Memoirs of Scottish Catholics : during the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries / selected from hitherto inedited mss. by William Forbes Leith, S.J. -
Forbes-Leith, William, 1833-1921
RRA NAN SAN SS ie: NS SS WS SAN WES AN aS, Zz retaaaire igle Stte ee Se es i Z his S NY WS \“ SS \ LR AN RAN SN tS SW AN SAN RAY AN MXN AA KA RAE \ NS SS s IY AN NS SY SS AN. \ NY \ \ AX << \ ak ~~ TN LEE Z o LE EEE, Ze Z gale Lie LLY tug Lig Z YI a 4 Lye \ Gos “ Wie y SE. \\ ANN YY A \ \) \\ SOMO AY AN \\\ \\ MY AK \ RMN ¢ Gheolog; foe ot th Jical Sem, gy PRINCETON, N. J. ty Purchased by the Mrs. Robert Lenox Kennedy Church History Fund. pe? é .. Division tp Powe OT. Section eek ere. See ee oe re Hae i + POs ve) ie ; i r vs RY ; a? phe iy H yi hire! YH, HF j ‘ | ; M Ay MN), “4 at j ft a ri tt ie nie a fi Bel At Ah ae aN Ay i, Lio A ; he irs tt Paty art ; nt / yt uw A { RR eM, poke ae Po MAG Re a a a ia eke cL Peo Ge Naty She a ee a 7 isa } iy 4 cy ; " « ) ‘ ¢ uJ / ‘ Pn An seo} od Bra | teh, i fe 4 a SF r ‘ ' Ys 1 ) vay ) ' Pi ‘ t ah i oN th he ry ree 30 it i it y vi ah t has Bo i biiadyh ; ran it *" j fag 4 i” J . 7 te f, iv Hy i tty fie hich yh Aah wissen RR MR: y 7) v p i vi al r ; i " ‘ aay aes at Veit ahha iva) in c. i ts : : (Ne IEG ah f hy ’ . A s ry ; yay ,! hes fe min A Ny Vint MAA mit hone A eh a?) , tA?) in ’ AG } : } Ph ii : At | ee triad a:. PAGE SAA EM ARTY te OLN TN. AIS EM 4 ee i} Ary Mi 7 ye é ‘ ; yh Jay) ; : { he SOROS PE ae ea a i i Mie ‘Ln 1 . wae OW i bist Cy i f ne : Fry | A vi ; A 4 vith 2 ee ? <4 ‘i t} rs ‘ ‘ ’ we : : MW " sh tj : 4 in tt Wal = r t ni . a! , My oh | iy ; { } ' ut iv Ten i rye , i (! Via Vi) pvt ; : i h Ne ie be , yea ety i ity ri Pa : a AWA B jvat 1 % i Bret. ok ) { 4 f i 1) t A ian A) ‘ i h vy eka f ) i y ? ev] Un Ce MNy \ at yo , J ver ae } nm h | Clit heat Ay : ty Aas ‘ a ‘ o a t it ’ its Wi a Vacs ek 1 Mb) P: ‘ a! ye Pee ; AK ats Ga So RN y ; Ay rn i Ae A f a i ' ; ; a BL ‘ " } ih 1h a cay ae Hi ih, ii aN i, ayy, Di ie Ky i. PN a BA q my A 4 5 " at PF ne Wag vA} ele bane ) iy Pa BN:. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BISHOP CHALLONER (1691—1781) By Epwin H. Burton, D.D., Vice-President of St Edmund’s College, Ware. With Illustrations. 2 vols. 8vo. 25s. net. Noble ivy No OR e TRE CA Emcee G Re VDA ARE, IN ENGLAND (1781—1803) By the Right Rev. Monsignor BERNARD WARD, President of St Edmund’s Col- lege, Ware. With 38 Illustrations. 2 vols. 8vo. 25s. net. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA. MemMOlLwovOM SCORDISH CATHOLICS ory ous : De arar = *.) aan be “ANE rey wes tye Cae Wn inde Cs A “Wit WE TAN, Tsk yh f pe, es ha ast ;. Beery ied Ua ey, cee Sth MEMOIRS OF PeOrrish CATHOLICS DURING THE XVII™ AND XVIII" CENTURIES SELECTED FROM HITHERTO INEDITED MSS. BY ~~ WiltelaAwvwr row D> boi Wir! Si], VOLUME 1 THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES I 1627-1649 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS DOMGNMANS;) GREEN) WAN.D). CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 1909 All rights reserved, ae oe La at aw at } > NS WARN Oa 5 i “nt #, INTRODUCTION A veRY homely proverb tells us that no man knows where the shoe pinches, better than he who wears it. However soft to the touch the leather is shown to be, however high the repute of the maker, no argument derived from the evidence of others can outweigh the statement based on personal experience. We have heard the history of religion in Scotland from many a friend of the Covenant, from many an admirer of the Royalists, but a personal narrative of the sufferings endured by the members of the ancient faith has not been put before the world. The letters here printed were written from Scotland during the worst times, by men who were bearing the extremity of the persecution. We hear at first hand of the courage, patience, resource, and religious forti- tude, with which large numbers of Scots bore for generations trials which are without a parallel for severity and protraction, even in the annals of our strong and long enduring nation. In a previous volume of Narratives of Scottish — Catholics’ their history has been traced in the days of Mary Stuart and of King James VI. The docu- ments now printed illustrate their troubles during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a period during _ 1 Narratives of Scottish Catholics, Edinburgh, 1885. vii viii Introduction which their interesting history has been too often ignored, amidst the momentous conflicts of the Crown, the Covenant, and the Parliament. The majority of the letters which follow were written by the Jesuit missionaries in Scotland to the General of their Society in Rome. Some were actors in or witnesses of the events described. In other cases the letters were written abroad by a superior or repre- sentative, who had retired for the nonce to the Continent, where he could transact business with less fear of his letters being intercepted. None of these men were thinking of history or publication when they wrote. They recorded the daily life of the Scot- tish Catholics