and
sat for his portrait, which stills hangs on the college
walls. In the middle of April he bade a last farewell
to Rome. It was thirty years since he had first
arrived there, an unknown young convert, seeking
admission to the priesthood. He was now the leader
of the Church in Scotland, revered alike at home and
abroad for his wisdom and his holiness. Another
thirty years were still to run before he laid down the
burden which pressed so heavily upon him, but he was .
never again to set foot within the Holy City he so
dearly loved. He left Rome in the middle of April,

I

i

118

BISHOP HAT

accompanied by his young priests. Their journey
was one of discomfort and danger, on account of
the storminess of the weather, the roads being so
“ monstrously bad ” that they had to walk most of
the way. They bought a little horse, but had to
sell him as his keep proved too expensive. ” I
really long to be on your side of the Tweed," the
Bishop wrote to Dr. Geddes, “ and I hope I shall
never have to cross it again."
On his return, the bishops held a meeting at Scalan, where it was arranged that Dr. Geddes should
continue to reside in Edinburgh, while Bishop Hay
made his headquarters in Aberdeen. He took up
work with his accustomed energy, and on Christmas
Eve we find him opening a new chapel in Aberdeen,
said to be the best that had been reared in Scotland
since the Reformation. “ God grant His blessing
to it and quiet possession," he wrote to Bishop
Geddes. A similar event took place not long after­
wards in Edinburgh, where a new chapel was erected,
again in Blackfriars Wynd. The greatest secrecy
had to be preserved in the business, and the building
was so arranged as to look like a private house, with
chimneys and an outside stair.
In the year 1783 Bishop Hay began to be seriously
troubled by his head and failing memory. “ My
bodily health has been pretty well most of this
winter, but my mind is sometimes so confused, and
my ideas so indistinct that I scarcely know that I
am thinking at all ; nor could I tell on what. This,
however, is in different degrees, sometimes more,
sometimes less violent ; and as for my memory, there
is scarce a day that I could recollect at night the
series of what I have been doing that day, or what

r

BISHOP HAY

119

has passed in any one conversation ; unless I had
been reflecting on it immediately when done, and
fixing it in some degree in my mind. If this in­
firmity increase, I fear I shall soon be obliged to give
up all concern ; but, if such be God’s Will, I have
no objection.” His friend replied in deep distress :
“ I cannot well express how much grieved I am at
what you write about your memory, etc., but I am
persuaded you exaggerate. However, you cer­
tainly should moderate your application, sleep more
and take exercise. You excite my tenderness, my
dearest friend, when you beg of me to sympathise
with you. I think I know what I owe to you, and
with the help of my God, I shall do everything in
my power to make you easy. Your coming up
hither, or going north to the country will be of use to
you. But you have spared yourself a great deal
too little ; I beg of you to do it now. It shall be
my study, as it is my duty, to ease you of all the
trouble you desire, and I can. But it is too soon to
write to you in this style in some respects. You
will believe it comes from dutiful affection.”
In July, the Bishop took a walking tour for the
sake of his health. “ I had a very agreeable walk
from Aberdeen to this place (in the Enzie), short
stages, the longest was only eighteen English miles
and none of the others exceeding twelve in the day.
I was favoured with most agreeable weather, and
think my health much the better for the exercise,
which was one view of my mode of travelling. I
believe I shall not be fond of any other mode, at
least for some time. But what is very surprising,
the better my health turns, the more I perceive my
memory fails—-fiat voluntas Dei.”

120

BISHOP HAY

He is described on these expeditions—a tall figure
striding along, wrapped in a highland plaid, with a
highland boy behind him, carrying a knapsack.
We have another glimpse of him, as visitor to the
school of the Misses Rankine at Aberdeen, who “ keep
a boarding school for young girls, and of course have
a very decent table and tea twice a day. They get
£20 a year for their board, but then they have two
or more in a room, and their coal and candle in com­
mon.” One of the former pupils wrote that the
Bishop went frequently to see the school. “ He
would sit at tea with all the young ladies about him
and gratify them with his pleasant conversation.
He would then call for a little music, and asking some
of the older pupils for their new song, would himself
sing it at sight with perfect ease and accuracy. All
the young ladies were expected to present themselves
on Sundays, at the altar rails, to repeat their cate­
chism. The lady to whom the author is indebted
for this little memorial of the great Bishop, being at
that time, as well as her sister, somewhat older
and taller than the other pupils, Miss Rankine felt a
difficulty in insisting on their compliance with this
rule, and told the Bishop so. He, with much good
nature, offered to hear them their catechism at his
own house in the afternoon of Sunday. They
accordingly went ever)' week to his room, where
they always found him in his purple cassock, and
with a purple velvet cap on his head, and where he
heard them repeat their catechism and talked to
them kindly and cheerfully.”
When the priest at Buchan fell ill, the Bishop
added the care of that district to his many other
duties, and we find him going to baptise a child—

i

i.
!
1
t
I
,

i.

V.
;
Î
k
;
'

S

h
I'

BISHOP HAY

121

a three days’ journey, twenty-one miles of which he
had to travel on foot, as his horse could not carry
him on account of the snow. “ I must lay my ac­
count with calls of this kind for some time, as there
is none between Deveron and Dee that can answer
any but myself," was his only comment, and he
informed Cardinal Antonelli that he spent two weeks
out of every six in making a circuit of forty miles
among his people who were without a pastor. But
if the good Bishop never spared himself, he expected
a high standard from his clergy also. The wild and
lonely glen in the Banffshire Highlands, called the
Cabrach, where Bishop Geddes had commenced
his missionary career, was the poorest mission in
the country, and was known as the Siberia of Scot­
land. A young priest, not long returned from Douai,
was offered the post. “ Very well,” he replied, no
doubt with heroic resignation, “ I can have no ob­
jection. It is only proper that everyone should take
his turn in that place." “ Stop," said the Bishop
gravely. “ That is not the proper way to speak of
it. You should be willing if necessary to go and
labour there for the rest of your life.” “ Of course,
of course,” answered the young man, hurriedly, “ but
if that should happen, may the Lord have mercy
on me.”
Bishop Hay was apt to take a strict view in
matters of discipline also. He had ever shown a
prompt obedience to his own superiors, and he
looked for a like submission from his subjects when
he himself was set in authority. Like all men of
strong character, once his mind was made up upon
any matter, he did not easily alter it. An incident
in point is the curious little controversy which arose

122

BISHOP HAY

over the question of church music. With the im­
proving outlook of affairs, some of the clergy were
anxious to make the bold innovation of having
singing at their services. “ The singing scheme ”
was soon in full swing in the Highland chapel in
Edinburgh, wdiere Mr. Menzies is credited with
having been the first to introduce the “ Adeste
Fideles ” into Scotland. “ It speedily became a
furore in the town," says Stothert. " Apprentice
lads whistled it in every street ; the very black­
birds in the squares joined in the chorus, it was said."
Bishop Geddes supported the effort with warmth,
hoping to see the practice extended over the greater
part of Scotland ; but Dr. Hay, strangely enough,
in view of his usual progressive courage, considered
such a novelty to be most imprudent, and would
have none of it. Mr. Thomson, the new agent in
Rome, agreed with him, looking on it as "a mere
whim of the Scottish Catholics to wish for music
in their chapels—a thing which ought to be the last
to be thought of." Bishop Geddes pleaded with his
friend to reconsider his decision, urging the con­
tinued use of music from the ages of the catacombs.
Besides, he pointed out, Sunday afternoons and
evenings were times of peculiar danger for young
persons, and a little music would help considerably
to attract them to the chapel, a matter of no small
advantage. “ This would likewise be a preparation
at a distance for our having a High Mass sung on
some festivals, to the great edification of the faithful
when we shall see it expedient." But Dr. Hay,
having stated his opinion in the matter, could not
be induced to alter his decision.

BISHOP HAY

123

On the question of lenten dispensations he showed
a like firmness.
It had been customary in England for some time
past to grant a general dispensation for Lent, and
it was now suggested that the same should be allowed
in Scotland. But he would not hear of such a thing,
and wrote with some sarcasm : “ Our friends in
London complain of having a very hard Lent this
year. Would you guess the reason ? Because
though they are allowed flesh tliree days in the week,
yet on Tuesdays and Thursdays they are not al­
lowed to take it at collation, but only at dinner.
See, my dear Sir, what general dispensations lead
to.” What would the good man have said could he
have foreseen the concessions granted to our weak­
ness at the present day ?
A story is told of a gentleman who asked for a
dispensation for his chaplain, an aged ex-Jesuit,
on account of the scarcity of fish in the district,
and begging at the same time that the indulgence
might be extended to himself and his family as
well. The Bishop at once agreed as regarded the
old priest, but added that he knew no one who
would derive more benefit from occasional fasting
and abstinence than the gentleman himself !
It may be that Bishop Hay with his own untiring
energy set his standard a trifle too high for common
flesh and blood ; it may be, too, that his failing
memory added to his difficulties. Certain it is that
at this time he was faced with a new and painful
trial, in a growing unpopularity with certain of his
priests. His own unbending sense of duty doubtless
made him at times appear somewhat hard and stem,
causing him to be compared with his coadjutor,

