John Farquharson (Jesuit)

John Farquharson (Scottish Gaelic: Maighstir Iain, an-tAthair Iain Mac Fhearchair) (19 April 1699 – 13 October 1782), was a member of the Scottish nobility and son of the Chief of Clan Farquharson. After studying at the Scots College, Douai and being ordained as a Roman Catholic priest of the Society of Jesus, Farquharson returned to Scotland. While living in a mountain cave in Glen Cannich, he served as an outlawed "heather priest" to Clan Chisholm and Clan Fraser of Lovat in The Aird and Strathglass between 1729 and 1753, during the era of the Penal Laws and the Jacobite rising of 1745. Fr Farquharson was also an early folklorist and Celticist and a poet in the Scottish Gaelic language. He remains a folk hero of Lochaber and Strathglass.

Early life

Farquharson was born in the valley of Braemar, Aberdeenshire, to the Chief of Clan Farquharson and Laird 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.

His eldest brother, Lewis Farquharson, alias "Young Auchindryne" in Scottish parlance, later inherited their father's mantle as Chief of Clan Farquharson. Through his brother, Fr John was the uncle of future Chief Alexander Farquharson.

The 3 Colleges at Douai.

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 by Bishop Hugh MacDonald, the equally underground Vicar Apostolic of the Highland District, in Strathglass and Lochaber.

According to acclaimed historian of the Catholic Church in Scotland Dom Odo Blundell, Fr. Farquharson, even though it was his own heritage language, 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".

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 February 1735–6 he made his profession of the four vows.

The Cave in Glen Cannich

When John Farquharson was arrested by a detachment of government troops, 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 troops. 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 Farquharson chasuble. Màiri survived, but her scalp and skull were left scarred for life. Farquharson was first imprisoned at the chief's residence of Erchless Castle and then interrogated at Fort Augustus, but was then released due to the intercession of the Clan Chisholm tacksman of Strathglass and returned to his ministry.

Farquharson's clerk, Alexander Chisholm (Scottish Gaelic: Alastair Bàn MacDhomhnuill 'ic Uilleam), was arrested and imprisoned inside "The Red Dungeon" at Beauly Castle by Lord Lovat, the chief (Scottish Gaelic: Mac Shimidh Mòr) of Clan Fraser of Lovat. The clerk was allegedly fishing without permission for Atlantic salmon in the River Glass near the Mass house which stood beside the modern bridge at Fasnakyle. When Lord Lovat, despite being a Catholic himself, refused an in-person request for the release of his clerk, Farquarson, who was not a native speaker of the language, composed a satirical Gaelic poem reviling Lovat. Farquharson also predicted, correctly, that Lord Lovat would soon be both lacking his head and despised 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, Lovat first thought it was the work of the acclaimed local poet, Mrs. Fraser of Guisachan, until he heard the real author named. Satirical poetry and it's authors have traditionally been viewed in the Gàidhealtachd with supernatural terror ever since pre-Christian times and, as Lovat did not wish to call down upon himself, "any more disagreeable prophecies," he immediately ordered the clerk's release. During the 19th-century, Strathglass-born folklorist Colin Chisholm collected both the poem and the story behind it from the family oral tradition of the clerk's great-nephew, Alexander Chisholm, laird of Craskie, and first published the Gaelic text with an English literary translation in The Celtic Magazine in November 1881.

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

He was ultimately joined there by two fellow Jesuits; his brother Charles Farquarson and future Catholic martyr Alexander Cameron. 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 lit. "the hollow of the hard-life"), 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).

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."

This secret dwelling remained the centre of the Catholic mission at the time, where 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). The entrance to the cave was so well hidden that the three priests successfully eluded, "all attempts of the local garrison to find them".

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. On such occasions, a Bullaun, or natural cup stone, known as (Scottish Gaelic: Clach a Bhaistidh, lit. "the stone of the baptism") was used by the three priests as a baptismal font.

According to Colin Chisholm, the cup stone had been used for performing baptisms in Strathglass, "from time immemorial". This may mean that, similarly to what was common practice at the time among persecuted Catholic Gaels in Ireland, the natural cup stone had been brought to the cave from the ruins of a local church or monastery dating from before the Scottish Reformation. One possible origin site may have been the now ruined 10th-century Celtic Church monastery and Christian pilgrimage site of (Scottish Gaelic: Kilbeathan) at (Scottish Gaelic: Clachan Comar), which is alleged to have been founded by St Bean, abbot of Iona Abbey, kinsman of St Columba, and early missionary in Strathglass, near the holy well known as (Scottish Gaelic: Sputan Bhain). Another possible origin for the cup stone may have been Beauly Priory, a 13th-century Valliscaulian monastery, also located near the modern town of Beauly.