just as it passed before their eyes... It should be noted, however, that these corre- spondents even when abroad were far from being truly free to write as they would under similar circumstances nowadays. They hardly ever dare mention the names and abodes of their principal friends. This may in part no doubt be accounted for by other reasons. The missioners had got so used to reticence in Scotland that they could hardly break themselves of their cautious habits after they had gone abroad; and again there was the difficulty of turning Scottish names into Latin, or of giving them significance to the eyes of foreigners. But this explanation does not go very far, for we find that in letters written from other distant missions, from India, China, etc, the names of stations and men of importance are always regularly given. The dangers of Scottish missioners were serious even on the Continent because of the multiplicity of English newsagents, who should often more correctly be described as spies, and who especially frequented Introduction ix places like Paris, Rome, and Venice, then the chief exchanges (as we might say) for the news of the world, Information regarding the papists at home was always being offered for sale to the English Govern- ment, and it was not so difficult to obtain a sight of “Annual Letters,” which circulated in the Jesuit colleges, and selections from them were published from time to time. It would not surprise me at all to find, that the ‘‘ Annual Letters” about Montrose (vol. i, pp. 281-358) had already in this way become partially known. Several incidents regarding his campaigns, which are narrated by our historians, may originally have been derived from the papers now first published in full. Whilst, therefore, we have to lament the too frequent omission of heroic names, we must acknow- ledge that this caution is in itself a sign of the times and a mark of genuineness, not of ignorance or unreliability. The originals of these letters are for the most part preserved in a volume with the title Scotia, now preserved in the Stonyhurst Archives; and it was consulted there by Dr. George Oliver nearly eighty years ago, as his citations prove. | Some other letters are preserved in Jesuit archives abroad. They are all written in Latin, and in trans- lating them I have aimed at a simple and uniform style rather than at reproducing the sometimes crude attempts to be classical, which were so usual in those days. | The writers in this first volume are all Jesuit Fathers, who may be identified in Dr. George Oliver’s Collectanea and other works of the same kind, They x Introduction were mostly chaplains in the houses and castles of Catholic noblemen and gentry, and a table of them for two years, 1628 and 1703, may not be unwelcome. In the year 1628— Father William Leslie generally resided with the Earl of Errol. Father Stickell with the Earl of Huntly. Father James Macbreck lived at Seton with the Earl of Wintoun. Father Robert Valens resided in Edinburgh with the Earl of Abercorn. Father George Christie with the Countess of Linlithgow. Father John Macbreck was on intimate terms with King James during the last years of his life, he was also Confessor to the French Ambassador. In 1703— Father John Gordon resided with the Laird of Garleton. Father James Innes with the Earl of Nithsdale. Father Hugh Strachan with the Laird of Auchinhove. Father James Seton with the Countess of Dunfermline. Father William Leslie with his brother, Count Leslie of Balquhain. Father John Innes with the Countess of Seaforth. It is to be regretted that we do not know more about the lives of these religious heroes. The letters and memoirs here printed form their best, perhaps their only monuments. Of none of them do we possess a portrait. Yet as we look at the pictures of the now ruined castles, halls, and towers, in which they once lived, sometimes as chaplains, sometimes as prisoners, we can realise how Spartan, even at the best, their lives must have been, how unendurably oppressive, when incarcerated in them, the victims of the religious passions of those days. In an Appendix will be found a series of chrono- logical notes of the legal proceedings adopted against Catholics, which proceedings Pitcairn considered as Introduction } x1 “forming a prominent part of the ecclesiastical and political history of the country.” The editor gratefully acknowledges the valuable ‘assistance he has received from the Rev. John Hungerford Pollen, 5.J., in revising and passing the volumes through the press. Wie, i 2 ar at Ta ig at , ant) a ih r i) i fy i ‘ | ety pH Una: Ay rane Wa An i ‘ hy by on Ml yy } rie y my yy iW HP es, ¥ We gey ; a Ral a at ait 1 heey oy | iA dah ser See ; y i rat Sabi haath ie | - HAN + | ** - { { , J i / : ‘~ 1 CuipAy’ ) cP i ‘ | } hy i t ; ayes ' : A Ly bad i é i r 5 i v ; 1 ! % y i I | T 7 i j { b a I 1 { ¢ , ite ‘ tty : eo I ve ti Le oi 4 Gna e Be tha Dt iat J TAY : { Rh F na! vn : at f es, HAL ob y Me a ss i MY - Me wit Wa es he ty Ae AN kt Res eT Mads Cea a Pe ately Me LETTERS AND MEMOIRS