(1877-3 Aug. 1936), clergyman. (J. J. Macdonell; known as Father Johnny Jack) Born at Greenfield, on Lot 25 in the 5th Concession of Kenyon Township, GC. Parents: John Macdonell and his wife Catherine MacPhee. He spent a part of his childhood in the area of the hamlet of Lochiel. He attended school locally (Greenfield, Lochiel), and also Alexandria High School and the University of Ottawa. After his “ecclesiastical course” at the Ottawa Seminary he was ordained to the priesthood in Ottawa on 20 May 1906. He was first a curate at St. Columban’s Church, Cornwall, then was pastor of St. Joseph’s, Lancaster, 1914-1924. “Throughout the Great War his unbounded loyalty and fiery eloquence made him of inestimable value to the Allied Cause, not only in the field of recruiting, but in furthering the aims of the Red Cross Society and the Canadian Patriotic Fund. When the Army Hut drive was launched, Catholics and Protestants alike, under his leadership rallied to the cause of providing comforts for the lads in the trenches.” He was rector of St. Finnan’s, 1924-1928. In 1927, it was rumoured that Bishop Couturier of Alexandria was to be the next archbishop of Ottawa, and that Fr Macdonell, at that time rector of St. Finnan’s, would succeed him as bishop of Alexandria. (Cornwall Freeholder 6 Oct. 1927, from Ottawa Citizen)

     He was pastor of St. Alexander’s, Lochiel, Sept. 1928-Oct. 1932. Thereafter he was chaplain first at the Monastery in Alexandria and next at the Hotel Dieu Hospital, Cornwall. It may be guessed that at the time of these two last appointments, he was becoming incapacitated by illness. As early as 1928, his weakening health had made advisable the transfer from St. Finnan’s to the “less exacting” charge at Lochiel. At his death it was noted that “The cheerfulness and fortitude with which this lamented priest bore his ill health and suffering over a long period of years will serve as an example well worth remembering,” and that he must have been “nearly always in pain.” He died at the Hotel Dieu Hospital, Cornwall, Cornwall, at the relatively early age of 59. He had suffered severely from diabetes. He is buried at Greenfield.

     Father Johnny Jack (to use the name by which he was commonly known) made a deep impression on his contemporaries. Perhaps few Glengarrians of his time made a greater impression. Some of the printed references to him surprise by their intensity of admiration. The last of an older generation handed on, in conversation, their warm recollections. But to those of a later time who never knew him, his particular fascination must forever remain something to be approached through reported facts, and by efforts of the imagination, while the real sense, the personal sense, of the man is gone forever. He seems to have been, however, a man of extreme charm and magnetism, with a most attractive personality, and to have been gregarious, pleasing and attentive. He was remembered as an outstandingly good public speaker, with a “magnificent resonant voice.” Eloquent in church work, he was splendid also at such secular roles as making after-dinner speeches. His obituary noted his contribution to “promoting and cementing that warm friendship which exists between Catholics and Non-Catholics in this county.” He had many Protestant friends, among them John Archie McCrimmon the storekeeper. Fr Johnny Jack was marked by a “passionate love for Scottish customs and traditions.” As with so many other area priests of his time, he was active as a promoter and organizer of sports. If he had literary interests, or ambitions as an author, no report seems to survive of them. A portrait of him as a young priest shows a rather arrogant young man, with fine-boned features and what appears to be fair hair–not typical, physically, of the more usually dark, solid-faced Glengarry Scots. He was the executor of J. A. Macdonell (Jack Greenfield).

     It was at a Christmas Eve midnight Mass celebrated by Fr Macdonell at St. Joseph’s, Lancaster, in 1920, that the future Cardinal LÉGER vowed that if his (Léger’s) health was restored he would enter the priesthood.

Glengarry News 7 Aug. 1936 (extensive, much detail; QF; see also Lochiel column, same issue), Standard Freeholder 5 & 7 Aug. 1936 * Macdonald, St. Finnan’s 10, 21, with portrait * St. Catherine of Sienna Parish Greenfield, Ontario 1894-1994 (1994) 34, 37, with portrait * Villeneuve 60, 197, 249, 250 * history of St. Alexander’s, Lochiel, by J. J. McCormick, GN 30 Nov. 1972 * Sinnsearachd 25, 88 * Fraser, Gravestones, II, 138-140 (with full-page portrait) * MacMaster 101 (in group portrait with other schoolchildren, c. 1881?, at S. S. # 5, Lochiel) * to be ordained, GN 11 May 1906 * reads address at reception, Lancaster, for returned soldiers, GN 20 June 1919 * named rector of St. Finnan’s, GN 1 Aug. 1924 * transfer to Lochiel, GN 14 Sept. 1928 * celebrates 25th anniversary of his ordination, GN 22 May 1931 * being in hospital, Montreal, is unable to attend United Church lawn social, Kirk Hill, Cornwall Standard 2 July 1931 * transfer to Monastery, GN 7 Oct. 1932 * organizing lacrosse, GN 22 March 1935