124

BISHOP HAY

whose singularly winning personality made him so
universally beloved. Some of the more restless
spirits spoke of him among themselves as the
“ mitred duenna,” and a note of criticism is evident
in their correspondence. The Bishop could not
fail to be aware of this, though he was at a loss to
understand the cause. “ Can this be some new
persecution arising ?” he wrote to his friend. “ If
so, God’s Will be done.” But for all his resignation,
his anxiety of mind resulted in such despondency
and depression that he seriously contemplated
resigning the burden which weighed so heavily
upon him. He fell into a very low state of health
and his friends were much troubled about him.
Dr. Geddes, who had spent a week with him at
Aberdeen, wrote : “ Mr. Dauley’s health is far from
good. Besides his pains of stomach and head, he
still feels the bad effects of the fall he got last year,
coming downstairs at Aberdour. This alarms me
much. I see him failing, and he, himself, is by far
too sensible of it. I stayed with him a week at
Aberdeen in coming South, on purpose to cheer
him, and consult him on several things. From
virtue, he is resigned, and says he is very easy in his
mind, but he is not well.”
Bishop Geddes did his best to dissuade his friend
from his contemplated resignation, urging among
other reasons the fact that it might appear a giving
in to his opponents. Dr. Hay replied by a long and
carefully reasoned letter, stating all the arguments
in favour of his proposal. “ As for the arguments
against the plan taken from the use others may make
of it to my prejudice in the eyes of the world, they
have no weight in my mind, because it is not what

BISHOP HAY

125

the world may think or say, but what God wills
that I wish to know and act by.”
A little later he again wrote that he longed “ to
procure a respite for the few remaining years I have
to live, in order to prepare myself in peace and quiet
for the approaching change,” adding that by his
retirement " the odious object will be taken away ”
and all differences healed. “ They may perhaps
pursue me with their tongues, even in my retreat ;
but my peace of mind will be out of their reach ; it
is easy to suffer in silence when one has not to act.”
His ill-health no doubt made him over-estimate the
hostile feeling, which was, in fact, confined to one
or two among the clergy. However, he finally sent
a formal letter to Cardinal Antonelli, asking to be
relieved of his charge. Some time later, to his
surprise, it was returned—he had omitted to sign it.
This and several other incidents caused him to
reconsider his suggèsted resignation, and he at last
came to the conclusion that it was not in accordance
with the Will of God. Accordingly, without another
word he resumed his burden, and bore it nobly,
without murmur for another twenty long and toil­
some years.

CHAPTER IX
SCALAN---- RELIEF AT LAST

In the beginning of the eighteenth century,
advantage had been taken of a temporary lull in
the persecution to reorganise the affairs of the Church
in Scotland. Bishop Nicholson had been sent as
Vicar Apostolic—the first Bishop since the Reforma­
tion—to administer the country and, soon afterwards,
Mr. Gordon was consecrated as his coadjutor. With
the improved conditions, the supply of priests be­
came a more pressing need than ever, and the
Bishops resolved upon the bold step of founding a
tiny seminary at home. A first attempt was made
on an island in Loch Morar, but the renewed per­
secution resulting from the Jacobite rising in 1715
resulted in its closure. Dr. Gordon, however, would
not abandon the plan, and two years later he made
a fresh start at Scalan, a remote and desert spot in
Banffshire. Reached only by a bridle path, “ hardly
known but to a few shepherds or to the wandering
sportsman,” it had the further advantage of being
on the estates of the Catholic Duke of Gordon.
Here the missionary of Glenlivet, hiding from the
Hanoverian troops in 1715, had built himself a little
hut, and it was this rude dwelling which now became
the pioneer seminary of Scotland. Bishop Gordon
loved it as his own child and watched over it with
126

From

“ CoiHiolh

T he

Co.

C ollege

Higkhnds of Soollind " by courier· of Sands

F '
F

BISHOP HAY

127

tender care. He framed the rules as far as possible
in accordance with those in force in the continental
colleges, to one or other of which most of the stu­
dents went to complete their training. Some few,
however, remained here till their ordination, one of
the first of these " heather priests," as they were
called, being Hugh Macdonald, who afterwards
became the first Vicar Apostolic of the Highland
district.
Hidden and inaccessible as was the little place,
the ministers had their eye upon it, and for the next
thirty years it had a chequered history. Several
times its inmates were dispersed by bands of sol­
diers, only to reassemble on the passing of the
danger, until the “ Forty-five " brought real dis­
aster. Fr. Duthie had warning of the coming of
the troops of Cumberland ; the students were dis­
missed. “He changed their dress to put them out of
the kennin’;" vestments, books, and other movables
were safely stowed away, and he himself retired to
a neighbouring hill, whence he watched the humble
dwelling—so vital to the Catholic body, so little
worth in any other eyes—swiftly swallowed up in
flames. Yet, true child of the Church, it could not
die, and three years later the students were once
again in residence. For some time they were subject
to sudden alarms. In 1760 the General Assembly of
the Kirk sent two emissaries to inspect the place,
but though the Superior politely invited them to
enter, they refused to dismount and rode off as­
tonished, as they said, that so mean a place should
have aroused so much concern.
Shortly afterwards Mr. Geddes was appointed
Superior, and during the five years of his director'

128

BISHOP HAY

ship the place made rapid progress, so that in 1767
he found it necessary to build a larger house.
On the right bank of the Crombie there stands
to-day a little farmhouse, a modest building of two
storeys and an attic, fifty feet in length and sixteen
wide. One end is occupied by a single chamber
still known as Bishop Hay’s room, with one window
looking into the court, another giving out across the
stream ; adjoining is a closet where he kept his
books. Immediately above, up a steep wooden
stair, is the former chapel, measuring sixteen feet
by ten, and seven feet in height. It is lighted by a
small window, originally part of the door by which
the congregation were admitted from an outside stair.
The mark of the altar may still be seen upon the
walls. Next the chapel was a tiny bed-sitting room
for the master, and beyond again a dormitory for
the boys. On the ground floor opposite the Bishop’s
room was another square chamber, the sole accom­
modation for the students. It served as chapel,
refectory and classroom. Movable forms ran along
each side, and the marks still show where the boys
leaned their weary heads against the walls while the
professor walked up and down the small central
space. The ceilings of all the rooms consist of
rough rafters which, it is said, were floated down the
stream and drawn to the spot by oxen. The pieces
are fitted into one another, no nails being used. The
wooden pegs where the boys hung their bonnets may
yet be seen, as also a specimen of the lamp they used
in the long dark nights. It is shaped somewhat after
the old Roman fashion, but is made of tin, the wick
consisting of rushes, which were gathered every
year about the Feast of the Purification. Outside

’

?

*’

r

p
b
I?
'
t
I
I

I
I
I
i
1
!
J
I

!

i
I

BISHOP HAY

129

there was once a little vegetable garden and a level
stretch of turf running down to the river, called the
Green, which served as playground for the boys.
The life was in all truth no life of luxury. The
stipend was six pounds per head. The students
(whose number rose at times to fifteen) wore a
Highland dress of black and blue tartan and home­
made brogues. They rose at six, and, summer and
winter alike, their bathroom was the Crombie.
Breakfast and supper weie of porridge. Thrice a
week they were given meat for dinner, otherwise
the fare consisted of vegetables, oatcakes and
oatmeal soup, called “ sowens.” Yet how indebted
are the Catholics of Scotland to this humble spot
where over one hundred zealous priests received,
in part, at least, their education ! As Bishop
Geddes truly says : “ The time by the goodness of
God will come when the Catholic religion will again
flourish in Scotland, and then, when posterity will
enquire with a laudable curiosity by what means any
sparks of the true Faith were preserved in these
dismal times of darkness and error, Scalan and these
other colleges will be mentioned with veneration,
and all that can be known concerning them will be
received with interest, and even this very account
which I give you, however insignificant it may now
appear, may one day serve as some monument for
our church history, transmitting down to future
ages the names of some of those champions who stood
up for the cause of God/’*
This tiny mustard-seed was ever treasured by the
Bishops, and it was within these narrow precincts
* Quoted in "Sidelights on Scottish History," p. 235, Dom.
M. Barrett.
1

130

BISHOP HAY

that they usually met for their annual meetings.
To Bishop Hay especially it was dear. For to him
it held a treasured memory, as the scene of his own
consecration. He called it “ Patmos,” and often
went there, finding peace of soul in its far solitude,
and health of body in the clear waters of the Crombie.
In 1788, the superior of Scalan fell seriously ill,
and there being no one to replace him, it was
arranged that Bishop Hay should himself go there
for a time. Many memories of him linger about the
old place he loved so well, and we come into more
personal touch with him during the next few years
than perhaps at any other period of his life. We
may picture him in his long reading gown of red and
blue tartan, spun by Annie Gerard, the thrifty
housekeeper who ruled the whole establishment,
Bishop included, with a rod of iron. He always
dined at mid-day with his boys, and in the evening
he took his exercise up and down the green. But
he was most often to be found in the little chapel.
His faithful servant, Cummings, used to say that no
matter how early he was called, he was already at
his prayers, and his evening meditation was carried
far into the night. From Scalan he evangelised the
country far around. Many a missionary journey did
he go, mounted on his big grey horse (known locally
as the blue horse), the faithful Cummings following
him with a huge leather valise slung over his saddle,
so full that it often fell below the rider’s feet, for the
Bishop was physician for body and soul as well, and
it was packed not only with Mass requisites, but with
many a simple medicine, too. They would arrive
at some Catholic house on a Saturday night, notice,
having been sent to the scattered congregation that

