====== Macdonald, John ====== (12 June 1782-15 March 1879), clergyman and figure of legend. (date of death 16 March also found) (Father John, Mr John; Mhaister Ian ; his title of Vicar General, or V.G., often found with his name; the title Mister was used for priests before Father became standard; whenever in writings on GC there is a reference without further identification to a “Father John,” this pastor is nearly always meant, even though, as we will see later in the present article, there was still another celebrated Fr John) Born in Knoydart, Invernessshire, Scotland. Parents: John Roy Macdonald and his wife Anna (Nancy) MacGillis (d. 15 Jan.1847, at St. Raphael’s, aged 90). He came to Canada with his parents in the emigration of 1786. The family appear to have settled in the Cornwall area of Stormont County rather than in GC. He studied for the priesthood at the Little Seminary, Montreal, and in Quebec City. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1814. He was the 5th pastor at St. Raphael’s, then from the early 1830s to 1840, he was the parish priest at Perth. Returning to St. Raphael’s in 1840, he was the 7th pastor there till his retirement in 1864. In retirement he lived with his sisters at Lancaster village. Aged 96, he died at Lancaster. He was buried under the altar at St. Raphael’s. The Protestant and strongly-temperance Montreal //Witness// newspaper (6 Jan. 1879) noted shortly before his death that he had been a lifelong abstainer. He must be distInguished from his contemporary and namesake, another celebrated Father John and Mr John, namely Rev. John Mcdonald (1790-1845), who was the sixth pastor at St. Raphael’s, during the period of the present Fr Macdonald’s service at Perth, and who was afterwards the pastor at St. Finnan’s, Alexandria. Fr John, the subject of the present biography, was a careful keeper of notes and memoranda, and a resolute genealogist, whose reports on the ancestry of many Glengarrians have been much valued by subsequent genealogists. His genealogical notes have become celebrated under the title, generically, of “Fr John’s Diary.” Few GC writings, published or unpublished, have gathered more mystique about them. Duncan (Darby) MacDonald edited //The Diary of Deaths// (1989) and //The Brevity: Companion Book to “The Diary of Deaths”// (1993). Alex W. Fraser edited //Fr John’s Diary 1819-1866// (1992). Duncan (Darby) MacDonald also edited the journals of his Perth period under the title of //Interesting Notes & Comments from the Diary// (two parts, 1985 and 1988). Drawing on traditional Highland wordings for the text, Fr John prepared a Gaelic catechism, //An Teagaisg Chriosd// (Toronto, Printed by Nicholson & Co., 1871, pp. 44). The great pioneer Bishop Macdonell (d. 1840) alone excepted, Fr Macdonald, the subject of the present sketch, is the best remembered Catholic clergyman in GC history. He was a stern priest with a magnetic personality, but it is probably impossible now to form an adequate view of why he seemed so important to the generation which knew him and to the generation or two that followed. A typescript history of St. Raphael’s, perhaps by Mgr Ewen J. Macdonald, and certainly preserved in his papers in the Ontario Archives, is valuable for the legend, the mystique, of this great pastor Fr John. The story of “Fr John’s Diary” has continued to sustain the legend. He was known for his wit as well as his piety. He was the brother of Fr Aeneas Macdonald and of Dr Roderick Mcdonald. See also [[mcgillis_anna|Anna McGillis]], possibly his mother. ---- //Cornwall Reporter// 22 March 1879, repr. Fraser //Obits.// 179-181 with useful genealogical notes * //Sinnsearachd// 72, 86, 170-171* Macdonell, //Sketches//, 129-130 * celebration at St. Raphael’s of 50th anniversary of his ordination (with text of address and reply), //True Witness// 17 June 1864 * Month’s Mind for repose of his soul, //Cornwall Reporter// 21 June 1879 * death notice for him and his brother Donald Francis, undated clipping, ASC ii, 78 * MacGillivray & Ross 142 (with portrait), 276, 602, 690 * editions of his writings: see //Bibliography of Glengarry//: index for fuller bibliographical details * W. J. Macdonell, //Reminiscenses// (1888) 46, fine anecdote * Reid, //DN// 169 (death of his brother Eugene, a lawyer), 338 (death of mother) * //CF //18 Aug. 1927, 28 May 1930, 31 May 1930: favourite dies, letter from “One who Knew Him,” anecdote [<6>]