A Retrospect: First Catholic Diocese of Upper Canada and the Evolution of the Catholic Separate School System (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

George Corbet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1331861276 ISBN 13: 9781331861270

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from A Retrospect: First Catholic Diocese of Upper Canada and the Evolution of the Catholic Separate School System

Some weeks ago Miss Catherine Macdonell, daughter of deceased Duncan Allan Macdonell, brought me a pamphlet which she had found amongst her fathers books, and which had been published by the Kingston Whig in the summer of 1839 - a few weeks before the departure of Bishop Macdonell for Europe, where on January 14th, 1840, he died in Dumfries, Scotland.

Much of the pamphlet was composed by himself. It has been long out of print, and I give it to the public, hoping that it will be interesting reading for them. It may also be an incentive to some one who has the ability to write a history of the founding of the Catholic Church in Upper Canada, with which the name of Bishop Macdonell is inseparably associated.

Bishop Macdonell's bringing up was like that of the other inhabitants of Glengarry, Invernesshire. A parishioner of mine in St. Andrews, now deceased thirty-five years, Alexander Macdonell (Phicaillen) told me that, when a young boy, his parents dwelt in the same humble cottage long after Bishop Macdonells family had left it. The Bishop thus had an intimate knowledge of their condition; he knew and tasted somewhat of their hardships. This cottage was about nine miles from Glengarry Castle - "Castle dubh."

He had a marked dislike for lawlessness. When in the Scots College, Paris, he and other inmates were disturbed by the revolutionary rabble. He there observed the first effects of the French Revolution, which, a few years later, brought wreck and ruin in its train. Hence we find him a staunch supporter of law and order, in his long and useful career. From his first years as a young priest in Badenoch, when at the age of twenty-seven he put his foot on the threshold of his life-long labor, to the age of eighty years, his aim was to uplift the moral and social condition of his fellow-men. I read a letter written by him from Badenoch in 1793 to a Mr. Macdonell in Upper Canada. He advised Mr. Macdonell to caution his fellow-men against allowing anyone to assume the position of "Laird" over them in their adopted country.

He had an intense perception for the spiritual and corporal needs of his fellow-man, and a great charity and fortitude for redressing them.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1331861276
• ISBN 13: 9781331861270
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 119