“He was born in the year 1760, in Glengary, in Scotland, educated for the Priesthood at Valladolid College, in the Kingdom of Spain; for, at this time no person professing the Roman Catholic faith could be allowed to be educated in any part of the British empire. He was ordained Priest before the year 1790. Then came back to Scotland, his native country, and officiated as a Priest in Badenoch, a small district in North Scotland, also in the city of Glasgow; afterwards joined, in 1798, the Glengary Fencibles, then for duty in Ireland, under the command of Lord McDonnell, of Glengary, who was Colonel of said Fencible Regiment. He came to Canada in the year 1804; was consecrated first Bishop of Upper Canada in the year 1822, titled as the Bishop of Kingston.” He died in Dumfriesshire, a County bordering on England and Scotland, in the year 1840. His body was laid in St. Mary’s Church, Edinborough, until removed to Canada, in 1862. His remains was taken from the cars at the station at Lancaster, and carried to St. Raphael’s Cathedral; in which Church he had spent some of his most useful days, administering the consolations of his religion to his numerous co-religionists throughout the Province of Upper Canada. His remains were escorted by thousands of people, of all denominations, from St. Raphael’s Church to St. Andrew’s Church, and thence to Cornwall depot, in order to convey his remains to Kingston, the head of his See; where his remains now lie in the vaults of the Cathedral of that ancient city, in which he, as Bishop, officiated for years, a favorite of both Protestants and Catholics. I may here remark, that no other man, either clergyman or lay, ever had more influence with the Government, either Imperial or Colonial than Bishop McDonnell. In fact he established the Catholic Church in Western Canada. All the lands that the church now possesses were procured by his exertions. The Bishop was a member of the Legislative Council for years in connection with the Venerable Bishop Strachan, of Toronto. About the year 1806, he passed on his way from Toronto, then York, to Kingston; celebrated mass at his relation’s, Col. Archibald Chisholm, whose descendants are now living on Lot. Nos. 8 and 9, 1st Con., Thurlow, adjoining the Town of Belleville—carried his vestments on his back most of the way from Toronto to Kingston; and he took passage in a birch canoe from his friend’s, Col. Chisholm, to another relation, Col. McDonnell, (McDonald’s Cove,) on his way to Kingston.
“Although his religion was then proscribed by the British Government, and he was compelled to go to a foreign country to be educated, no more loyal man to the British Crown lived; no other man ever conduced more to the upholding of British supremacy in North America than he, and helped to consolidate the same.”
We are also indebted to Mr. McDonnell for other valuable documents concerning the Bishop, who may be regarded the father of his Church in Upper Canada. At least, he was the pioneer of that denomination in the Bay region. To a great extent, his history is the early history of his Church. The worthy prelate will speak for himself, when at the advanced age of seventy-four, and he spoke under circumstances which precluded the possibility of any statement accidentally creeping in, which could not be fully substantiated.
Referring to an address of the House of Assembly, 1836, in which his character had been aspersed, and his motives assailed, he, in a letter to Sir Francis Bond Head, asks “the liberty of making some remarks on a few passages” thereof, and, among other things, says, “As to the charges brought against myself, I feel very little affected by them, having the consolation to think that fifty years spent in the faithful discharge of my duty to God and to my country, have established my character upon a foundation too solid to be shaken by the malicious calumnies of two notorious slanderers.” To the charge that he had neglected his spiritual functions to devote his time and talents to politics, he, by plain declaration, refutes their “malicious charge,” stating the following facts, which relate to the country from the year he entered it, 1804. He says, “There were then but two Catholic clergymen in the whole of Upper Canada. One of these clergymen soon deserted his post; and the other resided in the Township of Sandwich, in the Western District, and never went beyond the limits of his mission; so that upon entering upon my pastoral duties, I had the whole of the Province beside in charge, and without any assistance for the space of ten years. During that period, I had to travel over the country, from Lake Superior to the Province line of Lower Canada, to the discharge of my pastoral functions, carrying the sacred vestments sometimes on horseback, sometimes on my back, and sometimes in Indian birch canoes, living with savages—without any other shelter or comfort, but what their fires and their fares, and the branches of the trees afforded; crossing the great lakes and rivers, and even descending the rapids of the St. Lawrence in their dangerous and wretched crafts. Nor were the hardships and privations which I endured among the new settlers and emigrants less than what I had to encounter among the savages themselves, in their miserable shanties; exposed on all sides to the weather, and destitute of every comfort. In this way I have been spending my time and my health year after year, since I have been in Upper Canada, and not clinging to a seat in the Legislative Council and devoting my time to political strife, as my accusers are pleased to assert. The erection of five and thirty Churches and Chapels, great and small, although many of them are in an unfinished state, built by my exertion; and the zealous services of two and twenty clergymen, the major part of whom have been educated at my own expense, afford a substantial proof that I have not neglected my spiritual functions, or the care of the souls under my charge; and if that be not sufficient, I can produce satisfactory documents to