Wikipedia

John Farquharson (Jesuit)

John Farquharson (Scottish Gaelic: Maighstir Iain,[1] an-tAthair Iain Mac Fhearchair) (1699–1782), was an outlawed Scottish Jesuit priest during the era of the Penal Laws, an early folklorist and Celticist, and a folk hero in the Scottish folklore of Lochaber and Strathglass.[1]

Early life edit

Farquharson was born in the valley of Braemar, Aberdeenshire, to the Clan Farquharson Tacksman of Inverey on 19 April 1699. His father, Lewis Farquharson of Auchindryne (Scottish Gaelic: Ach' an Droighinn, lit. "Thornfield"), is said, despite being extremely elderly at the time, to have raised his Clan and personally led them into battle during the Jacobite rising of 1715.[2]

His brother, Lewis Oge Farquharson, later inherited their father's mantle as Chief of Clan Farquharson. Through his brother, Fr John was the uncle of future Chief Alexander Farquharson.[3]

John Farquharson entered the Society of Jesus at Tournai. He completed his theology at the Scotch College, Douay, in 1729, and in October that year landed at Edinburgh to serve as an underground Catholic missionary priest. He was stationed at Strathglass and Lochaber.

According to acclaimed historian of the Catholic Church in Scotland Dom Odo Blundell, Fr. Farquharson did not know the local vernacular upon his arrival, "had there to begin a systematic study of it with the assistance of Mrs. Fraser of Culbokie".[4]

Already having been prepared by his study of Ecclesiastical Latin and Koine Greek in the seminary, however, Fr. Farquharson swiftly acquired both fluency and the extremely rare skill at the time of literacy in the Scottish Gaelic language. On 2 Feb. 1735–6 he made his profession of the four vows.[5][6]

The Cave in Glen Cannich edit

When Fr John Farquharson was arrested by a posse of redcoats, under orders from the Chief of Clan Chisholm, while offering the Tridentine Mass at the covert Mass house at Balanahaun, only the priest's threat to excommunicate anyone of the male parishioners who used violence to defend him saved the lives of the Redcoats. Several of the female attendees followed their priest anyway and, when they reached the burn known as Allt a bhodaich, Màiri ni'n Ailein, the aunt of future Canadian Bishop Alexander MacDonnell, was struck with a sabre while trying to remove Fr. John's chasuble. Màiri survived, but her scalp and skull were left scarred for life. Fr. John was first imprisoned at the Chief's residence of Erchless Castle and then interrogated at Fort Augustus, but was then released and returned to his ministry in Glen Cannich.[7]

 
Glen Cannich. River between Loch Mullardoch (far right) and Loch Carrie

He was ultimately joined there by two fellow Jesuits; his brother Fr. Charles Farquarson and future Catholic martyr Fr. Alexander Cameron.[8] According to Colin Chisholm and Dom Odo Blundell of Fort Augustus Abbey, the three priests' residence and secret Mass house was inside a cave known as (Scottish Gaelic: Glaic na h'eirbhe), which was located underneath the cliff of a big boulder at Brae of Craskie, near Beauly (Scottish Gaelic: A' Mhanachainn) in Glen Cannich (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Chanaich).[9][10]

According to Monsignor Thomas Wynne, "It was in the nature of a summer sheiling, a command center for monitoring the traditional activities of cattle reivers; as such it combined a civilising role with the building up of a Catholic mission outside Cameron territory in a way which must have reassured Lochiel on both counts."[11]

This secret dwelling remained the centre of the Catholic mission in Lochaber at the time, where Fr. Cameron and the two brothers secretly ministered to the local Catholics and secretly visited the covert "Mass houses" at Fasnakyle, Crochail, Strathfarrar (Scottish Gaelic: Srath Farair).[1]

Whenever it was not possible for the three priests to safely leave Glen Cannich, their parishioners would come to the cave at Brae of Craskie for Mass, the sacraments, and, especially, for the illegal Catholic baptisms of their children. A natural cup stone known as (Scottish Gaelic: Clach a Bhaistidh) was used by the three priests as a baptismal font.[12]

