George Hay was a Roman Catholic bishop

Bishop (Catholic Church)

In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....

 and writer who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland District in Scotland from 1778 to 1805.

Born in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 on 24 August 1729, his parents were members of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Scottish Episcopal Church

The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 17th century, it has had an identity distinct from the presbyterian Church of Scotland....

. Destined for a medical career, young Hay began his studies at the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

. During the Jacobite Rising

Jacobite rising

The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746. The uprisings were aimed at returning James VII of Scotland and II of England, and later his descendants of the House of Stuart, to the throne after he was deposed by...

 of 1745, when he was sixteen, Hay was summoned to attend wounded soldiers after the battle of Prestonpans

Prestonpans

Prestonpans is a small town to the east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the unitary council area of East Lothian. It has a population of 7,153 . It is the site of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans, and has a history dating back to the 11th century...

. He afterwards followed the victorious Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

 army of Charles Edward Stuart

Charles Edward Stuart

Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...

 for some months; but before the decisive fight at Culloden

Battle of Culloden

The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...

, illness compelled him to return to Edinburgh. He was later arrested for having participated in the rising, and taken to London, where he was kept in custody for twelve months. Here a Catholic bookseller named Neighan gave him his first insight into Catholic teaching, and on his return to Scotland he studied John Gother

John Gother

John Gother , also known as John Goter, was an English Roman Catholic convert, priest and controversialist.-Life:Born at Southampton, England, Gother was educated a strict Presbyterian, but part at least of his mother's family were Catholics...

's work, The Papist Represented and Misrepresented. An introduction to Father Seaton, a Jesuit missionary at Edinburgh, was followed by a prolonged course of instruction, and Hay was received into the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, making his first communion

Eucharist

The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...

 on 21 December 1749, at the age of 20.

Debarred by the penal laws from graduating or receiving his medical diploma, he accepted an appointment as surgeon on a trading vessel bound for the Mediterranean. While in London, on his way to join his ship, he became acquainted with Bishop Richard Challoner

Richard Challoner

Richard Challoner was an English Roman Catholic bishop, a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the 18th century. He is perhaps most famous for his revision of the Douay Rheims translation of the Bible.-Early life:Challoner was born in the Protestant town of Lewes,...

, Vicar Apostolic of the London District

Vicar Apostolic of the London District

The Vicar Apostolic of the London District was the title given to the bishop who headed an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church in England, the Vicariate Apostolic of the London District, from 1688 to 1850.-Background:...

. The result of their intercourse was that Hay determined to enter the priesthood

Priesthood (Catholic Church)

The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....

, and on the arrival of his vessel at Marseilles, Hay journeyed to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, where he studied in the Scots College

The Scots College (Rome)

The Scots College in Rome was established by Clement VIII in 1600, when it was assigned the revenue of the old Scots' hospice...

 for nearly eight years. Among his fellow-students was the future Cardinal Erskine

Charles Erskine (Cardinal)

Charles Erskine was an Italian-Scottish papal diplomat and Cardinal.-Life:He was the son of Colin Erskine of the Erskine family, who were Earls of Kellie and Mar; his mother was Agatha Gigli of the noble family of Gigli of Anagni...

. On 2 April 1758, he was ordained

Holy Orders

The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....

 a priest

Priesthood (Catholic Church)

The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....

 by Cardinal Spinelli

Giuseppe Spinelli

Giuseppe Spinelli was an Italian Cardinal. He was a prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples....

, and on his return to Scotland was appointed to assist Bishop Grant

James Grant (bishop)

James Grant was a Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland District, Scotland.Born in Wester Boggs, Enzie, Banffshire in July 1706, he was ordained a priest on 4 April 1733...

 in the important district of the Enzie, in Banffshire

Banffshire

The County of Banff is a registration county for property, and Banffshire is a Lieutenancy area of Scotland.The County of Banff, also known as Banffshire, was a local government county of Scotland with its own county council between 1890 and 1975. The county town was Banff although the largest...

. In 1766, Bishop Grant succeeded Bishop Smith

Alexander Smith (bishop)

Alexander Smith was a Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland District, Scotland.-Life:Born in Fochabers, Moray in 1694, he was ordained a priest on 19 April 1712. He was appointed the Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland District and Titular Bishop of...

 as the Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland District, and soon afterwards procured the appointment of Hay as his coadjutor. He was consecrated

Consecration

Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...

 on Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity...

, 21 May 1769, and for nearly forty years sustained practically the whole burden of the vicariate.

Bishop Hay's efforts to procure relief for Catholics under the penal laws of the time aroused opposition, and in February 1779, the chapel and house which he had recently built in Edinburgh were burned. The outbreak of the Gordon Riots

Gordon Riots

The Gordon Riots of 1780 were an anti-Catholic protest against the Papists Act 1778.The Popery Act 1698 had imposed a number of penalties and disabilities on Roman Catholics in England; the 1778 act eliminated some of these. An initial peaceful protest led on to widespread rioting and looting and...

 in England, in 1780, further delayed relief. In 1793, by Act of Parliament

Act of Parliament

An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 some of the most oppressive of the penal laws were lifted.

He made efforts to place the college at Rome under the control of Scottish superiors. His efforts on behalf of the institute in Paris were interrupted by the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, in which it was swept away. The bishop's last public work was the foundation of a new seminary

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

 at Aquhorties, in Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

, and here, after transferring, with the sanction of Pius VII, the government of the Lowland District to his coadjutor, Bishop Cameron

Alexander Cameron (bishop)

Alexander Cameron was a Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland District, Scotland.Born in Braemar, Aberdeenshire on 28 July 1747, he was the son of James Cameron and Margery Macktinosh. He entered the Scots College in Rome on 22 December 1764, and took the oath...

, he died at the age of eighty-three.

Works

He published the first English Catholic Bible printed in Scotland; but the work which secured his own reputation as a religious writer was his cycle of Catholic doctrine entitled The Sincere Christian, The Devout Christian, and The Pious Christian, published 1781-86.

External links

• An Inquiry Whether Salvation Can Be Had Without True Faith, And Out Of The Communion Of The Church Of Christ
• Bp. Hay's works available at archive.org
• The Sincere Christian Vol.1
• The Sincere Christian Vol. 2
• The Devout Christian Vol. 1
• The Devout Christian Vol. 2
• The Pious Christian
• On Miracles Vol. 1
• On Miracles Vol. 2
• The Sincere Christian instructed in the Faith of Christ, VOL. 1 (Google books)