CONTAINED IN VOLUME I PAGE INTRODUCTION. : : , ; : : vii List oF ILLUSTRATIONS . : y ; ? ; mS E> 4-4) CHAPTER I THE STORM GATHERS UNDER KING CHARLES—1627, 1628 Intropuctory Note ‘ 1 Fr. William Leslie to Fr. Vitelleschi, Soseanu’ 22 June 1627 2 Fr. John Macbreck to the same, Antwerp, 7 April 1628 : 5 Annual Letter for 1628 . : ’ : : 7 : 13 CHAPTER II TWO YEARS OF PERSECUTION—1629, 1630 Intropuctory Nore . : ; : : j ak Annual Letter for 1629 . : ‘ : 43 Fr. William Leslie to Fr. Vitelleschi, Rotland 1 ra 1629 . ma 5 Fr. Robert Valens to the same, Edinburgh, 16 June 1629 «yj. ; 75 Fr. William Leslie to the same, Scotland, 8 June 1630 : aw Fr. William Leslie to the same, Scotland, 1 September 1630 . ei aes Fr, William Christie to the same, 3 September 1630 .  Memotrs CHAPTER III CHARLES’S INTERVENTION LULLS THE STORM—1631-1636 PAGE Intropuctory NoTE . Bama ns oS | Fr. John Rob to Fr. Vitelleschi, Araneae tn 99 January 1631 Peaks Yt Fr. James Macbreck to the same, Edinburgh, 7 October 1631 REE! ¥ id Annual Letter for 1632 . ‘ Rats Fr. Andrew Leslie to Fr. Vitelleschi, Seotland | 14 Ortobey 1632 Pies | Fr. John Leslie to the same, Scotland, 30 September 1633... - . 154 Fr. John Leslie to the same, Scotland . } ; tee OU Fr, Andrew Leslie to the same, Scotland, 30 May 1635 : ore Fr. Andrew Leslie to the same, Scotland, 2 October 1635 Re Wo Fr. Thomas Rob to the same, Scotland, 2 January 1636 : Maris ty: Fr. William Christie to the same, Scotland, 24 May 1686 . = . 4179 Fr. William Christie to the same, Scotland, 16 June 1636. . 180 CHAPTER IV THE COVENANTERS—1638-1644 Intropuctory Note . App Fr, James Macbreck to Fr. Vitelleschi, Apia. 14 Aupeet 1638 » 188 Fr. Thomas Rob to the same, London, 14 September 1639. med 3) Fr, Thomas Rob to the same, London, 31 October 1639 : «ee Fr, Thomas Rob to the same, London, 15 November 1639. » 198 Fr, Thomas Rob to the same, London, 30 November 1639. . LBS Annual Letter for 1635-1642 . 196 Fr. James Macbreck to the same, Scotian 13 j une, Feast of Pentecost, 1641 : : . 24 Fr, James Macbreck to the same, eseatlanal 5 J uly 1642 : mee} | Fr, James Macbreck to the same, Scotland, 1 April 1643 —. oo eke Fr, John Smith to the same, Aberdeen, 9 July 1643. : ey 0) Fr, James Macbreck to the same, Scotland, 1 February 1644 . Pp Fr, Thomas Rob to the same, Douay, 9 March 1644 . F . 293 Fr. James Macbreck to the same, Scotland, 3 April 1644 . . 226 Annual Letter for 1642-1646 : Z F ‘ : - 229 Letters and Memoturs CHAPTER V MONTROSE, AND THE WINTER CAMPAIGN OF 1644 IntRopucToRY NoTE . A q Annual Letter for 1642-1646 onaed) CHAPTER VI FROM INVERLOCHY TO PHILIPHAUGH IN 1645 IntrRopucToRY NoTE. Annual Letter for 1642-1646 (conning) Sealand! 5 Gt 1648 : AppenpDIx I,—Some further Evidence relating to the Massacre of Philiphaugh . : , ‘ : Apprnpix II.—Legal Beane et et Scottish Catholics under the Penal Laws (Part ii. 1625-1658) XV PAGE 280 281 314 316 359 361 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS OF FIRST VOLUME GrorcE, First Marquis or Huntiy (Photogravure) HeapiInecs AND First Lines or Four ANNUAL LETTERS From the originals at Stonyhurst College. Craic CASTLE . : i : : : From Sir A. Hay’s ‘* Castellated Architecture of Aberdeenshire.” THREE FATHER-GENERALS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS From the Engravings by Westerhout. HALLIBAR ToWER AND FYVIE CASTLE. ; : From MacGibbon and Ross’s ** The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland” (D. Douglass). Two SIGNATURES. ‘ " z F a Huntty House . i f : ‘ : Reproduced, by kind permisston, from ‘‘ Old Houses tn Edinburgh.” Drawn by Bruce J. Home. Rurns or Huntity Castie (South Front) . : From MacGibbon and Ross’s ‘* The Castellated and Domestic Archttecture of Scotland” (D. Douglass). ABOYNE CASTLE , Baran Wh : ei - From ‘*The Records of Aboyne,” with the permission of the New Spalding Club. JAMES GRAHAM, First Marquis or MONTROSE 5 From the Engraving by Faed of the picture by Honthorst. xvi THE Frontispiece FACING PAGE 12 64. 80 98 150 180 200 232 - MEMOIRS OF SCOTTISH CATHOLICS CHAPTER I THE STORM GATHERS Inrropuctory Nore Tue worst weakness of which the Scottish Catholics were guilty, at the time of the overthrow of the ancient faith, was attending at Protestant services, and even sometimes receiving their sacrament “(p. 17). It was only in 1617 that a powerful and efficient reform of this abuse was introduced, and by God’s help things thenceforward began to improve. The close of King James’s reign, and the accession of King Charles, were times of unwonted quiet for the Catholics of both realms. This was partly due to the royal marriage with a Catholic princess (May-June 1625), partly to the intercession of ambassadors, and other friends (pp. 12 and 21), where Father Macbreck claims some of the credit for this. During the years 1626, 1627, the Scottish Catholics are said to have enjoyed “almost complete liberty of conscience” (pp. 10, 22, and 25). But during the year 1628 a storm was gathering. Some Catholics had been imprudent. They published a libel upon their opponents in the