Shortly before the Jacobite rising of 1745, Fr. John informed his two colleagues that a posse sent by the Chief of Clan Chisholm was on the way to arrest them. Fr John suggested, "Let us go to meet them then, and save them the trouble of coming all this way for us." Frs. Alexander and Charles declined this suggestion and, seeking to buy time for his fellow priests to escape, Fr John walked towards the posse, met them, and surrendered to them at a field known as (Scottish Gaelic: Achadh beulath an tuim).[13]

Prisoner of conscience edit

Fr. John Farquharson was conveyed to Edinburgh in his sacerdotal vestments, where it was ultimately decided by the Whig single party state for the Jesuit to be transported to "a penal settlement" in the Electorate of Hannover.[14]

According to Colin Chisholm, "The Captain of the vessel that took him to that penal settlement was a man of discernment, who rightly judged that he might benefit by the company of the prisoner. So he provided him with a separate berth and had him at all meals in the cabin with himself." For a long period after the Battle of Culloden, however, the ship served, like many others for both real and imagined Jacobite prisoners, as a prison hulk anchored off Gravesend in the River Thames.[15]

After Royal Navy Captain John Fergussone grudgingly allowed Fr. John Farquarson to board HMS Furnace to minister to a dying prisoner, the priest found himself face to face with an emaciated Fr. Alexander Cameron. After Fr. John arranged for his friend's transfer to his own prison hulk, Fr Cameron offered the Tridentine Mass while Fr. John Farquharson served him at the altar. Soon after, Fr. Alexander Cameron died, after first receiving Holy Communion and the Last Rites, and with Fr. Farquarson by his side[16][17] on 19 October 1746. Fr. Cameron's remains were taken ashore and buried in the nearest graveyard to the ship; the Church of England cemetery attached to St George's Church, Gravesend,[18] which also holds the grave of Pocahontas.

According to Colin Chisholm, "After a favorable passage, the Captain landed Mr. Farquarson in Hanover, and in doing so whispered in his ear that his engagement was now at an end; that he would be leaving Hanover at such a time, and that he would be happy of his company on the homeward voyage. The hint was enough. As soon as the vessel got clear of the Hanoverian coast, the priest suddenly appeared at the Captain's table, and he was brought safely back to his native country without having incurred any real danger or expense. He soon made his way to Strathglass, where he remained until he was selected as prefect of studies for the Catholic College at Douai."[19]

Later life and death edit

Upon the suppression of the Jesuits within France in 1763, Fr. Farquharson, who was a man, "of elegant manners, and much respected by everyone", was protected from arrest and expulsion by the local population of Douai and by the Parlement of the County of Artois.[20] He finally returned to Scotland in 1772 and lived principally in the valley of Braemar, while serving as chaplain and spiritual director to his nephew, the Laird of Inverey and Balmoral, the latter of whose estates was where he died on 13 October 1782.[21]

Fr. Farquarson lies buried in the churchyard at Castletown, in what is now part of the village of Braemar. His brother, Fr. Charles Farquharson, similarly continued to serve as an underground Catholic missionary until his own death at Ardearg on 30 November 1799.[22]

Legacy edit

During his secret missionary work in Lochaber and Strathglass, Fr. John Farquharson also indulged in a hobby of being an amateur folklorist and Celticist. As a man with the almost unheard of ability to read and write in the Scottish Gaelic vernacular, Fr. John transcribed an immense manuscript collection of local Scottish Gaelic literature and oral poetry. The manuscript in his own handwriting was, later described as, "in folio, large paper, about three inches thick, written close and in a small letter", was donated in 1772 to the Scots College, Douai. Instead of being carefully preserved, however, the manuscript was used to light fires at the College by those unfamiliar with both the Gaelic language and the manuscript's great importance to Scottish Gaelic literature.[1][23] The manuscript reportedly included many tales from the Fenian Cycle of Scottish mythology; all of the poems of Ossian were reportedly in this collection, and other compositions not published by James Macpherson and which Fr. Farquharson considered, in many cases, to be greatly superior to those in print.[24][25]

 
St Mary's and St Bean's Roman Catholic Church, Beauly, Glen Cannich.

