Bernard Donald Macdonald (December 25, 1797 – December 30, 1859) was the second
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 ...
of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlottetown
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlottetown ( la, Dioecesis Carolinapolitana) is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Canada. It is a suffragan diocese comprising the entire province of Prince Edward Island.
Originally carved from the Archdiocese ...
, succeeding Bishop
Bernard Angus MacEachern.
Early life and education
Born in St. Andrew's,
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
,
[Rusty Bittermann. ]
Rural Protest on Prince Edward Island: From British Colonization to the Escheat Movement
'. University of Toronto Press; 2006. . p. 220–. McDonald was one of the first two boys from the Island sent to study for the priesthood at the Grand Seminary of Quebec in 1812, and was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...
there on June 1, 1822, the first native Islander to become a priest.
[Donald Alexander MacKinnon. ]
Past and Present of Prince Edward Island: Embracing a Concise Review of Its Early Settlement, Development and Present Conditions, Written by the Most Gifted Authors of the Province
'. B.F. Bowen & Company; 1906*. p. 289.
by EMMET J. MULLALLY, CCHA, Report, 15 (1947-1948), 14-21, on the University of Manitoba website
Career
McDonald carried out many years of missionary work. He was then appointed Bishop of the Diocese Charlottetown, then comprising Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
, and the Magdalen Islands
The Magdalen Islands (french: Îles de la Madeleine ) are a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of . While part of the Province of Quebec, the islands are in fact closer to the Maritime provinces and Newfoundland th ...
, on February 21, 1837.[William Fong. ]
Sir William C. Macdonald: A Biography
'. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP; 22 June 2014. . p. 26–. During his tenure in 1842, New Brunswick broke away to become its own diocese.
Throughout his tenure as Bishop of Charlottetown, McDonald resided in Rustico, where he had also lived as a missionary. A church dedicated to St. Augustine was built there in 1838 under McDonald's supervision and served its purpose for many years. There is still a St. Augustine's Church in Rustico today.
In 1843, the second basilica for St. Dunstan's was built out of wood while McDonald was bishop. Realizing that the welfare of his priests in the Diocese was important, Bishop McDonald founded the St. Bernard's Society, which would provide for the care of the priests who became inactive due to old age, illness, or other reasons. This society was active until the 1960s.
Although the Bishop closed St. Andrew's College in 1844, he supervised the construction of St. Dunstan's College in Charlottetown (now part of the UPEI campus) in 1848, which attended to the educational needs of boys and girls. In 1856 he spoke out against compulsory bible reading in the public schools.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography
'. Springer Science & Business Media; 1966. . p. 625–.Charlottetown
Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...
.
Ill for some time, McDonald moved from Rustico to St. Dunstan's College shortly before his death. Following his death on December 30, 1859, a large funeral mass was held in Charlottetown, and the Bishop's remains were interred in his native home of St. Andrew's.
See also
References
External links
The Canadian Encyclopedia : Bernard Donald McDonald
* ttp://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=4040 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Bernard Donald
People from Kings County, Prince Edward Island
19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Canada
1797 births
1859 deaths
Roman Catholic bishops of Charlottetown