Bishop Alexander Macdonell
| Alexander Macdonell | |
|---|---|
The Most Reverend Alexander MacDonell, 1823-24, by Martin Archer Shee
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| Born |
17 July 1762 Glen Urquhart |
| Died | 14 January 1840 (aged 77) Dumfries, Scotland |
| Nationality | Scottish |
Bishop Alexander Macdonell (born 17 July 1762, Glen Urquhart, Inchlaggan, Scotland - died 14 January 1840) was the first Roman Catholic bishop of Kingston, Upper Canada.
His early education was at Bourblach, Loch Morar. He attended the Scots Colleges at Paris and Valladolid. He was ordained a priest on 16 February 1787 at Valladolid. After that his life was spent in Lochaber and Canada. After the eviction of his kinsmen, Father Macdonell led them to Glasgow and later formed them into the Glengarry Fencibles, a regiment of which he served as chaplain, the first Roman Catholic chaplain in the British Army since the Reformation.
When the regiment was disbanded, Rev. Macdonell appealed to the government to grant its members a tract of land in Canada, and, in 1804, 160,000 acres (650 km²) were provided in what is now Glengarry County, Ontario, Canada.
In 1812, he raised another regiment, the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles, which came to the defence of Upper Canada in the War of 1812. Three years later, he began his service as the first Roman Catholic Bishop at St Raphael's Church in the Highlands of Ontario. This parish established the foothold of Catholicism in the region.
In 1819 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Upper Canada, which in 1826 was erected into a bishopric. In 1826, he was appointed to the legislative council. He founded churches and schools and organised the settlement. In 1839 he established Regiopolis College, which offered academic and theological training to Roman Catholic youth. The original building has been part of the Hotel Dieu Hospital (Kingston, Ontario) on Sydenham Street, Kingston, Ontario since 1892.
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