(25 March 1771-2 April 1847), clergyman. Born in Banffshire, Scotland. Parents: Thomas MacDonald and his wife Ann Watt. He studied at the Douai seminary in France and the Royal Scots College of Valladolid, Spain. His ordination to the priesthood was on 24 Sept. 1796. At the invitation of Bishop Macdonell, he came to Canada in 1826. He was a priest at St. Raphael’s from 1826 to 1829, and during this time he became the first rector of the college Bishop Macdonell had established there. From 1829, his career was in areas of the province mostly remote from St. Raphael’s. He was pastor at Kingston, Toronto, Bytown, Brockville, Hamilton, and at Toronto again. He was vicar general of the diocese of Kingston from shortly after coming to Canada, and later of the diocese of Toronto. At Kingston and Hamilton, he published a weekly newspaper called the Catholic (1830-1831, 1841-1844). He died in Toronto. For someone who was at St. Raphael’s at about the same time, and whose career in Canada was somewhat similar, see Edward John Gordon.
Life by Robert Choquette, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, VII, 542-544 * MDict * Stewart D. Gill, “’The Sword in the Bishop’s Hand’: Father William Peter MacDonald, A Scottish Defender of the Catholic Faith in Upper Canada,” The Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Study Sessions 1983, II, 437-452 * W. J. Macdonell, Reminiscences (1888) of Bishop Macdonell, 24, 27-29, 46