affair of Walter Baird (p. 20). King Charles, too, employed some Catholic nobles, especially the Marquis of Huntly and the Earl of Nithsdale, in his very unpopular measures for claiming Church property in 1627 (p. 25). Extreme measures of resistance were now discussed by the Protestant party (p. 29). The ministers were the first to advocate violence, which the nobles originally opposed (pp. 23 and 30), but to which both finally agreed. Charles was urged to put the persecuting laws into force, and the third application to VOL, I. A 2 Jesuit Missionaries [1627 him was successful (p. 33), though even so he did not go so far as — the Council desired (p. 36). The Catholics only heard of the impending blow shortly before it fell (p. 37). By December 1628, the storm burst. There were violent searches everywhere, especially at Aberdeen in the North, while Sir John Ogilvie was imprisoned in the South, Letter of FaruHer WitirAM LESLIE’ to the GENERAL OF THE Society oF JESUS.—Stonyhurst MSS., Vol. Scotia. 22nd June 1627.. VERY REVEREND FATHER, Pax Chrisiz. I received this month your Paternity’s — letter of the 7th of January last, at the same time with another written on the 10th of April. I had previously sent your Reverence a full description of the condition of our affairs, and of the Catholics of Scotland, and despatched copies through France and Holland, and am surprised it had not reached you 1 Father William Leslie was born in Aberdeenshire, but educated abroad. He was sent to the Scottish Mission in 1617. His arrival may be regarded as opening out a new era in the Mission work, as till that time there had been but two Jesuit Fathers in the Highlands and two in the Lowlands. “There are only four of us, in all this kingdom,” he writes, “and we have almost more work on our hands than we can attend to. The Catholic religion is in great peril for want of men, and it would be sad if a nation, which has flourished for so many centuries with the integrity of its Faith inviolate, should fall away now under the assaults of heresy.” In 1628, as many as ten missionaries were employed, and their number increased from that date. Father Leslie was for some time their Superior, and usually resided with the Earl of Errol, the Constable of Scotland. Father William Leslie died at Douay 12th April 1639.—Cf. Collections towards illustrating the Biography of Scotch, English, and Irish Members, S.J., by George Oliver, D.D. 1627] At Work in Scotland 3 when you wrote. I send this also through Holland, by two different routes, to Father Rob. Father John Macbreck joined us from England in Lent last year. In December he was taken prisoner at Dundee by the pseudo-Bishop of Brechin, and detained at Edin- burgh until the present month of June. He has now _ been dismissed by order of the Council, with the appro- bation of the King, and is to go at once into exile to Father Rob in Holland. On arrival, by God’s help, he will send your Paternity a full narrative of his adventures. I can, however, with a clear conscience declare to your Paternity that what he has done for the faith up to his departure, has, thank God, given the greatest consolation to Catholics, and extorted the praise and admiration even of our opponents. He will tell you his adventures and all about our affairs, with regard to which I have supplied him with fe fullinformation. There are many things which it would not be safe for me to write, but he can do so safely abroad, and so will my brother Andrew, who proceeds to Belgium to enter on his novitiate. Their places here are to be supplied by Fathers James Macbreck and Elgin, whom Father Rob has despatched, and who have already arrived. We judged it better not to increase our numbers this year, till we see how things will turn out. I have a strong opinion that none should be sent to this country until they have previously been thoroughly trained in the duties of the Society. The better they are prepared, the better they will sustain our name and reputation, which just now stand very high. Colonel Semple’s gift was most acceptable, especially in these hard times. I beg you will thank him. I have done so on the former occasions, and I hope he will take measures to make 4 Our Mission most difficult [1627 his bounty perpetual. Our George Mortimer departed ~ this life last year (as I wrote before). He died on the first of October, at four in the afternoon, fortified with the Sacraments of the Church, and in the presence of Father Stickel and myself. He is much and widely regretted, and has left the memory of his singular zeal for souls, as an example to those who survive him. I am now visiting the Fathers in their several pro- vinces, for the renewal of the vows, and other customary duties. Weare only nine in all, not including Macbreck, who is on the point of leaving. These are excellent— Stickel, Valens, Christie the younger. Would that we- had many such. | I have often requested your Paternity, but without response, to obtain for us a dispensation for persons who marry within the second degree of consanguinity or affin- ity. I beg you to obtain this favour from the Holy See. If not, we shall have lost all our labour in the case of persons so situated. For many reasons, which I cannot very well write, our mission is a most difficult one, and I think Father Rob should come over next year to see things for himself. Meantime I commend myself and my companions, together with all this Mission, to the Holy Sacrifices and prayers of your Paternity. Your unworthy son and servant in Christ, WILLIAM LESLIE. From ScotTLanp, 22nd June 1627. 