BISHOP HAY

131

Mass would be celebrated the following day. The
altar would be fitted up in a large barn, a blanket
serving as a canopy, and another as a reredos. The
Bishop then heard confessions and gave wise advice
to all who sought him in whatever need. Many
Protestants were included in the number, and to all
he gave some homely remedy, often adding an alms
as well, so that his friends would smile and say that
the patients invented new ailments in order to benefit
by his charity.
Shorter journeys were made on foot, John Cum­
mings carrying the vestments. If it rained, the
good Bishop would make him shelter under his own
wide cloak, and when not busy with his prayers, he
would beguile the way with tales of his adventures
with Prince Charlie.
Among the patients who were brought to him at
Scalan were two cases of diabolical possession—
both Protestants. One was considered so dangerous
that his friends feared to loose the ropes that bound
him. Bishop Hay went out to him, crucifix in hand,
and himself undid the cords before proceeding with
the rite of exorcism. The unhappy man, trembling
with fright, began to speak in several languages,
although he had learnt no tongue but Gaelic, but
when the prayers were finished he was found to be
completely cured, and, like the Ruler in the Gospel,
" himself believed and his whole house.”
The other case is related by Mr. Carmichael, who
was a student at Scalan at the time, and an eye­
witness of the event.
“ I can never forget one case I witnessed at the
seminary. The good Bishop after the community
evening prayers, at which he always attended,

i1 *
w

132

BISHOP HAY

begged our prayers for an afflicted woman, for whom
he was to offer up his Mass next morning. A report
went out among us that she was possessed or “ ob­
sessed.” The woman appeared in the oratory next
morning with her husband, both of them Protestants.
I think, from Kildrummy. He was a decent
countryman and seemed much dejected. Imme­
diately after Mass the Bishop began the exorcism of
the Church, the woman kneeling before him. At
first she was tolerably calm, though a little restless,
till he came to the words ‘ dic mihi nomen ’—‘ tell
me thy name,’ when all of a sudden she started up
quite furiously, so that we little fellows looked
anxiously at the door of the small chapel, which was
shut, or probably some of us would have made our
escape. With the most commanding and majestic
mien I ever saw in man, the Bishop commanded her
in the name of Jesus Christ to kneel down. She
instantly obeyed and several times, when, with
similar fury, she again attempted to rise, the same
order, given in the same all-powerful name, and
repeated, if possible, with more majestic energy and
authority, always brought her to her knees again,
until at last, by the time the exorcisms were com­
pleted, she became quite calm. She returned home
perfectlv cured, and many years afterwards I heard
that her husband was very anxious to be instructed
and received into the Catholic Church ; but I
am afraid that his distance from any priest prevented
this.”*
The life and climate at Scalan proved very
beneficial to Dr. Hay, and his health improved
considerably. He was also cheered by the increasing
* " Scotichronicon,” p. 278.

BISHOP HAY

133

prosperity of the seminary, as he wrote to Bishop
Geddes : “ Who knows but Scalan may yet live to
be of good service in place of Scots' shop in Rome. .. .
Our present subjects seem all very promising."
While Bishop Hay was thus engaged, his coadjutor
had little time for rest ; up and down the country,
he was continually on the move. Now in Glasgow,
now at Aberdeen, now in Galloway, and these
journeys were for the most part made on foot. He
declared he much preferred this mode of travelling,
finding it very beneficial to his health and affording
him ample time for meditation. (He usually carried
a " staff umbrella," an article of recent invention
which he found most useful.) Above all it was a
great economy. He found he could go to Glasgow
in a day and a half for the trifling sum of three or
four shillings. Describing one such journey to the
North, he wrote : “ Bishop Hay recommended me
to go up North on horseback, but was not in the end
displeased at my having gone on foot, especially as
by that means my horses ate none of his grass, and
he readily approved of me walking through Banff­
shire and Aberdeenshire as he could not well spare
the Scalan horses."
His most enterprising journey was to the Orkneys,
whither he went to visit some converts who had
gone to live there. On his return he calculated
that he had covered over six hundred miles on foot
in less than six weeks. But it was to the over­
fatigue occasioned by this effort that his friends
ascribed, in part at least, the gradual loss of power
which soon afterwards came upon him.
Another matter which was now engaging the
attention of the bishops was that of schools. Al-

134

BISHOP HAY

though Catholic schools were still forbidden under
the Penal Laws, several small beginnings were made
in this direction. Mr. Menzies, the enterprising
pastor of the Highland chapel in Edinburgh, had
recently opened one such establishment where some
two dozen children were taught reading, writing,
and catechism every day. A trifling charge was
made, Bishop Geddes undertaking to pay for six
of the poorest among them. A few years later he
proposed opening a larger school for forty or fifty
children, offering a salary of £15 to the teacher.
Dr. Hay at about the same time succeeded in pro­
curing masters for two small schools in Aberdeen
and Glenlivet at a salary of £5 each.
A great change was undoubtedly taking place in
public opinion towards the Catholics, and not least
among the contributing factors was the conduct and
character of the bishops themselves. Dr. Hay, as
we have already seen, had many friends among non­
Catholics, and Dr. Geddes, with his genial kindliness,
quickly won his way with all he met, thus breaking
down many an age-long prejudice, to the manifest
advantage of his co-religionists. “ One evening
at supper,” says Stothert, “ meeting a Mr. Kemp,
a clerical gentleman officially connected with the
management of schools, Bishop Geddes proposed to
him that the Catholic children should not be re­
quired to learn the Assembly catechism in the
Charity schools. The company at once joined the
Bishop in saying that it was a hardship. Mr. Kemp
turned off this direct appeal, humorously assuring
his friends that he was not endowed with a dis­
pensing power. The Bishop insisted on his having a
permissive and discretionary power, two other

BISHOP HAY

135

ministers and some ladies supporting the Bishop’s
plea, “ in the pleasant way of company.” At
parting, Mr. Kemp took him by the hand, and said
that in company he felt under some restraint, but
that he wished to have some private conversation
with the Bishop, and to settle the matter in an
amicable manner.”
A paragraph in a letter from Dr. Hay to the priest
at Aberdeen also throws a curious little sidelight on
the broadmindedness of some, at least, of the
officials in the larger towns. It is written from
Edinburgh and says, “ We have just such a plan
for the Poorhouse here as you mention to be in
agitation with you ; but here our people who are
taken in are in no wise molested as to their religion
and allowed to go 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 that what
you mention of some poor’s money be 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.”
But, hopeful as were these signs, the Penal Laws
were still in force, and Bishop Hay was ever on the
watch for any opportunity of furthering their repeal.
So, when in 1788 it was proposed to draft a second
Bill for the relief of the English Catholics, he ex­
pressed the hope that this time Scotland too might
be included. This is no place to enter into the
sorry history of the English Catholic Committee and
their unhappy differences with their bishops. The

136

BISHOP HAY

trouble centred chiefly round the oath of allegiance
required by Parliament, the Committee being willing
to sign a form of which the bishops strongly dis­
approved. The latter consulted privately with
their Scottish confreres, who were even more em­
phatic in their condemnation of the oath. Bishop
Hay wrote, “ I would never sign the paper sent
by Bishop Gibson—besides other reasons, it includes
to my mind the equivalent to the Oath of Supre­
macy." Dr. Geddes took exception in especial
to the title of “ Protesting Catholic Dissenters ”
adopted in the Bill, saying that he would call himself
Catholic only, or, if any addition must be made, it
should be " Roman," or some such honourable word.
Eventually, after much discussion and heated
controversy, the bishops succeeded in having the
oath amended to their satisfaction, and the second
English Relief Bill became law in 1791. Two more
years were yet to run before Scotland enjoyed a
like benefit, and then affairs moved with unexpected
suddenness. Mr. Macpherson, the Agent in Rome,
has left an interesting account of the course of
events :*
“ There were many favourable circumstances
that fortunately concurred at the time to render
Government, and the nation in general, favourable
to the Scottish Catholics. Ever since the severe
persecution of 1779, excited by a few ill-designing
men and carried on with great violence by the rabble,
of all which a distinct account was sent on due time
to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, the
Catholic religion, by the divine Providence, who
♦ Blair’s College MSS. Quoted in " Memoirs of Scottish
Catholics," Vol. II, p. 383, Forbes Leith.

BISHOP HAY

137

knows how to make good rise out of evil, and light
out of darkness, was making great progress. The
liberal part of the kingdom was perfectly ashamed
of the barbarity and wild enthusiasm which had
pervaded and blinded the inferior ranks of our
countrymen. Even these, when the phrensy began
to abate, and cool reflection return, were equally
ashamed of what they had done ; both by reason of
that generous spirit which is so peculiarly character­
istic of the British nation, and by reason of the
reproaches of cruelty and inhumanity which were
liberally heaped upon their country by neighbouring
nations, on account of these tumults.
“ They therefore began to look askance on what
they had done, and to seek, but in vain, for a suffi­
cient reason to excuse a conduct so severe towards
Catholics. Their natural generosity and love of
justice induced them to make up by every act of
civility, kindness and protection for their past
injuries. If this was the temper of the lower orders
of our countrymen, it was fully as much so of the
better sort, whose minds were more liberal, and who
were better acquainted with the principles of the
Catholic morality. . . .
“ The laudable behaviour of our Catholics, their
resignation and patience in time of trial, and their
modesty and prudence in time of prosperity, served
greatly to gain the sympathy and esteem of our
adversaries. But what above all acquired us the
admiration and affection of everyone, was the exem­
plary and truly apostolic life of our bishops and
clergy. . . .
“ In these circumstances, as if Almighty God
wanted to give us a token at the same time of His