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

Charles Farquharson is known to have been hidden by his kinfolk in the vale of Braemar. Alexander Cameron, who had refused to leave his priestly duties in the cave despite having fallen sick with what is believed to have been pneumonia, is known to have sought and received the protection of his eldest brother, Donald Cameron of Lochiel, at Achnacarry Castle in Lochaber.

According to Monsignor Thomas Wynne, "Bishop Hugh must have been equally saddened by the news of John Farquharson's arrest, and also moved by his heroism and self-sacrifice for his fellow priests. He knew that he had lost one of his finest priests on whom he had come to depend so much. However, he would have been consoled by the fact that Cameron was safe and enjoying a well-earned rest with his family at Achnacarry, where he would be secure, well looked after, and nursed back to health."

Prisoner of conscience

After managing to send word to his fellow underground priests in Glengarry to look after the mission in Strathglass until his return, Fr. John Farquharson was conveyed to Edinburgh in his sacerdotal vestments.

He must have been released at the very latest when Edinburgh fell to the Jacobite Army, as he and Fr. Charles were back to ministering in Strathglass during the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden.

According to Canon Alexander MacWilliam, "According to a letter written by Fr. John Riddoch, rector of the Douai College, to the General of the Society on 23 October 1747, the two brothers had given them an account of their misadventures. After the disaster of Culloden detachments of soldiers scoured the Highlands in search of priests. One such company came into Strathglass. The Farquharsons took to the woods but when the officer in command announced his intention of burning every Catholic homestead and driving their cattle and sheep to the camp if the priests did not give themselves up without delay, they surrendered to the redcoats so as not to involve their people in total ruin."

According to Canon MacWilliam, "They were taken to London from Inverness in HMS Pamela and confined for 2 1/2 months in the hold of a man-of-war in the Thames, where they had to endure the insults of their guard and even physical violence." For a long period after the Battle of Culloden, HMS Pamela served, like many Royal Navy vessels filled with more than 900 both real and imagined Jacobites, as a prison hulk anchored off Gravesend in the River Thames.

Following an interview with prison hulk survivors Donald and Malcolm MacLeod, Forbes wrote, "They lay for months together in a most deplorable state of misery, their cloaths (sic) wearing so off them that many at last had not a single rag to cover their nakedness with. Here they were treated with the utmost barbarity and cruelty, with a view (as they suppose) to pine away their lives, and by piecemeal to destroy every single man of them. And indeed the design had great success, for many of them died. Donald MacLeod said he had reason to think that no less than four hundred men died on board three ships opposite to Tilbury Fort."

Historian J. MacBeth Forbes also confirms the inhumane conditions experienced by the 72 prisoners held in the cramped hold of the Pamela. After inspecting them on 20 August 1746, government surgeon Dr. Minshaw was so horrified by the stench coming from the hold and the emaciated and diseased condition of Fr John Farquharson and the other prisoners that he ordered all the prisoners immediately taken ashore to Tilbury Fort.

After the cries of a dying Catholic prisoner for a priest were heard by the captains of the surrounding prison hulks, Royal Navy Captain John Fergussone grudgingly allowed Fr. John Farquarson to board HMS Furnace to minister to the dying prisoner and the Jesuit found himself face to face with an emaciated Fr. Alexander Cameron. After first receiving Holy Communion and the Last Rites, Fr Cameron offered the Tridentine Mass while Fr. John Farquharson served him at the altar. Soon after, Fr. Alexander Cameron died with Fr. Farquarson by his side 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, which also holds the grave of Pocahontas.

According to Canon MacWilliam, "The [priests'] condition was gradually eased until, after fifteen months imprisonment, they were set at liberty on condition that they left the country and never returned."

According to Father Charles MacDonald, "After a long confinement in London, the survivors were brought before the Duke of Newcastle, who informed them that the Government was disposed to deal leniently in their case, and therefore would sentence them to perpetual banishment from the country, provided they could give bail of £1,000 that they would never return. As this was an absurd proposal, these poor priests having neither friends nor money, the Duke compromised the matter by asking them to go bail for each other. They got over to Holland, but most of them came back again."

Even though all primary sources from the era confirm the reliability of the first account the Farquharson brothers told of their imprisonment in cruel, unsanitary, and inhumane conditions, according to The Celtic Magazine correspondent Colin Chisholm, Fr John Farquharson alleged in later years to the Catholics of Strathglass that the conditions aboard HMS Pamela were not at all as bad as he had previously stated. Fr Farquharson, who may have been suffering from psychological trauma and wished not to relive his real memories, alleged in later years that it was decided in Edinburgh that he was to be transported to "a penal settlement" in the Electorate of Hannover.

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." These allegedly luxurious conditions continued while H.M.S. Pamela served as a prison hulk anchored in the Thames.