Furthermore, the Bullaun, or natural cup stone, known as (Scottish Gaelic: Clach a Bhaistidh) and used by the three Jesuits to perform secret baptisms in the cave at Glen Cannich is now preserved now preserved as a relic by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen at St Mary and St. Bean's Roman Catholic Church at Marydale, Beauly, Glen Cannich,[1] [26] which was built following Catholic Emancipation in 1829, completed in 1866, and solemnly consecrated in 1868.[27]

Folklore edit

In local Scottish folklore, Fr. Farquarson is said, while accompanied by his clerk, to have had a face to face confrontation with the Devil upon Cannich Bridge and to have forced his opponent to dive into the River Cannich, "with a noise like a thousand thunders, and spitting fire, flame, and smoke".[1][28]

On another occasion, Fr. Farquharson's clerk was reportedly arrested and imprisoned inside "The Red Dungeon" at Beauly Castle by Lord Lovat, for allegedly fishing without permission for Atlantic salmon in the River Glass near the Mass house at Fasnakyle. When Lord Lovat refused to release his clerk, Fr. Farquarson, despite not being a native speaker of the language, allegedly composed a satirical Gaelic poem reviling the Clan Chief and predicting, correctly, that Lord Lovat would soon lose his head, "as a traitor to both kings". Upon hearing the poem, which was a very accomplished literary work, recited to him during a dinner party at Eskadale, Lord Lovat first thought it was the work of the acclaimed local poetess, Mrs. Fraser of Guisachan. When he heard the real author named, however, Lord Lovat immediately ordered the clerk's release, as the Chief did not wish to call down upon himself, "any more disagreeable prophecies." Colin Chisholm collected the poem and the story behind it from the local oral tradition and first published the text in The Celtic Magazine in November 1881.[29]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f Christianity in Strathglass, From the Website for St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Beauly.
  2. ^ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume I, London, page 205.
  3. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 141-142.
  4. ^ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume I, London, page 195.
  5. ^   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Farquharson, John". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  6. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 141-142.
  7. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 142-143.
  8. ^ MacWilliam, A. S. (1973). A Highland mission: Strathglass, 1671-1777. Innes Review xxiv. pp. 75–102.
  9. ^ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, London, page 203.
  10. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 141-146.
  11. ^ Wynne, Thomas (30 August 2010). The Conversion of Alexander Cameron. The Innes Review. 45 (2): 178–187.
  12. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 143-144.
  13. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, p. 144.
  14. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 144-145.
  15. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 144-145.
  16. ^ According to B. G. Seton and J. G. Arnot, Jacobite Prisoners of the '45 Vol. I (Edinburgh,1928), 224, Alexander Cameron 'died at sea' (aboard the 'Furnace' before reaching the Thames estuary)
  17. ^ Blundell, Catholic Highlands, 188.
  18. ^ Thomas Wynne (2011), The Forgotten Cameron of the '45: The Life and Times of Alexander Cameron, S.J., Print Smith, Fort William, Scotland. Page 89.
  19. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, p. 145.
  20. ^ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume I, London, pages 198-199.
  21. ^   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Farquharson, John". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  22. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 145-146.
  23. ^ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume I, London, pages 194-195.
  24. ^   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Farquharson, John". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  25. ^ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume I, London, pages 194-195.
  26. ^ "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, p. 144.
  27. ^ History of the Marydale Church, From the Website "Christianity in Strathglass."
  28. ^ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume I, London, pages 195-196.
  29. ^ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume I, London, pages 204-205.

  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Farquharson, John". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Further reading edit

Periodicals edit

  • "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 141-146.
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