138

BISHOP BAY

protection and power, which so easily baffles the
counsels of men, one of our principal Catholic
gentlemen, who was pretty far advanced in life and
had no children, though married for many years,
was called upon towards the end of the year 1792 by
his nearest Protestant heir to give him, exclusive of
his own sister and other Catholic relations, legal
security of succeeding after death to a very con­
siderable estate, else that he would immediately
take the advantage of one of the Penal Laws against
Catholics which not only gives a title, but even
enjoins the nearest Protestant heirs to claim estates
in like circumstances.
“ This Catholic gentleman was Mr. George Max­
well of Munches, a person of as fair and unblemished
character as was in the kingdom, nor was there a
man more esteemed or respected than he in the pro­
vince where he lived. He lately departed this life,
and is now, as we hope, enjoying the rewards of
his virtuous life. This virtuous man did not long
hesitate in giving his answer. He saw at once that,
were he to avoid the effects of this penal law by such
means as were proposed, there would not be a
Catholic of any property in Scotland but would be
immediately attacked in the like manner ; and if all
would avoid persecution in this way, there would
not in a few years be any Catholic property in the
kingdom. Therefore he resolved to stand out and
defend himself in the best way he could. In con­
sequence of this his adversary began immediately
to put his menaces in execution, and summoned
him to give up his property or deny his religion.
“ Munches posted into Edinburgh, informed
Bishop Geddes by word of mouth of his situation ;

BISHOP HAY

139

and Bishop Hay, who was then in his seminary at
Scalan, was advised of it by letters. It was agreed
that in the first place a council of the ablest lawyers
in the kingdom should be called, and their opinion
heard. Munches was acquainted with many of
them himself, and Bishop Geddes with them all.
They most cheerfully offered their services ; and
among the rest the Lord Advocate of Scotland, the
first crown lawyer in the kingdom. The result of
their deliberations was that they could award the
blow for some years by throwing every obstacle
that was in their power in their adversary’s way ;
but at long run Munches would necessarily lose his
estate ; nor could the cause be protracted for any
length of time without costing Munches a consider­
able sum of money ; that therefore the best, and
indeed the only means they could point out, by
which he might save his estate, was to petition
Parliament for a repeal of the Penal Laws, in as far
as they affected property.
“ The Lord Advocate promised all his influence ;
nay, even offered, being a member of the House of
Commons, to move himself a Bill to this purpose.
He renewed all these offers repeatedly to Bishop
Geddes, and regretted much that the state of the
kingdom was such as in prudence prevented ad­
ministration to do away with these Penal Laws
at once. Though this partial repeal of the Penal
Laws would be a considerable acquisition, yet it
nowise answered our wishes ; we could not perceive,
now that some of them were to be abrogated, what
danger would ensue if the greatest part were, des­
troyed ; and our Bishops resolved to push the matter
as far as in prudence they could.

I

140

BISHOP HAY

“ There was no time to be lost, the Parliament was
already set down, and the business beho\æd soon
to come on. Good Bishop Geddes though young in
years, yet loaded with infirmities, the consequence
of his extraordinary excitions in the discharge of
his apostolical duties, stood more in need of repose
than of tiiis additional burden of care and labour.
But it was a crisis of too great importance to the
Catholic religion for him to consult his own welfare
in this matter. He saw that the difficulties to be
surmounted were very great. Secretary Dundas,
whose principal province is to watch over the in­
ternal peace of the kingdom, appeared decidedly of
opinion that the Catholic Bill should extend only
to property. Our Catholic gentlemen, afraid by
asking too much, of getting nothing, were against
touching any of the Penal Laws, but such as directly
affected their temporal affairs. Yet he did not
despair of success.
“ He spoke to the nobility and Protestant clergy,
reasoned the point with everyone in Edinburgh
whose interest could be of use ; he wrote to his
powerful friends in other cities of the kingdom, and
had the satisfaction of receiving from every quarter
the most flattering promises of support ; and was
happy to find that almost every Protestant whom he
consulted on the subject was as little apprehensive
of any danger from a more full repeal as he was
himself. Bishop Hay was equally active in the
northern part of the kingdom, in as far as circum­
stances would admit.
“ When matters were thus prepared, Bishop
Geddes wrote to Secretary Dundas, the Lord Can­
cellor, and other friends in the ministry upon the

»Hi

BISHOP HAY

111

subject, assured them there would be no danger of
disturbing the public peace by extending the pro­
posed Bill much farther than was intended. That
their minds might be fully satisfied on this head, he
begged that they would ask the opinion of the magis­
trates and principal clergymen of every city in
Scotland. This idea met with the approbation of
Government. The magistrates and most intelligent
men of the national clergy were consulted, and their
answers, according to their promises of support
given to Bishop Geddes, were favourable. This
gave the ministry full courage ; they were ready
now to go all the length that Bishop Geddes or any
prudent man could have proposed.
“ The only point that remained to be settled was
the oath of allegiance to be taken by Catholics.
To frame such a new one as would obtain im­
mediately the approbation of every party would have
been a dangerous task and would have caused dan­
gerous delays. The last English oath had been
already approved of by all the Catholic Bishops of
the British dominions, and we heard that it got the
explicit approbation of the Holy See. Hence, with­
out hesitation it was adopted. The present Chan­
cellor, Lord Loughborough, and the late one, Lord
Thurlow, assisted by the Lord Advocate, to show
their regard for the Catholics of Scotland, drew up
the Bill ; a circumstance which is very extra­
ordinary, as such things are never done by people
in their high sphere.
“ The Bill was proposed in the House of Commons
by the Lord Advocate in an able speech, which
reflected much honour on the Catholics of Scotland ;
there was not a member in the House but applauded

142

BISHOP HAY

it. The same was the case in the House of Peers,
where it was read by my Lord Kellie, a near re­
lation of Mons. Erskine, who, when we afterwards
thanked him for the friendly part he took in that
affair, answered that he was happy in having had the
honour of assisting to emancipate from shameful
laws such valuable subjects, and that it was an
additional pleasure to him to think he had done an
agreeable office to his relation in Rome.
” After the Bill had thus triumphantly passed
both Houses of Parliament, it got the royal signature,
on the 3rd June, 1793.
“ In place of the tumults first apprehended by the
ministry, every corner in Scotland resounded with
acclamations.”
Bishop Geddes wrote at once to congratulate
Dr. Hay, hoping that he would live many years to
enjoy the good effect produced by the favour of
Providence : “ With regard to the Act itself, it
almost puts an end to the Penal Laws against us,
as the exceptions are so few and trifling, and, pur­
posely, there is no penalty annexed to them. Be­
sides, the English Catholics have it in contemplation
to apply soon for being put entirely on the same
footing with other subjects ; and when that hap­
pens, we may now reasonably hope to be included
with them.”
We can well imagine the thankful joy that filled
every Catholic heart at this long awaited answer
to their prayers—yet nothing, perhaps, can bring
home to us with greater force all the horror and
suffering they had undergone than the record of the
disabilities still hanging over them, even after the
passing of the Bill which they hailed with such

BISHOP HAY

i

1
u

J
•

143

pathetic gratitude. No Catholic could sit in either
House, or even vote at an election. No Catholic
could be a judge or hold a commission in the navy
or the army ; marriages between Catholics must still
be performed in the Protestant church ; and, more
serious perhaps than all, it was still prohibited to
a Catholic to take a post as teacher or schoolmaster
anywhere in Scotland.
How resentful should we be in our free and happy
days were we subjected to any one of these injustices
—which yet seemed to our long-suffering fathers
“so few and trifling as to be almost negligible.”
It is one man that sows, and another that gathers
in the harvest. Going, they wept, scattering the
seed, that we may come with joy, carrying the
sheaves.

CHAPTER X
DEATH OF BISHOP GEDDES

While events were proceeding thus happily at
home, Bishop Geddes had once more been called
abroad in connection with the affairs of another of
the colleges—that in Paris.
From very early times a close intercourse had
been maintained between France and Scotland,
and during the Middle Ages many a Scottish student
had found his way to the famous Paris University.
As long ago as 1325, David, Bishop of Moray, had
endowed four burses there for poor scholars, pro­
viding for their maintenance by the gift of a farm at
Grisy, which remains to this day in Scottish hands.
Queen Mary added to these burses, and Beaton,
Archbishop of Glasgow, bequeathed a house for
the residence of the students, thus becoming founder
of the historic Scots College. Many well-known
names are enrolled upon its records, but to none is it
so much indebted as to the various members of the
Innes family, who for many years were its directors.
“ From the beginning the Parisian college has been
of great assistance to religion in Scotland, and still
more so during the reign of the Inneses. It had
given many valuable labourers to the mission ; its
doors had always been open to receive any fugitive
missionary whom peril to life or liberty not infre144

BISHOP HAY

145

quently compelled to fly his country and seek a
temporary residence abroad. Students on their
way to Rome were constantly entertained at Paris,
and, in order to relieve the poor mission, the ex­
penses of their further journe}' were defrayed by the
superiors of the Parisian college. On their return
in like manner, they were always welcome guests ;
they were often induced to prolong their residence
at Paris till they had recovered the use of their
native language, and had acquired a practical
knowledge of their future duties. The public purse
of the college, and the private purse of its superiors
were over and over again opened to assist the pecu­
niary distress of the mission. The early Scotch
agents at Rome knew little or nothing of the diffi­
culties under which the Scottish missionaries la­
boured. The superiors at Paris supplied them with
information, as far as it was possible. They
maintained a weekly correspondence with Rome ;
taught the agents the miseries of his native country,
suggesting remedies, and stimulating his zeal until
they were obtained.”*
In later days, however, the college fell under
suspicion of Jansenism ; the finances were mis­
handled ; and the students proved so unsatisfactory
that the bishops refused to send out any more. The
position became sadly strained, for the Principal of
the College, Mr. Gordon, denied the right of the
bishops to any say in its direction. Eventually,
on Dr. Geddes’ arrival in Paris, a conference was
held of all concerned, and the vote was given un­
animously in favour of the bishops.
But by this time a fresh situation had arisen.
♦ " ScotichronicoQ,” p. 249.
K