1628] Under Sentence of Death 5 Letter of FATHER JOHN Macpreck' to the GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS.—Stonyhurst MSS. 7-17th April 1628. Rigut REVEREND FATHER IN CHRIST, Pax Christa. | I have been several months out. of prison, but could not get to this country until now, being detained by a long and obstinate sickness, which I con- tracted from the squalor of my prison, and when I moved into better air, I was in greater danger still, and being very long recovering my strength I did not venture to travel for some time. Being now quite recovered, praise be to God, I have arrived safely in Belgium, though with much difficulty, all the roads being closed to travellers by the tumult of war. I remain here till I know the will of your Paternity as to what I am to do, and where to go. I passed six months and more in the severest confinement, and was sentenced by the King’s letters to be hanged; but the 1 John Macbreck or Mambrecht came to Douay on 2nd September 1607. “ After serving the mission for some years, he was called to London to be con- fessor to the French embassy, a situation that he filled with credit to himself and to the Society for a year and a half during the latter part of the reign of James I. and the beginning of Charles I. This office procured him an introduction to the Court, and he says, in a letter dated Antwerp, 7th April 1628, that King James had treated him with much kindness.” Jacobo Regi familiarissimus per annum fur, etiam li notus ut Socretatis. Retiring from the Court, he returned to the Scotch Mission, in the Lent of 1626. In December the same year he was apprehended at Dundee by the Bishop of Brechin, and committed to Edinburgh gaol. Father William Leslie, in a letter of the 22nd of June 1627, says of him, that this prisoner had conducted himself so well in the cause of religion, as to leave the realm with satisfaction and comfort to the Catholics, and with the recommenda- tions and admiration of their enemies. His subsequent history is obtained from p. 161 of Drew’s Fasti Societatis Jesu, printed at Braunsberg, 1723. It relates his retirement into Poland, where in 1641 he preached in Italian at the Court of the King of Poland.—Oliver’s Collections. 6 The Oueen tntercedes [1628 Queen and the Countess of Buckingham, the Duke’s mother, interceded for me. I escaped this glorious end, to my own loss, and with great grief, but I hope the good God has only postponed this favour, not finally deprived me of it, for from my earliest youth to this day I have prayed the most merciful God to crown my labours with martyrdom. During all those six months no one was permitted to come to me, nor my friends to write to me: pen and paper were kept from me: no book to while away the time, though by a singular favour my Breviary was left me, my only solace, and the cross which hung from my neck. I was shut up in a dark’ and narrow cell, with one window, closed with an iron grating so as scarcely to admit the daylight; three doors fastened me in. The gaoler came twice in the twenty-four hours, and brought me just food enough to support life. Many interesting circumstances occurred, though too long to write, both in discussion with the principal ministers and pseudo-bishops of the heretics, at the beginning of my captivity, and later on, in my examinations before the Council. After I was put under arrest, I was kept for a month in the house of the same archbishop who had put Father Ogilvy to death, and he treated me very kindly. He alone of all the Protestant bishops—God so order- ing it, and by the intercession of the Blessed Father Ogilvy—shows great favour to Catholics, and often sent his servant to visit me in prison. I was set free at length, and sent into exile, ample time being allowed me to go away, a favour never hitherto granted to any other. In the meantime, while I await the pleasure of your Paternity, I am labouring with the advice and assistance of the Fathers here, to obtain from the Infanta the liberty of some or all of the wretched Scots 1628] Returning Good for Ful 7 . who have been taken prisoners at sea and are kept in chains at Dunkirk—there are not many of them. The royal Council desired me to do this when they gave me my liberty, and I promised to use every exertion. Indeed, the archbishop, whom I have already mentioned, fairly acknowledged that if I could _ obtain their liberty I might, in that case, without fear return to Scotland. It will be of great advantage if I succeed, both because Father Robertson is in