Alexander Young (died 1684) was a Scottish

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Life

Young was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, in the year 1629. He became a minister in the Scottish Church, but his training is unclear. At this time King Charles was imposing bishops upon the Scottish Church, which the majority opposed. These were troubled times in the Scottish Church which eventually resulted in the Scottish Episcopalians Act of 1711 effectively splitting the church. In 1664 he was translated as minister of

Dalmeny Dalmeny ( gd, Dùn Mheinidh, IPA: �t̪uːnˈvenɪʝ is a village and civil parish in Scotland. It is located on the south side of the Firth of Forth, southeast of South Queensferry and west of Edinburgh city centre. It lies within the tradi ...

to minister of

Cramond Kirk Cramond Kirk is a church situated in the middle area Cramond parish, in the north west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Built on the site of an old Roman fort, parts of the Cramond Kirk building date back to the fourteenth century and the church tower is ...

. In 1666 he moved to the Archdeaconry of

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

.Fasti Ecclesiastae Scoticana by Hew Scott In the winter of 1671, he became

Bishop of Edinburgh The Bishop of Edinburgh, or sometimes the Lord Bishop of Edinburgh is the ordinary of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Edinburgh. Prior to the Reformation, Edinburgh was part of the Diocese of St Andrews, under the Archbishop of St Andrews ...

, a position he held until his translation to be Bishop of Ross in 1679. This had been arranged by the Duchess of Lauderdale in order to allow John Paterson,

Bishop of Galloway The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, was the eccesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7th ...

(not John Paterson, Young's predecessor at Ross) to hold the

Diocese of Edinburgh The Diocese of Edinburgh is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. It covers the City of Edinburgh, the Lothians, the Borders and Falkirk. The diocesan centre is St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh. The Bishop of Edinburgh is ...

. Young suffered from an ailment and in 1684 travelled to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

to have an operation. He failed to survive the operation and died several weeks afterwards.

References

* Keith, Robert, ''An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688'', (London, 1824) Year of birth unknown 1684 deaths Bishops of Edinburgh (pre-1689) Bishops of Ross (Scotland) Scottish Restoration bishops Clergy from Aberdeen Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1669–1674 Members of the Convention of the Estates of Scotland 1678 Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1681–1682

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

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