146

BISHOP HAY

The Revolution had broken out in France and was
sweeping like a cyclone over Europe, involving even
far-off Scotland in the wash of its angry waves.
Blood flowed in streams ; the Church was every­
where attacked, and the British colleges in Paris and
at Douai shared the general fate. By means of
untiring negotiations the bishops managed to avert
the blow until 1793, when the Reign of Terror carried
all before it. Mr. Farquharson, the Rector at
Douai, succeeded in sending home his boys, re­
maining on himself in the hopes of rescuing the
property, but in vain. “ The Rector played a part
worthy of the best traditions of his country. He
was the last to leave France, having the satisfaction
of knowing that all his students and assistants
had landed without harm in Scotland.” (Scottish Notes
and Queries. February, 1924.)
In Paris, Mr. Gordon had already left, but the
Procurator, Mr. Alexander Innes, remained nobly
at his post, barely escaping with his life. The date
of his execution was actually fixed, but on its very
eve the tide turned with dramatic suddenness, and
the Reign of Terror closed as the head of Robes­
pierre fell beneath the guillotine. In their report
to Propaganda a few years later, the bishops stated
that they had lost the whole of their property in
France, while the annual subsidy from Rome had
been reduced to one-third of its former value owing
to the fall in the exchange.
The English colleges abroad suffered a like fate.
But serious as was the loss occasioned by the Revolu­
tion, it brought its blessings too, and it is hard to
say which scale weighed heaviest in the balance ;
fpr the heartfelt generosity extended by the people

Π

BISHOP HAY

1
I
I
)
j
j
i
I
1
I

i
I

147

of this isle to the ruined émigrés from France surely
bore its own reward, setting wide the floodgates of
God’s mercy, and deluging the land with His pardon
and His blessing. Priests and religious alike were
welcomed with open arms, and by 1757 their numbers had risen to upwards of 12,000. A special
committee was formed to care for them and an appeal
issued, worded by Edmund Burke. In the course of
a few weeks £34,000 had been subscribed. Not
only were the temporal needs of the fugitives considered, but every effort was made to supply their
spiritual wants as well. The University of Oxford
printed two thousand copies of the Vulgate for
their use, and altars were erected on every side, so
that day by day, from dawn till noon, the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass once more ascended from our
land, as of old,before the throne of God.
The exiled priests, on their part, won all hearts
by their patience and their piety, and were anxious
to make what return they could for so great hos­
pitality, thus breaking through many an ancient
barrier of prejudice. Bishop Hay met some of
them in London and on his invitation they returned
with him to Scotland. One, a former Vicar-General,
was employed for a time in teaching French in a
desolate district where there was not a single Catho­
lic. He applied for leave to say Mass without a
server, as he found it quite impossible to obtain one.
Meanwhile, changes had been taking place in the
mission-field at home. Bishop Macdonald had died
in 1781, just as Dr. Geddes was setting out for
France, and Bishop Hay found himself for the second
time left alone, the only bishop in all Scotland.
Mr. John Chisholm was shortly afterwards appointed

}
,

f
,
> /

’<

148

BISHOP HAY

Vicar Apostolic of the Highlands. Dr. Hay once
again obtaining special dispensation to consecrate
him, with the assistance of two priests.
In one of his letters to his coadjutor he gives an
interesting account of developments in Glasgow.
We hear much nowadays of the evils of the Industrial
Revolution ; it is curious to find it, in its first be­
ginning, hailed as a blessing from Heaven to relieve
the destitution in the Highlands.
“ February 13, 1792.—Accounts have been re­
ceived from our last summer’s 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 imagine it ? A door is
likely to open for them in 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
per week, and others in proportion. Application
has been made to us to supply them from the High­
lands, 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 that 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

BISHOP HAY

!

149

in the great estates of Clanranald or Glengarry.
“ Dominus novit opus suum abeterno. Fiat voluntas
ejus.”
The Glasgow mission made rapid strides under the
care of its zealous pastor, Mr. Macdonell. A large
hall was taken for a chapel ; the leading manu­
facturers, anxious to attract sober and industrious
workmen, undertook the rent and fitted up three
hundred seats. In October, 1792, the place was
opened with a congregation of over two hundred.
Bishop Hay wrote happily : “ Mr. Macdonell is of
a forward and intrepid disposition ; but I have often
seen that when Providence has a mind to bring about
any event He qualifies the instrument he makes use
of for that purpose ; and very often a certain degree
of boldness produces much better effects than too
much timidity. I trust in God that that will be
the case with our friend there.”
It was soon after Bishop Geddes’ return from
France that his health began to fail, and the first
symptoms appeared of the creeping paralysis which
was eventually, after seven long and weary years,
to carry him to the grave. To Bishop Hay it was
a deep anxiety and grief, but he himself accepted it
with calmest resignation. “ With the divine assist­
ance I shall always consider it a great advantage to
have my Purgatory here. In the meantime I shall
be doing all the little I can for the common good.”
He begged his friend not to be concerned about his
health. ” It will be better if it so please God. It
has been very good for a great many years. My
mind, I thank God, is easy enough, and it is good to
be weaned from this world and to perceive our
gradual approach to the next.”

150

BISHOP HAY

Soon he found it necessary to dictate his letters.
“ I am not apprehensive of being in immediate
danger of death and I am truly in good enough
spirits, but I scarcely believe I shall ever in this
life be again quite free of this weakness in my limbs.”
As he grew worse it became obvious that he could
no longer fulfil the many duties involved in his
present position. Bishop Hay therefore suggested
that he himself should go to Edinburgh and that
Dr. Geddes should take his place at Scalan, where he
could live quietly in the seminary and hope to recruit
his health. The invalid placed himself entirely in
the hands of his friend. He thought the retirement
might possibly benefit him, though he was “ some­
thing afraid ” of the cold and damp and the isolation
from medical advice. However, it was agreed to
make a trial of the plan. It was a real grief to
Bishop Hay to leave his beloved “ Patmos ” ; “I
never was happier since I came to the mission than I
am at Scalan, and were it not for the other duties
of my charge I would be content never to be without
the limits of its enclosure. I have got a set of
excellent servants, who go hand in hand for the
good of the place and live in the most perfect har­
mony ever since a certain person left the place,
insomuch that I have not the smallest concern
whether I be at home or abroad, either for things
within or without doors. My boys are every day
more content, tractable and happy.”
Good Bishop Geddes set out upon his northward
journey deeply lamented by his many friends. His
geniality and wise human interest had endeared him
to Catholics and Protestants alike, and ensured
him a hearty welcome to their homes. His keen

BISHOP HAY

151

interest in history and antiquarian research had
brought him into close touch with Dr. Chalmers, the
author of “ Caledonia,” and with Mr. Gleig, the
editor of the Encyclopedia, at whose request he
wrote several of the articles, and with many more
besides. Unlike his friend, who cared nothing for
appearances, and would wear only the plainest
homespun, he was very particular about his dress.
He had long ago given up a wig and wore his own
long hair, now grown silvery white. When going
into company he would appear in satin breeches and
silk stockings, thus gaining the disapproval of some
of the more old-fashioned priests, who used severely
to remark that he would burn a thousand years in
Purgatory for his vanity !
On his first arrival at Scalan he was able to be of
some little use, saying Mass, instructing the stu­
dents, and hearing confessions, but his infirmity
rapidly increased, and at length he wrote to Dr.
Hay, saying that he felt himself a mere encumbrance
in the small establishment, and suggesting that he
should go to Aberdeen, where his nephew had
volunteered to look after him. “ Let me know what
you think would be best, and I shall agree to it
cheerfully, as I ought to be the first to give an
example of obedience, and of a desire to do all the
good I can.” Dr. Hay readily agreed. “ My only
view now is to have you in the most agreeable way
you can think of for yourself.”
So Bishop Geddes bade adieu to Scalan. “ I am
truly much concerned that I should become so soon
useless to my country,” he wrote, “ but as you well
observe, we must submit entirely to the Will of
God, who well knows what is best, and can easily

152

BISHOP HAY

raise up fitter instruments for the performance of
His own work. For me, personally, this distemper
is certainly one of the greatest blessings I could
receive, as it gives such a fine opportunity of ex­
piating my sins, through the merits of Christ, and of
preparing for death, if I be strengthened to bear
my sufferings patiently, and make a good use of my
circumstances. For this you will pray for me. Of
myself, I am nothing but weakness.”
The invalid was received very kindly by his
nephew, Mr. Gordon, in the little chapel-house in
Aberdeen, where he was given the tiny room for­
merly occupied by Bishop Grant. For some time
he was able to creep downstairs for Mass, but as
he grew more feeble the Holy Sacrifice was offered
once a week in his bedroom, the maid making the
responses, spreading the Communion cloth on his
bed, and putting on his stole. His gentleness and
patience never failed, and despite his helplessness
of body, his mind remained alert and active and he
was able to occupy himself by writing. Among
other works he compiled a life of St. Margaret, and
wrote several articles for the Encyclopædia for Dr.
Gleig. He also left many MSS. of great value
relating to the Scottish Mission.
In May, 1797, he had a sudden attack and re­
ceived the Last Sacraments. He sent the following
touching letter to his lifelong friend :

“ Much honoured and dear Sir,
“ Within these few days my distemper has
affected my stomach in the way of a nausea, and
I am otherwise very weak though not more pained
than usual. I apprehend my departure is drawing

BISHOP HAY

153

near, more than the doctor seems to do ; and I
am not sure if I shall be able to have the satis­
faction of writing you again. And, indeed, I wish
now to bid farewell to the world, and converse
with my God as constantly as I can.
"Now, my dearest friend, I must thank you
sincerely for all the good you have always been
doing to me during the space of forty-six years.
I know that you will readily pardon any cause of
displeasure that without intention I will no doubt
have given you. I well know also that you will
pray for me, alive or dead, but especially that I
may be guarded against my spiritual enemies at
my last hour. I have been an ungrateful creature
to my God ; but He is infinitely good, and with
His assistance I shall always trust in His mercies.
"I cannot think of desiring you to come hither,
as it is uncertain when I may die, and I think it
not improbable that I may slumber into eternity.
Besides, I even believe that your being here
would be a distraction to you from better things,
and even to me, considering my weakness. You
must imagine to yourself the many things I
would have to say, were it necessary and were I
able. I shall therefore bid you farewell, with the
pleasant hopes of meeting in a happy eternity.
Laetatus sum. ate. Farewell, my dearest friend.
" I am truly yours, John Geddes.”