prison in Scotland, and it will be an inducement to them to give him his liberty, and moreover it will stop the mouths of our enemies, who are always barking at us, and call us rebels and enemies of our country; and it will put our brethren in good odour with the heretics, when they see us returning good for evil and liberty for chains. And I entreat your Paternity to enjoin upon the Fathers at Brussels by your authority, that - they may deign to afford me them aid and countenance in this matter. A Brief Description of the State of the Scottish Mission. As regards the state of our Mission meantime, by the favour of God, things go on sufficiently prosper- ously. There are only eight Fathers of our Society, and two more on the road, Fathers John Leslie and Robert Mortimer. All are labouring vigorously. Father Elgin was considered unfit for so difficult a Mission on account of his feeble health, and returned to Belgium, whence he had come. Father Robertson is still in prison. Father William Leslie is the Superior in Scotland. He generally resides with the Earl of Errol, the Constable of Scotland, and goes out in summer to other Catholic families, and visits our Fathers, He was an excellent worker while his health 8 FF. Stickel, Christie, and Seton [1628 permitted, but for some time past is so ill with the stone that last year he was sometimes laid up, and in creat danger of his life. He is altogether unequal to the huge labour of Superior of so difficult a Mission, © and would gladiy be relieved from it, as he told me he had written to your Paternity. Father Patrick Stickel always resides with the Marquis of Huntly, the head of the house of Gordon, and labours actively, makes excursions mostly in the neighbourhood, and every year brings back many to the faith. He brought about an event last year, which occasioned great joy to Catholics and much vexation to heretics—he concluded’ a marriage between the son of the Marquis of Huntly and the daughter of the Earl of Errol. They are the two most powerful families of Scotland, both Catholics, but were divided by a fierce and mortal hatred. At length, by the exertions of Father Stickel, who laboured at it much and for a long time, the quarrel was put an end to by an auspicious marriage, the ill-feeling was forgotten, and the friendship cemented by visits and embraces on both sides; so that the pseudo-bishop of the place, in a public address at Aberdeen, rhetorically complained that one Jesuit priest had effected what the King, what the Council of the kingdom, what the ministers and bishops themselves, had been unable to bring about. Father. William Christie is an extra- ordinary and untiring labourer. He is always at his. work, and on excursions, and has no settled residence. God wonderfully favours his exertions, and he has brought so many to the unity of the faith that in this respect, none of ours can equal him. He has brought more than four hundred people to the faith since he came to Scotland two years and a half ago. These three are labouring for the faith in the north of Scotland. 1628 | Lords Huntly, Errol, and Ogilvie | 9 Father James Seton and Father John Stephen are working in the provinces of Angus and Fife, near the middle of Scotland. Seton serves the mission much better than he did at first. He now sets a good example to all, and brings many to the faith every day. He has gained wisdom from experience. At first he used to live too much with his parents and relatives, who are principally heretics, without much good result. The ministers and pseudo-bishops persecuted him in the first instance by summoning him to appear before them and defend his faith; and then they excom- municated him. He now keeps mostly in Catholic families, where he works with results which he has no reason to regret. He has now on his hands the Baron Ogilvie, chief of the Ogilvie family, with whom I had much intercourse and correspondence, because he was related to me by marriage. I was to have received him into the Church, and the day of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin was appointed for the reception, but I was obliged to leave, and with Lord Ogilvie’s consent the same day was appointed for Father Seton to enrol him among the Catholics. I have not heard what was done. Father John Stephen is at work in the same neighbourhood, but now more frequently at Aberdeen, where there is a tolerably large mission much attached to our Society. This winter he went to Belgium with ten young men to supply the falling off in the number of students at the seminary at Douay, and I have heard he was gone to Spain and is now on his way back to Scotland. James Mackbreck, my relative, lives at Seton with the Earl of Wintoun, the head of the Seton family, and is dear to all. He educates the Earl’s sons and heirs in the Catholic faith and piety, and works 10 Lords Abercorn, Angus, and Linhthgow [1628 with much fruit, though like a new athlete he has not — yet come forward publicly in the arena, nor does he as yet go out much. Father Robert Valens is stationed for