prove that I have expended, since I have been in this Province, no less than thirteen thousand pounds, of my own private means, beside what I received from other quarters, in building Churches, Chapels, Presbyteries, and School-houses, in rearing young men for the Church, and in promoting general education. With a full knowledge of those facts, established beyond the possibility of a contradiction, my accusers can have but little regard for the truth, when they tax me with neglecting my spiritual functions and the care of souls. The framers of the address to His Excellency knew perfectly well that I never had, or enjoyed, a situation, or place of profit or emolument, except the salary which my sovereign was pleased to bestow upon me, in reward of forty-two years faithful services to my country, having been instrumental in getting two corps of my flock raised and embodied in defence of their country in critical times, viz., the first Glengary Fencible Regiment, was raised by my influence, as a Catholic corps, during the Irish rebellion, whose dangers and fatigues I shared in that distracted country, and contributed in no small degree to repress the rapacity of the soldiers, and bring back the deluded people to a sense of their duty to their sovereign and submission to the laws. Ample and honorable testimonials of their services and my conduct may be found in the Government office of Toronto. The second Glengary Fencible Regiment raised in the Province, when the Government of the United States of America invaded, and expected to make a conquest of Canada, was planned by me, and partly raised by my influence. My zeal in the service of my country, and my exertions in the defence of this Province, were acknowledged by his late Majesty, through Lord Bathurst, then Secretary of State for the Colonies. My salary was then increased, and a seat was assigned for me in the Legislative Council, as a distinguished mark of my sovereign’s favor, an honor I should consider it a disgrace to resign, although I can hardly expect ever to sit in the Council, nor do I believe that Lord Glenelg, who knows something of me, would expect that I should show so much imbecility in my latter days, as to relinquish a mark of honor conferred upon me by my sovereign, to gratify the vindictive malice of a few unprincipled radicals. So far, however, from repining at the cruel and continued persecutions of my enemies, I pray God to give me patience to suffer, for justice sake, and to forgive them their unjust and unmerited conduct towards me. I have the honor to be Sir,—Your most obedient and very humble servant,—(Signed)—Alex. McDonnell. To T. Joseph, Esq., Sec’y to His Excellency, Sir Francis Bond Head, &c., &c., &c.”
There were a number of Roman Catholics among the U. E. Loyalists. Among them were the Chisholms on the front of Thurlow, to whose house Mr. McDonnell came to preach as he made his annual round. I am told by an old settler, that a very old Roman Catholic Church existed in Ernesttown west, a short distance from Bath. Probably Mr. McDonnell travelled all around the Bay, visiting members of his Church. There were several in Marysburgh. He was the first to preach in Belleville, when it had become a village. But the Rev Michael Brennan, who still lives, and is highly respected by all classes, was the first priest located in Belleville; he arrived in 1829. The frame of a building which had been erected for a Freemason’s Lodge, was moved to the lot which had been received from Government, and was converted into a Church. The present Church was commenced in 1837, and completed in 1839.
We have now adverted to the several early clergymen of the different denominations in the young colony of Upper Canada, and have dwelt upon those facts, and related those events, which appertain to the work we have in hand. We have essayed to simply write the truth, without reference to the interests of any denomination, either by false, or high coloring, or suppression of facts.
From what we have recorded, it is plain that the Church of England stood the best chance of becoming the religion of Upper Canada. The seventh part of the lands were reserved for the clergy, and it was determined to erect an Ecclesiastical establishment in the Province. In Lower Canada the Roman Catholics had been secured by Act of Imperial Parliament. In Upper Canada it was resolved that the English Church should occupy a similar position. The Rev. Dr. Jehoshaphat Mountain was sent out from England in 1793, having been consecrated the first Bishop of Quebec, to take charge of the English establishment in all Canada. There were then in both Canadas five clergymen of the church. The monopoly thus instituted continued for many years, and other denominations could not even hold land upon which to build a place of worship. But time swept all intolerance and exclusiveness away. In the year 1828, was passed “An act for the Relief of Religious Societies” of the Province, by which it was authorized “That whenever any religious congregation or society of Presbyterians, Lutherans, Calvinists, Methodists, Congregationalists, Independents, Anabaptists, Quakers, Menonists, Tunkers, or Moravians, shall have an occasion to take a conveyance of land, it shall be lawful for them to appoint trustees,” which body should hold perpetual succession, &c. But it was also enacted that no one Society should hold more than five acres.
This subject will be concluded by the following, the writer of which we fail to remember. It is within our own recollection when this habit still existed:
An early writer, a visitor to the Province of Canada, speaking about religious denominations says, “The worshipping assemblies appear grave and devout, except that in some of them it is customary for certain persons to go out and come in frequently in time of service, to the disturbance of others, and the interruption of that silence and solemnity, which are enjoyed by politeness, no less than a sense of religion. This indecorous practice prevails among several denominations.”