Contrary to expectation, he once more rallied
and lingered on for almost two more years—truly
a living death, for he was unable so much as to brush
a fly from off his face. His nephew cared for him
with utmost tenderness, sometimes rising to assist

154

BISHOP HAY

him twenty times in one night, after his own long
day’s work. On one occasion his exhaustion was
such that he fainted while lifting the invalid from
his bed to a chair. They lay together on the floor,
the Bishop uppermost until Mr. Gordon recovered
consciousness. It was the early hours of a day of
obligation, and he refused any restoratives which
would prevent his saying Mass.
In September, 1798, Bishop Hay once more visited
his friend ; it was their last meeting upon earth, and
the end came five months later. From lying
constantly in one position, the patient’s back had
broken down, but he was never once heard to com­
plain. Four days before his death he lost the power
of speech, but his mind remained unclouded to the
last. He was laid to rest in the little graveyard of
Our Lady of the Snow. The professors of King’s
College, to whom the cemetery belongs, refused the
usual fees, regarding it an honour to have so great
and good a man lying in their ground. A square
horizontal stone bears his name, together with that
of Bishop Grant and three other priests who share
a single grave.
What his loss was to Bishop Hay, none can tell.
It was to John Geddes alone that he had revealed
the secrets of his heart, and now this outlet was for
ever closed. He himself was growing old, and a
long chapter in his life was at an end. He seldom
mentioned his friend’s name again, but who could
now act as peacemaker and smooth away the little
difficulties which from time to time arose between
the Bishop and his priests ? As Stothert writes,
“ From this time our history may be compared to a
fair landscape of meadow and of mountain, whose

BISHOP HAY
j

;

155

abundant foliage autumn has touched with a
thousand tints of crimson and of russet, but from
off which, as evening approaches, the golden sunlight
has died. We have much energy, much devotion,
much sacrifice yet to witness in our great Bishop,
but the one tender, affectionate side of his character
is lost to us henceforth in the grave of his friend.
Mr. Guthrie was gone ; Mr. Geddes followed him ;
Bishop Hay’s contemporaries and associates now
were not the friends of his youth, but younger men
with new ideas, new standards of judgment. Even
with the best of them the aged Bishop could only
partially sympathise ; many of them were not at
pains to conceal their mistrust of him and their
opposition to his plans.”
It was the penalty of a long life, but Bishop Hay
saw in it the hand of God and he did not repine.

CHAPTER XI
AQUHORTIES

The revolutionary upheaval in Europe was still
making its influence felt in the affairs of the British
Isles. In 1798, the French troops, after many
previous alarms, finally invaded the papal states
and entered Rome itself. The pope was carried off ;
the cardinals were imprisoned, or had fled, and the
foreign colleges were taken over in the name of the
Republic. The English and Irish agents had al­
ready left the city, committing their students to the
care of the Scottish agent, Mr. McPherson, who was
determined to cling on to the last. But he, too, had
finally to go. He was treated with every civility
by the French authorities, and succeeded in con­
voying his twenty-two students safely home. On
reaching London, he found himself something of a
hero, and was presented to the Prince of Wales and
the Speaker of the House—all were anxious to
greet the man who had escorted his party without
mishap through the heart of Revolutionary France.
The Scottish bishops had meanwhile been re­
duced to sore financial straits, the chief source of
their revenue having been invested funds in France,
“ which, with what he had from Rome, made by
far the greatest part of our income. All these are
now totally lost and what remains in this country is
166

BISHOP HAY

157

not sufficient, since the late addition to our numbers,
to give £ιό per annum to each for their maintenance.
This circumstance alone suffices to give an idea of
their difficulties, without entering into a detail of
their particulars, especially in these distressing
times, when all the necessaries of life are come to so
high a price. It is true, in some few places, the
people give their own pastors some little assistance,
but it is so small and so precarious that little de­
pendence can be laid upon it. At present there are
three bishops actually in this country : to wit,
B. Chisholm, who has the charge of the Highland
district, and your humble servant, who is placed
over that of the Low countries. Bishop Chisholm
has no coadjutor, nor has he the means of supporting
one. A good many years ago, I, being but in a poor
state of health, got my worthy friend, B. Geddes,
for my coadjutor ; he was of no small assistance to
me while his health remained, but for these five
years past he has been quite ab agendo. Being now
in the seventieth year of my age, and finding the
common attendants of that age fast advancing upon
me, and dreading the fatal consequences if the
French should become masters of Rome, I applied
to Rome about a year and a half ago for another
Coadjutor, as it was judged by all his physicians that
B. Geddes would never recover. My request was
readily granted Mr. Alex. Cameron, who was then
Rector of our college in Spain, was appointed for
that office. He was lately consecrated at Madrid,
and I expect him home sometime in the approaching
Spring, which will make the number of our bishops
four. With regard to our finances before the French
Revolution, we had no reason to complain. The two

158

BISHOP HAY

Vicars Apost. had a pension each from the H. See
of 200 scudi, which according to the rates of ex­
change yielded between £40 and £50, and we had
also some funds in this country which, with some
small additions since that period, yielded £40 yearly
to each Vic. Ap. With these two we lived in a
tolerably decent manner in those days, and could
even spare a little every now and then to assist
others in distress. At present all we had from Rome
is lost, and it will be a long time, if ever, before it
be able to replace it. Our coadjutors, when we had
any, had also a pension of 100 scudi from Rome.”
This letter was addressed by Bishop Hay to Sir
John Hippesley, an English M.P., who had been for
several years resident in Rome as a sort of secret
agent for the British Government. Common in­
terests and danger had brought the courts of Rome
and England into touch with one another, and it
was even hoped by some that diplomatic relations
might be restored between the two. Sir John had
made himself very popular, and won the goodwill of
all, including the Pope himself, by his whole-hearted
service in the Catholic cause. One of his successes
had been the obtaining of a grant from the British
Government for the English seminaries. Bishop
Hay, learning this, made a petition through his old
friend, Sir John Dalrymple, for a like benefit for
Scotland. Sir John Hippesley willingly took the
matter up. Prolonged negotiations ensued, in the
course of which he was much assisted by Mr. Secre­
tary Dundas and the Lord Advocate. At length
the latter wrote that he hoped soon to be able to
announce “ that a class of person whose virtue and
loyalty I so much respect as I do that of the Catholic

BISHOP HAY

159

clergy and laity in Scotland, are relieved by the
liberality of the British Government from the dis­
tresses under which they have so unfortunately been
subjected.”
In June, 1799, the bishops were able to write as
follows to Sir John, telling him of the result of their
final interview with the Lord Advocate :
" Most dear Sir.—Only two days ago the Lord
Advocate found leisure to give us an audience,
and this morning our affair was finally adjusted.
Though you will probably know the terms on
which matters were settled, we thought it our
duty to let you know them from ourselves.
“ We are allowed such a sum for the support
of our clergy as, with what we have of our own,
will enable us to give each of them, according to
our present number, £20 yearly, with a small
balance to be reserved for other common exigen­
cies, as mentioned to you in a former letter,
would be necessary. Each of the Vicars gets
£100 and each of the Coadjutors, £50 ; also
£50 are allowed for each of our colleges, to help
their yearly support, and £600 are to be given to
each to defray the debts incurred in their erec­
tion. . . . You will easily conceive how great a
consolation this intelligence gave us, to see our­
selves and our clergy, by this singular assistance
from our generous benefactors, raised to a com­
fortable situation from almost absolute poverty.
But what greatly enhanced the favour was the
amiable and endearing manner in which his
Lordship communicated the intelligence to us.
He seemed even overjoyed to have had it in his
power to do what he was pleased to call an act

160

BISHOP HAY

of justice. He did not omit giving us to know
how much we were indebted to your exertions in
our favour. This we well knew before, but we
are very much at a loss to know how to express
the feelings of our hearts towards you, our best
of friends.
“ Be assured, most dear Sir, that we shall
never forget what we owe to you for the dis­
interested friendship you have shown to us, but,
being unable to make any suitable return for so
much goodness, all that remains is earnestly to
recommend you and yours to that Supreme Being,
who never fails amply to reward even a cup of
cold water given to His servants in theii' distress,
and who alone is able to reward you for the charity
you have shown to us and our brethren.
“ We had some thoughts of writing a letter
of thanks to our generous benefactors, His Ma­
jesty’s Ministers ; but, not being accustomed to
writing to those in their high station, and un­
willing to intrude upon their precious time, we
hope you will take the trouble to assure them of
the grateful sense we have of their goodness and
generosity, and that we shall never be wanting
in giving every proof in our power of our loyal
attachment to our most gracious sovereign, and
of promoting the same among our people, both
on public and private occasions.
“ We have the honour to be, with every senti­
ment of gratitude and respect, most dear Sir,
your most obedient and most obliged humble
servants,
“George Hay.
"John Chisholm.’’*
" Scotichronicon, ” p. 414.