the most part either at Edinburgh, or with the Earl of Abercorn, of the family of Hamilton, a most constant Catholic, or with the Earl of Angus, head of the house of Douglas,—both were known to your Paternity at Rome. He is more anxious to retain Catholics in the faith already received than to bring in wanderers from without, yet he lives with fruit and good example among Catholics. Lastly, Father Christie the elder is lying hid in the house of the Countess of Linlithgow in - a sort of perpetual prison (except that his imprisonment is voluntary) and has scarcely once left his room, much less the house, for six months. The Earl is a most obstinate heretic, and the excellent Catholic lady keeps the Father in her house secretly, without her husband’s knowledge. So much briefly of individuals. On the whole, praise be to God, the number both of workers and of Catholics increases daily, so that there is a visible change, both in the temper of the people generally, and in the zeal and fervour of the Catholics, compared with some years back; and if your Paternity favours our efforts, which we do not doubt, since we know how much your Reverence has always the welfare of our Mission at heart, we hope for greater increase every day, for it is now necessary to strengthen our work that it may be enduring and progressive. It would be no slight advantage if the Spanish pension was made perpetual, for hitherto it has done us more harm than good, because it has come to the knowledge of Catholics that such a thing has been obtained and settled on us, and yet most years we do not get it at all; while they contribute little or nothing to our sup- 1628 | Good Colonel Semple pal port, thinking we are otherwise provided for. On the other hand, the good Colonel Semple, with too great solicitude and restless ingenuity, is perpetually contriv- ing new methods of settling this affair, and changing his mind again next day, or next year. On this account it is important the business should be definitely concluded —for he is nearly eighty years of age, and might die before anything is done—in order that provision may be made for the future. I will write and ask him to do this myself. Another absolutely necessary measure is that we should have some fixed place, in France or in Belgium, separately or in conjunction with others of the Society, it does not much matter which, where our veteran workers can rest from their labours, and recover their strength, and where the new ones may be instructed for two whole years at least in their final studies, before they descend into the arena. For our Fathers, whether French or Belgian, are very reasonably unwilling and unable to attend to the wants of others, beyond their own numbers. While there are various means and resources for the establishment of such a place of refuge, of which the best and most eligible could be selected, they could not well be set forth within the compass of a letter, in such a way as to do justice to the subject, or appear conclusive. Besides, the whole state of this Mission, with the means for preserving and increasing it, of aiding its efforts, of giving it per- manence, and of removing the daily and numberless hindrances which impede its action, since it is almost, not to say quite, the most arduous and difficult one in charge of our Society—requires to be maturely con- sidered, that our mission may not remain always, what it has hitherto been, hidden in the dust. All this 12 King James favours Fr. Macbreck [1628 would require a volume, not an occasional letter, to be ~— addressed to your Paternity. If therefore it seems good to you, since I can- not immediately return to Scotland without danger, and am nearly useless here, I will come to your Paternity and explain the state of the Mission, which I am well acquainted with from sufficiently long ex- perience, and I think my doing so would produce no little benefit. I have written thus much by command of your Paternity and my Superiors, to convey a sort of introduction of the subject in brief outline. I could also at the same time, what had nearly escaped my ~ memory, explain in your presence an unjust charge brought against me, and of which I am innocent, by our English Fathers while I was in London. This I could do with excellent reasons, and show that I acted not only to the honour of our Society, but to the great increase of the Catholic faith, while I was with the ambassadors of France, during which time I was confessor to four successively in a year and a half; and that I even obtained from King James, with whom, though he knew I belonged to our Society, I was on intimate terms during the last year of his life, royal letters addressed to both Councils, in Scotland and England, and to all the bishops and states of the kingdom, in which all persecution of Catholics was prohibited until further orders from the King. The result was that we had peace till the King’s death, and I effected the release of nearly twenty priests from prison without sentence of exile. Ali these events cannot be told in detail