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."

Later life and death

The Farquharson brothers reportedly settled at the Scots College in Douai, where, according to historian A.S. MacWilliam, surviving letters reveal that the Rector, Fr. Crookshank, desperately wanted to be rid of them. Fr. John Farquharson remained in Douai, until, according to a 19 July 1748 letter from Fr. Crookshank to the General, he departed France to return to Scotland and his mission in Strathglass on 5 July 1748.

In a report by Bishops Hugh MacDonald and Alexander Smith to the Congregation for the Propaganda of the Faith on 1 November 1753, it was announced that Fr. Farquharson had been arrested yet again, "For some years past we have been suffering more than ordinary persecution... the soldiers, too, in hopes of gaining as much money as they know has already been paid to their comrades for captured priests, are constantly endeavouring to lay hands on the clergy. Father John Farquharson, S.J., was committed to prison, but on giving bail was set at liberty; now, however, the recognizance having been forfeited; it is uncertain how the affair will end." The allegations in the bishops' report are confirmed by Scottish legal documents relating to Fr Farquharson's arrest and bail hearing.

Instead of remaining a fugitive in Scotland, however, Fr. Farquarson returned to the Scots College at Douai, where he was appointed as prefect of studies. The mission in Strathglass was reassigned to fellow Jesuit Fr. Norman MacLeod (Scottish Gaelic: Maighstir Tormod) (c.1717-1777), the son of Tormod Òig MacLeod, Clan MacLeod Tacksman of Garrabost on the Isle of Lewis.

After King Louis XV's suppression of the Jesuits within the Kingdom of France in 1763, Fr. Farquharson, who was a man, "of elegant manners, and much respected by everyone", was temporarily protected from arrest and expulsion by the local population of Douai and by the Parlement of the County of Artois, who refused to enforce the King's decree. Eventually, the Jesuits had to move the College to Dinant, in what was then the independent Prince-Bishopric of Liège, but it was only a temporary respite and in 1773, when Fr. Farquharson was 74 years of age, Pope Clement XIV declared the Jesuits dissolved and the College in Dinant was also required to close.

Fr John Farqhuarson returned to Scotland, where Jesuit priests continued to serve in the Highland and Lowland Districts despite the suppression, in 1773 and lived principally in the valley of Braemar, while serving as chaplain and spiritual director to his nephew, the Laird of Inverey and Balmoral. After he died at Balmoral Castle on 13 October 1782, Bishop John Geddes eulogized Fr. John Farquharson as, "a man of primitive simplicity and exemplary virtue."

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

Legacy

During his secret missionary work in Lochaber and Strathglass, Fr. John Farquharson also indulged in the hobby of being a pioneering folklorist and Celticist. Farquharson transcribed an immense manuscript collection of local oral literature and oral poetry. 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. 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.

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 was removed from the Cave, "in order to protect it from damage", by Black Watch Regiment Captain Archibald Macrae Chisholm and placed upon a stone column, upon which it is still preserved and venerated 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.

According to Odo Blundell, as of 1908, both a flask and a copy of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola formerly belonging to Fr John Farquharson were in the possession of Rev. Archibald Chisholm, a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish then assigned to Judique, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Folklore

In local Scottish folklore, Fr. Farquarson is said, while accompanied by his clerk, Alexander Chisholm, 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".

References

 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

Books

• Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland. Volume I: The Central Highlands, Sands & Co., 21 Hanover Street, Edinburgh, 15 King Street, London.
• Odo Blundell (1917), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland. Volume II: The Western Highlands and Islands, Sands & Co., 37 George Street, Edinburgh, 15 King Street, Covent Garden, London.
• William Forbes Leith (1909), Memoirs of Scottish Catholics during the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries. Volume II From Commonwealth to Emancipation: 1647-1793, Longman, Green, and Co. 39 Paternoster Row, London.
• John Watts (2004), Hugh MacDonald: Highlander, Jacobite, Bishop, John Donald Press.
• Thomas Wynne (2011), The Forgotten Cameron of the '45: The Life and Times of Alexander Cameron S.J, Print Smith, Fort William, Scotland

Periodicals

• "Simon, Lord Lovat's Warning", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, November 1881, pp. 49-52.
• "Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 141-146.
• "A Highland Mission: Strathglass, 1671-1777", by Very Rev. Alexander Canon Mac William, Volume XXIV, Innes Review, pp. 75-102.

External links

• The Catholic Mission in Strathglass. From Fr. Æneas Mackenzie’s Memoirs of 1846, International Clan Chisholm Society
• History of the Marydale Church, From the Website "Christianity in Strathglass." (Includes a photograph of the Baptismal Font from the Cave at Brae of Craskie in Glen Cannich).