BISHOP HAY

161

The following letter from Mr. Secretary Dundas
shows the high place the Scottish bishops had won
in the esteem of their fellow countrymen :
" Reverend Sirs,
“ It is with much pleasure that I acknowledge
the receipt of your letter, particularly as I find
by it that the aid which his Majesty’s Government
has been able to extend to you, and to the rest of
the Roman Catholic clergy under your authority,
promises to afford so much comfort and relief to
such a pious, loyal and respectable body of men
as the Roman Catholic clergy of Scotland have
constantly shown themselves, and which I have
no doubt they will ever continue to be, while they
have the benefit of such an example as you have
invariably given them. With every good wish
for your future health and happiness, I remain,
with much respect and regard, reverend Sirs,
your very faithful, humble servant,
Henry Dundas.”

Alas ! The Government soon repented of its
generosity. The grant, obtained with so much
labour and so gratefully received, was year by year
more grudgingly bestowed, until in 1805 it al­
together lapsed.
Dr. Hay was at this time much occupied with a
new enterprise. As one after the other the colleges
abroad were lost, the problem of the supply of future
students for the priesthood became ever more in­
sistent, for the tiny seminary of Scalan could
accommodate fifteen at the most. The Bishop,
with his usual energy, set about doing what he could
to remedy the situation. He describes the result of

162

BISHOP HAY

his efforts in a letter to the Agent a few months
before the latter was driven out of Rome.
“ After the loss of our two colleges in France, and
Danley (himself) being exorted by friends in Rome
to see to procure some place at home to supply
that loss, considered this as an intimation of the
Will of heaven to him. He, therefore, set himself
to see if such a place could be got, and on such terms
as he could expect to procure. Several places were
proposed, but on examination he found insuperable
objections to them, till Summer, 1796, when Mr.
Leslie of Balquhain, having lately come to the full
management of his estate, made offer to him of a
farm very fit for our purpose, and on such advan­
tageous terms as could not be looked for from any
other in this country, the chief of which is a long
lease of 107 years, from Whitsunday this year, which
no proprietor here would give almost on any con­
sideration. This, then, we have got with all legal
security for the full possession of the farm for that
space of time. The soil and climate are good and the
soil capable of great improvement ; and were it not
that we are obliged to build a house upon it, which
(such as we need) with office houses, will cost a
great deal, we would have had a very great ad­
vantage by it, especially as he has given a con­
siderable reduction of the rent put upon it (on
condition of a sum of money paid in hand) from
£t2Q to £go. As Dauley had a place of this kind in
view some years before, he was endeavouring to
procure what help he could for accomplishing it,
but not being able to do much in that way, a sub­
scription was set on foot among our people, who,
indeed, did more than could have been expected,

BISHOP HAY

163

considering their abilities, though far below our
needs. With their help and what he got from some
other friends, he has been able to pay the sum to be
paid in hand, which was mentioned in a former
letter, and to provide the most necessary im­
plements for plenishing the farm. He has also
employed proper persons to build the house, which
will be roofed before the end of August, and finished
by that time next year. ...”
Within two years the house was completed with
accommodation for thirty boys. It was a solid
granite building overlooking the valley of the Don,
and consisting of three storeys and an attic. At
one end was the chapel.
The Bishop bade a sad farewell to little Scalan,
so desolate and primitive in its barren solitude,
yet deserving of such veneration from all Catholic
hearts—“ Where we have been so long and where so
many worthy missionaries have had the rudiments
of their education.” He was seventy years of
age, and it was no light task to face the difficulties
and anxieties of the new establishment, but he
shouldered his burden wholeheartedly, with utter
carelessness of self. He had entered on the final
chapter of his life. Henceforth he left to his coad­
jutor the more active work of the vicariate, devoting
himself as long as his failing powers allowed to the
care and education of his boys. The cost of the
building had left him heavily in debt, and it was
necessary to exercise the most strict economy, but
the students themselves evidently approved highly
of the change. One wrote joyfully to say that they
no longer had to serve at table, no sweeping or
other menial task was expected of them—they did

164

BISHOP HAY

not even have to make their beds ! The only
drawback was the difficulty of extracting leave for
any play from the Bishop. They were to have one
afternoon in the week, and their whole vacation
would consist of three afternoons in September.
He added, however, that the rules had not yet
been published, so we may hope that the reality
proved somewhat less severe than his expectations.
The Bishop took a very active share in the work
of the establishment, lecturing on metaphysics and
philosophy, and teaching the rudiments of grammar
to the smaller boys. He took his meals in common
in the refectory and attended the community de­
votions in the chapel, besides spending several hours
a day in mental prayer and meditation, sometimes
in the chapel, sometimes out of doors. If his
priests had found him at times severe and stern, he
clearly had no terrors for his boys, and Stothert
gives a touching description of the happy relationship
which grew up among them.
“ In the time of recreation, the Bishop would
frequently mix with the students in the playroom
or in the grounds. Even when he was very old,
Mr. Carmichael has seen him, on a holiday afternoon,
looking on at a well-played game at hand-ball
with all the interest and vivacity of the boys.
“ If the boys could see the Bishop in one of his
solitary walks in the grounds, when he was not
occupied with his prayers, they would throw them­
selves in his way to hear him tell one of his charming
stories of divine interposition, particularly in past
time of trouble, for religion.
“ No one, says another of his students, could
match the Bishop in his captivating power of telling

BISHOP HAY

165

a story. When he came among the boys at recrea­
tion and began one of his stories every game was
stopped and all the boys crowded about the old
man, to hear what he was going to say. His face
gave suitable expression to his descriptions ; and
the gestures of his hands also helped to impart
sense of reality to what he was saving.
“ It was in winter, during the Christmas holidays,
that the boys most enjoyed the company of the
Bishop. Combining the playfulness of a boy with
the warm affection of a father, he would sit among
them after tea while they were playing the Italian
game of cuckoo. He gave them prizes to be played
for, and when the prizes were all disposed of, if he
saw their amusement flag, he would announce one
prize more, and, when the game was played out,
would excite a shout of merriment by producing
with great formality, and with a quiet smile, the
coveted prize of a few almonds, or perhaps of one.
Throughout the winter season the Bishop usually
joined the boys after supper in the playroom, where
they often made a semi-circle with the benches round
the stove. The Bishop would then take his seat in
the middle, that everyone might see him, and the
fascination of his stories began. He told them so
graphically and to the life. The hour for evening
prayers often seemed to come too soon to interrupt
the flow of anecdote.
" On one of those evenings spent round the stove,
the Bishop gave the boys a narrative of his father’s
apprehension in 1715 for his attachment to the
Stuarts and of his escape. The tears were running
down the Bishop’s face as he related the story.
" When the boys were sick, the Bishop not only

λ

166

BISHOP HAY

prescribed for them, but administered his medicines
with his own hands. If they were confined to bed,
he would often remain in the room with them, saying
his prayers and helping them by turns, with the
tenderness of a nurse, till he saw they were better.
Mr. Carmichael was once threatened at Aquhorties
with inflammatory fever. The Bishop gave him
some medicine, and for three or four hours never
left the bed-side of the sick boy, until he saw that the
worst symptoms were abated. He then gave him
his blessing, wished him a quiet night’s rest, and
assured him that he would be better next day.
When the boy awoke in the morning he found him­
self well enough to rise and go on with his studies.
His rapid recovery he used always to attribute to the
Bishop’s prayers more than to his medicines.
'* The children at Fetternear found the old man
equally charming. He was very fond of telling of
the Jacobite times, and used to amuse the family
circle with stories of his own adventures in the
Prince’s army. When he had finished hearing the
children their catechism, he would sometimes play
tricks for their amusement, hiding things for them to
find. He used often to hide his little gold crucifix,
which they always said he had concealed under his
brown wig.”*
An amusing anecdote is told in connection with
Mr. Robertson, one of the Ratisbon Benedictines
who had returned to work in Scotland. He was a
short, stout, merry little man, always full of jokes
and fun. One evening when visiting Aquhorties, he
collected the boys around him as they came out of
prayers, and soon had them in roars of laughter.
• " Scotichronicon,” p. 419.

BISHOP HAY

167

The schoolroom was next the chapel, where the
Bishop, according to his custom, remained on for
some time after the rest of the community The
noise in the schoolroom only made him prolong his
devotions, and when he appeared he asked the little
monk what he meant by creating so much dis­
turbance. Mr. Robertson, striking his breast,
exclaimed, ” Mea culpa, mea culpa.” “ That is
not sufficient punishment,” said the Bishop. “ Let
me administer it,” and he raised his arm, as though
about to inflict a severe blow. “ Stop. Stop,”
cried the monk, ” That would be, not ‘ mea culpa ’
but ' tua culpa, tua maxima culpa.’ ” Which
remark was received with a shout of merriment by
the boys.
* The Bishop’s homely dress has already been
described. He was fond of wearing purple, and
once, by mistake, he ordered a suit of lilac, utterly
unconscious that this was a most fashionable colour
among gentlemen. A certain old lady who had
often suffered from the severity of his denunciations
of the fashions promptly seized the opportunity
of trying to improve the occasion. ” What the
worse are you yourself, my Lord,” she said, “ though
you are dressed to-day in the heights of fashion.”
He innocently asked her what she meant, and the
lilac coat was never seen again.