in a letter, as their importance deserves, but they are highly interest-. ing and beautiful, worthy of the Annual Letters, and indeed of being printed in our Histories. Meanwhile, {eI ee Re eae Wt foe anno Sohn n nas en tnt EOE | aa | be ay RII IID Fs ry ger vi gist cote: > heise pets. a ge e d ei TEAC NEMA Vink eR Comyil ap. sheer HEADINGS AND FIRST LINES OF FOUR ANNUAL LETTERS. (See pp. 18, 48, 82, 229.) From the ortginals at Stonyhurst College. he Se ee bl cis del b aah aiid Ma hogs vchs ‘* yi | 1628] Annual Letters for 1628 13 as your Paternity shall judge best in our Lord, whether for me to return to Scotland or come to Rome, I shall await the will of your Paternity equally prepared for either decision, and desire to be earnestly commended to your most Holy Sacrifices. Your humble servant in Christ, JOHN MACBRECK. AntTWERP, 7th April 1628. ANNUAL LETTERS OF THE ScorTisH MISSION OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS FOR 1628 TO THE VERY REVEREND FATHER MUTIUS VITELLESCHI, SUPERIOR GENERAL OF THE Socrety.—Stony- hurst MSS.’ We have been commanded by Father John Rob, in your name, very Reverend Father, to send you a complete account of the proceedings of our Mission in Scotland from the beginning, and he wished this task to be executed as speedily as possible. We have been most anxious to do so, but have hitherto been unable to accomplish it, owing to the difficulties of the times. At any rate I can say so for myself, though it is only quite lately that this task has been entrusted to me. But I am very unwilling our friends should 1 Father John Leslie, youngest brother of Fathers Andrew and William Leslie, came to Scotland in 1628, and died seven years later, viz., 23rd May 1635. During the last year and a half of his life, he was a great invalid ; but no consideration for his health, no apprehension of personal danger, could induce him to retire from his post. In his last illness he had the consolation of being attended by his brother, Father Andrew, who sent a moving and edifying account of his death to the General of the Society. The annual letters of the Scottish Mission, from 1628-1632, were written by Father John Leslie; and are in his own handwriting. In a letter dated 13th June 1633, he says that he wrote them. He mentions them again as forming “the Quinquennial History of the Persecution” in his letter of 30th September 1633. We give first those for the year 1628. 1¢ Outbreak of the Storm [1628 think we have been in any degree negligent of the ~~ great interests confided to us, and it is only right to satisfy as far as possible the anxiety they must feel as to our proceedings. I will endeavour there- fore to write down a brief narrative of the principal events that have occurred since the 28th year of this century, the year which witnessed the outbreak of a storm of persecution so cruel and unheard of, that those who have not seen it would scarcely believe it possible, and I shall have to include, as I go on, not the fortunes of our Mission alone, but the history of the origin and extension of heresy in Scotland, and the overthrow of. the Catholic religion. Meanwhile, the few particulars I now record will, I hope, prove not unacceptable. A.D. 1628.—There were in this year seven Fathers belonging to our Mission, and their number was in- creased, before the end of it, by the nearly simultaneous arrival from Rome of Fathers Robert Mortimer and John Leslie. The latter landed in Scotland in the beginning of May, the former towards the beginning of July. On leaving Calais he was by some misadventure conveyed to Holland, where he was recognised as a priest of our Society, and kept some time in prison. He had to pay for his ransom all the money he had received for his travelling and other necessary expenses. And being set free he came to Scotland with Father John Rob, who, though the Superior of the Mission, always resides in Holland. Father Rob came to Scotland to visit the different stations of the Mission, which he does occasion- ally but not very frequently, and having completed this duty, returned to Holland. With Father John Leslie came Father John Stephen, who had taken nine youths of good promise to the seminary at Douay at the end of the preceding year, and in this year conveyed six 1628] The previous Calm 15 more, of excellent intelligence and disposition, to the same seminary, being at the same time entrusted with other matters of business. He had to go by way of Holland, a long and perilous journey, peace between the kings of France and England not having been at that time restored. | There were several conversions to the Church, but ’ not so many as in former years. There would have been many more than there had been at any other time, but for the storm of persecution, which compelled many who had never yet been Catholics, but wished and intended to become so, and were nearing the harbour of refuge, to drift away again into the whirl- pools and shallows of unbelief, and occasioned many not bad Catholics to make a lamentable shipwreck of their faith. 