"‘.IUI;Y18,_1922. - . ‘ i

llllll SIIIIIIEQMMIBIIINIS,

l (Contluued from page 12.)

i n o n ‘ I mediately ‘after ‘his ordination he returned to Scot- land and was station-d at Drunrmond, where he ex-

icon says of him: “He was a pious and good mission- ary.” , .

0n his ‘arrival in St. J ohn’s Island, he wrote‘ a let- ter to the. Bishop of Quebec, which ‘wias to be carried thither b an Acadian, who, how-ever, ~was not able to visit". uebec in that year. Accordingly, on the 9th of September, 1772, he wrote another letter tol His Lordship which he sent in care of la Mr. Oa-meron, one of hisicousins. This letter, written in an easy style offLatin, is dated at M'alpeque and acquainted the Bishop of h'is arrival on the Island. "He asked for a renewal of the faculties wlhich he had received from the Bishop in Scotland, mentioned the fact that having studied in Rome, he was conversant wit'h the Italian, French, Gaelic, and English languages, and’ could, therefore, render spiritual assistance to all the Catholics living in this part of the diocese. He also askedthe Bishop for a small altar-stone, as the one he lhad was rather large to carry about from place to place. The receipt of this letter brought great joy to the Bishop of Quebecpwho for years ‘hlad been trying to obtain a priest for St. J ohn’s Island. He therefore rsent an immediate/answer to Father lvlacdonald, congratulating lhim on his safe arrival in the diocese, and giving him the most ‘ample facil- ities to carry on missionary work among the High- landers and Acadians.

This latter people numbered now about fifty fam- ilies, and were settled principally in the vicinity of Malpeque. A few isolated families might be met here and there, but the bulk of them lived to the

ercised the sacred ministry till 1772. The Scotochron- '

westward not far from the site of their former par- ish. They had chosen this place, either becausethey believed themselves less ' exposed to danger in this remlote locality, or because, on accountof its distance from Port La Joie, it had sufiered less than the other settlements during the invasion of 1758. I

Having received spiritual charge of this people from theBishop, Father James set out for Malpeque, and spent with them his first winteron St. John’s

l island. Mt the same time he directed the ‘Scotch

t

\ ‘m.

IV‘!

HON. CHIEF JUSTICE MATHIESON

\

isolation more keenly than ever, now tlhat he has re- turned to his own flock and he bemoans the sad cir-

cumst-ances that condemn him to his voluntary exile '

far from his brother priests. On September 28th, 1773, hewrites to the Bishop of Quebec, that his

health is good, but that he is in great dread of the ~‘

winter, which he finds more severe than in Europe. He admits, however, thzit he is now better prepared

‘(or Inc cold than he "-::;ts last winter. because he -

brought ‘a stove from Quebec,’ by which he could

‘tonal-snowman. ounnomr j" l‘ l? iitlfilmfl‘ t “m” Heiwsfili -

- 'l‘hey tried every means to induce Father James to . go with them tothe mainland and become their par- a ish ‘priestfithely used all manner of ‘persuasion to ob- tain his consent, but he would not abandon his chos- . lerixflock. " lHe promised, however, to lpay them a visit

A three score years. and- ten, His zeal for the gloryof

-;

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aiialll sgwho‘ had not ha riest among em for eleven years; come all-the ‘way f-iohrNew Bruns- l wick, that they might approach the sacraments.

the following year, should no priest come to them in the meanwhile.

Father James .did not live. togattain, theaallottied

God consumed his energies in a short timeJPhirteen years of missionary toil "in the wilds of St, John’s

alwlays delicate; and accordingly, in the height of his usefulness, when his, presence would see-m a necessity to his people, he died, as deeply regretted in death as he had been loved in life. The sad event occurred in 1785, when he had reached the age of forty-nine years. As he lay on his bed of death, his ilonely condition must have come home to him with heart - rending reality, for no priest was

make his room comfortable. In this same letter he makes a statement which’ goes to show the spiritual destitution of the Acadians in the Maritime Pro-

settlers to erect a suitable place of worship at Scotch- fort. , At his request they went to work with righ-tl good will, and soon put up a church, which, thouglhfl far below the present ideals of ecclesiastical archi-l tecture, was nevertheless, in the eyes of the early settlers, a marvel of beauty an-d design. It was a log], sbuilding about thirty feet long, twenty feet wide,l i and about twelve feet in the post. Its roof could boast} neither copper nor slate, nor even ordinary shingle;' but bid proud defiance to wind and weather, under a, modest covering of straw thatch. This church, ded-l icated to St, John, was situated over a mile west of l the old French cemetery, on the farm of Donald Mac-l Rae, one of the Scottish emigrants. ‘For over thirtyl years it was used for divine service, until it had be- come so dilapidated that it was no longer fit for the purpose. Its site is still pointed out between the railway and the Hillsborough River, on land now held by the heirs of the late AngusMacdonald, of Scotchfort. Early in the summer of 1773, Father James paid a visit to Quebec, where he wa-s received with true paternal kindness by Bishop Briand. There I he met, also, the Reverend Father Dosque, former pastor of Malpequie. We can easily ‘imlagine the lat- ’ ter’s delight at meeting Father Jalmes and his eager- ness to obtain some information of the place, from

w.

on. w. .|. P.‘ MaeMlLLArd a '53?

l J

a traditions of a people for whom he preserved the

-a purpher of a; l,

Island provedsuflicient to undermine a,constitutl_io_n ;

HON. PREMIER QELL

~| m pp u.‘

gotten, whilst we reap in peace and contentment the bounteous harvest he sowed amid incredible priva- Lions. The descendants of those for whom he lalbor- ed owe him a debt of gratitude for keeping alive the fire of divine faith amongst their ‘ancestors, who in turn transmitted it to the Mainland when earnest]

‘requested to do so, and when his own-personal terests imperatively demanded it, the condition of

(Continued on page l4.)

HIS HONOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOH McKINNON - . '

near to

raments of

the he

him What

administer to‘ the dying.

only too fully realized.

mlortal remains were soon to mingle or chant the Re-

_ quiem when his soul was gone to meet its God.

The loving hands of his grief-stricken flock laid at Scotchfort, where it has lain ever since in an ob- fir, natures protest against a people's forgetfulness.

Strange‘ ingratitude of man! A century has sufliced lalmost to erase the name of Father James-from the

sac- had i; foreseen with anxiety and fear, when, writing to ‘ lFather Dosque twelve years before, was now being . I The last rites of Holy a lChurch which he ‘had so often conferred on others, were denied him in that supreme hour; and so he died without a priest to bless the clay with which his

"his body reverently to rest in the French cemetery

scure grave, unmarked save by a tree of spruce or

HON. J. A. ll/IACDONALD

which he had escaped fifteen years before. Bishop Briand and Flather Dosque vied with each other in their kindness to Father James. ‘Indeed, all the clergy he met showed him every possible considera- tion during his stay. Holy men themselves, they readily recognized the heroic spirit of the mlan of God, and were not slow to appreciate him at his true worth. It is not surprising then, that on his return home, we find him writing to Quebec letters in which he puts forth his heartfeltthanks to the clergy whom he calls ‘his friends and benefactors. Writing to lather Dosque, he says that though he is only poorly provided a-gainst the rigorsof the approaching win- ter still this gives him no anxiety, as his only con- cern is that he is so far froml a priest in case ‘of sickness. Having just spent a short time amongst the clergy of Quebec, he feels the bitterness of his

s. onl n. .1. MoDONALD

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