CHAPTER XII
OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

No reference has as yet been made to a subject
which doubtless in the eyes of many constitutes
Bishop Hay’s chief right to fame, namely, his
spiritual writings. It is almost incredible, in view
of his various activities, his ceaseless journeys, and
his long hours of prayer, that he should have found
time for authorship as well. Yet he left behind
him several standard works, displaying profoundest
study and a deep knowledge of the Holy Scripture.
One of his first anxieties when he returned as
missionary to Scotland was the scarcity of books
and catechisms for the use of the faithful, and he at
once set himself to supply the want. He printed
10,000 copies of the catechism, and later on, with the
assistance of Dr. Geddes, he brought out a new
edition of the Bible based on Bishop Chailoner's
translation. He first attracted public notice by a
number of controversial pamphlets. Then he pro­
duced an important work in two volumes : “ The
Scripture doctrine of Miracles,” an exhaustive
study which received much praise both at home and
abroad. He quotes St. Thomas freely, and supports
his arguments by his own extensive knowledge of
natural science. The book was reviewed in the
” Scots’ Magazine,” (1776) as follows :
168

HHBBF····8

BISHOP HAY

169

‘‘ Oiir church is here challenged to the field by
no contemptible adversary. With respect to the
general execution of this work, it must be allowed
that the plan is happily conducted, the topics ju­
diciously and artfully disposed, and the reasoning,
though not invincible, specious and dangerous. . . .
The style is impressive and clear.”
But perhaps his reputation as an author rests
chiefly on the three works on Christian doctrine
which he published successively under the titles of
“ The Sincere Christian,” “ The Devout Christian,”
and “ The Pious Christian.” They form a complete
summary of revealed religion in the style of question
and answer.
‘‘The view I have had in this present work,” he
says in his introduction, "is to assist the most
unlearned ; and, beginning with the first rudiments
of Christianity, to conduct the reader step by steps
through the whole body of the truths of revelation,
so that the knowledge of one truth may serve as an
introduction to those that follow after. The Sacred
Scriptures are an inexhaustible fountain of heavenly
knowledge, but are commonly less used than they
might be, as illustrating and establishing the truths
of religion.”
The “ Sincere Christian ” appeared in 1780, the
year following the anti-repeal riots. It had a wide
sale, passing almost at once into several editions
and being translated into a number of foreign
languages. The “ Devout Christian ” was published
in '83, and “ The Pious Christian ” followed three
years later.
“ Having in ‘ The Sincere Christian ’ instructed
in the faith of Christ those who are seriously

170

BISHOP HAY

desirous to know His truth ; and having in ' The
Devout Christian ’ instructed those who are truly
resolved to obey God in what His holy law requires
of them, in order to please Him, we now purpose,
in this present work, to instruct the Pious Christian
in the nature of those holy exercises of piety which
he practises, and in the manner of practising them,
so that they may be of real benefit to him and effec­
tually enable him to keep the commandments of
God, to sanctify his own soul, and secure his eternal
salvation.”
In all his writings he quotes extensively from
Scripture, and though they strike the modem mind
as somewhat severe in tone and dry in style, yet
to former generations they proved of inestimable
use, and are still of solid value to the student.
There is little more to be recorded. In 1800 the
bishops again made report to Rome of the religious
conditions in their province. There were two vicars
apostolic and forty priests ; the faithful numbered
30,000. There were but twelve chapels throughout
Scotland, and not one single religious house in all
the land.
In the second volume of his " Caledonia,” pub­
lished a few years later, Chalmers says, '* There still
continues in Scotland the remains of the most
ancient church, after all the efforts of Reformation—
all the harshness of severity and other influences—
so difficult it is to eradicate the religious habits of a
people. The Roman Catholics of Scotland are ruled
by several bishops, who are vicars apostolic, like
the Roman Catholic bishops in England, and are
allowed each a coadjutor when age or infirmity
requires assistance. These Catholics are generally

BISHOP HAY

171

poor and helpless, quiet and inoffensive, which are
qualities that anywhere merit and receive the pro­
tection of wise governments.”
A century and a quarter have gone by. Truly
the Church can never die. “ The Kingdom of God
is as if a man should cast seed into the earth and
should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seeds
should spring and grow up whilst he knoweth not.”
But the hand that had sown so lavishly was
getting spent at last, and he who had laboured so
untiringly was being gently summoned to his rest.
His path was already entering the dark valley, but
despite his failing powers he continued for a time
to carry on his work. He still lectured to his
boys and made the long journey several times to
Edinburgh, once travelling all the way on horse­
back. On one of these visits he purchased five
shillings worth of the “ best fiddlestrings,” showing
that he kept his love of music to the end. On
another occasion he was persuaded by the daughters
of his old friend, Mr. Wood, to sit for his portrait,
and the result is the beautiful picture which hangs
at Blairs. This time he celebrated his return to
Aquhorties by granting a whole holiday—an event
unprecedented in the history of the college.
It was in a night in October, 1804, that he had a
first slight stroke. He did not realise the fact until
he tried to rise, when he found one side affected.
However, he managed to get out of bed and dress
himself before his server came to call him for his
Mass. He was then lying helpless in his chair, his
face much distorted, though his mind remained
quite clear. When Mr. Carmichael went to enquire
for him later in the day, the old man raised his

J

172

BISHOP HAY

eyes to heaven in token of his resignation to the
will of God, and then shook his hand with great
affection. He received the Last Sacraments by his
own wish, but within a week he had so far recovered
as to be able once more to leave his bed. He had
already appealed to Rome to be relieved of his
episcopal duties, and this being granted, he signed
a formal document transferring the entire adminis­
tration of the vicariate to his coadjutor, Bishop
Cameron. So this year for the first time for nearly
half a century his name no more appears on the
bishop’s annual report to Rome.
Dr. Cameron, full of tenderest anxiety for his
comfort, wrote as follows to the superiors at Aquhorties :

“ Rev. dear Gentlemen.—Confident as I am that
your inclination as well as your duty will always
make you pay every attention in your power to
our careworn superior and father, B. Hay, I
have very little to say to you upon that subject.
But I hope you will not take it amiss that I lay
before you some reflections which I have much at
heart. You will observe that he has lately given
you a singular mark of his regard and affection
in the foundation of a weekly Mass to be said by
each of you. I need not tell you that these Masses
are always to be said in the college ; and that
everyone is to say his own Mass, except in case of
sickness. These three conditions are attached
to the foundations. What I wished to insinuate
was the propriety of your saying these Masses,
particularly in the B.’s room or closet, when he
permits it. This can be of very Ettle incon-

BISHOP HAY

173

venience to you individually ; it can be of none
to the Community, and it may be a great comfort
to him. It is natural and most just that you as
well as I should look up to him as to what he will
be whilst he lives—our benefactor, our chief
superior and Father ; but we are to remember that
he is no longer capable of those exertions in which
his health and strength have been exhausted.
We reap the fruit of his labours ; let us endeavour
to convince him that he has not laboured in vain.
A strict compliance with our respective duties
will do this effectually. I hope, therefore, and
earnestly request, that you will pay the most
scrupulous attention to every branch of domestic
discipline. Few doubts can occur to any of you,
and in any real difficulty you will always find me
ready to fly to your assistance with my candid
opinion, my best advice, and all the authority
with which I am entrusted. It will, no doubt, be
a pleasure to B. Hay to know and see that every­
thing goes well ; and it is our business to give him
that pleasure. But let us avoid as much as
possible, everything which could disturb the tran­
quillity of his mind. Let him enjoy the evening
of fife, and employ it wholly in preparing for
eternity.
“ Accept my best wishes and affectionate
blessing, and believe me to be very sincerely,
Rev. dear Gentlemen,
“ Your most obedient, humble servant,

j
J
j
î
j

:
|
j
|
i
j

j
\
ί;
ii
b

j’

·
n

“ Alex. Cameron."

His admonitions were unnecessary, for boys and
masters vied with one another in their watchful

j

p

i

174

BISHOP HAY

care of their beloved father—in fact, their attentions
proved somewhat overwhelming, for they were for
ever knocking at his door to see if he were wanting
anything, until he limited their visits to certain
hours of the day. He liked to be read to in the
evening, and one of the masters took his tea with
him at five.
We can but reverently draw a veil over the last
days of this great Bishop who had wrought so true
a work for God. He had put his talents to their
utmost use, freely offering all he had—even to that
great gift wliich is more highly prized than life
itself, and now he once again became a little child.
A final picture, deeply touching in its pathos, is
given us in the words of one of his students. Hour
by hour the old man sat helpless in his chair, Brev­
iary in hand, his head sunk upon his breast, the elder
boys watching him by turns, at times he seemed to
be instructing imaginary people, speaking in a
language that only one or two could understand.
“ When the little timepiece over the fireplace struck
the hour of twelve, and of six in the evening, the
old man, with the instinct of half a century’s habit,
would kneel down, as if to repeat the Angelus, and
sometimes would remain kneeling for a quarter of
an hour, fingering the buttons of his cassock as
though he were saying his beads. He went down
to hear Mass every morning ; at the time for Com­
munion he walked up to the altar rails and remained
there for a while, but no one taking any notice of
him, he would return to his seat. His whole de­
meanour when in repose was pure and simple as a
child’s.”
His strength failed very gradually, until, on Octo-

BISHOP HAY

175

ber 15th, 1811, at the age of eighty-three, he passed
peacefully away. " His soul was holy and most
zealous for the divine honour,” wrote one of his
priests. He could have no truer epitaph.
He was laid to rest in the little cemetery in the
grounds of Fetternear, about two miles from the
college. Many came to attend the funeral, and the
students, dressed in mourning, walked behind the
hearse. A new chapel was later on erected, covering
the grave. It stands to-day, closed and desolate.
And so the great Bishop lies at peace, with no sound
to disturb his solitude but the singing of the birds,
and the gently murmuring waters of the river Don.
He bore the heat and burden of the day. May he
obtain for us that we, who at a later hour are called
into the vineyard, may so follow his example as to
be found worthy to receive, each of us, our due
reward.