Allan MacDonald (poet)

For other people named Allan MacDonald, see Allan MacDonald (disambiguation).

Allan MacDonald
File:Allan MacDonald (poet).jpg
Church	Latin Church
Diocese	Argyll and the Isles
Orders
Ordination	9 July 1882 by Charles Eyre
Personal details
Born	25 October 1859 Fort William, Inverness-shire, Scotland
Died	8 October 1905 (aged 45) Eriskay, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish

Father Allan MacDonald (Scottish Gaelic Maighstir Ailein, An t-Athair Ailean Dòmhnallach) (25 October 1859, Fort William, Scotland – 8 October 1905, Eriskay) was a Roman Catholic priest, poet, folklorist, and activist against religious discrimination from the Scottish Gàidhealtachd. Since his death, the sources of every hymn in the priest-poet's 1893 Gaelic hymnal and the degree to which Fr. MacDonald's folklore and folksong research was plagiarized during his lifetime by other writers has been meticulously documented by John Lorne Campbell. Furthermore, Ronald Black praised Fr. MacDonald in 2002 as, "a huge literary talent", Black has also written that Fr. MacDonald's prophetic poem Ceum nam Mìltean ("The March of Thousands") deserves to be, "first in any anthology of the poetry of the First World War", and, "would not have been in any way out of place, with regard to style or substance", in Sorley MacLean's groundbreaking 1943 Symbolist poetry collection Dàin do Eimhir. Black concluded by commenting that had Fr. Allan MacDonald not died prematurely at the age of only 45, "then the map of Gaelic literature in the twentieth century might have looked very different."

Ancestry

Although born in humble circumstances, the future poet, similarly to Iain Lom, Sìleas na Ceapaich, and Allan The Ridge MacDonald, could trace his descent back to Somerled, King Robert the Bruce, and Raghnall Mòr (d. 1547), 7th Chief (Scottish Gaelic: Mac Mhic Raonuill) of Clan MacDonald of Keppoch (Scottish Gaelic: Clann Dòmhnaill na Ceapaich).

Raghnall Mòr's illegitimate son and the poet's ancestor, Iain Dubh MacDhòmhnaill, became the first Keppoch tacksman (Scottish Gaelic: Fear-Taic) of Bohuntine (Scottish Gaelic: Both Fhionndain). Fr. Allan's kinsman and fellow Gaelic poet Allan The Ridge MacDonald famously celebrated the proud warrior history of their ancestors in the Gaelic poem Sliochd an Taighe ("The Family of the Household"), which he set to the air Mìos deireannach an Fhoghair.

In commenting on their shared lineage, literary historian Effie Rankin has argued that Fr. Allan MacDonald and Ailean a' Ridse MacDhòmhnaill, "may rightfully be regarded as the foremost Keppoch bard's of the nineteenth century."

The poet's father, John MacDonald (Scottish Gaelic: Iain Ailein Òg) (1821-1873), was born into a family of carters near Grantown-on-Spey (Scottish Gaelic: Baile nan Granndach) and was employed for many years by the General Post Office as a heavily armed guard dressed in maroon and gold livery, whose orders were to defend the "Breadalbane" Royal Mail Coach from highwaymen along the route between Fort William, Glencoe, Blackmount, and Glasgow.

In a 27 October 1933 letter to the Stornoway Gazette, Skye-born Seanchaidh John N. MacLeod (1880-1954), who was fully versed in the oral traditions of Lochaber, explained that Iain Ailein Òg, "was closely aquatinted with everyone whom he would meet along the long and difficult road that used to wend it's way through those bounds at that time, and many a person was regaled by him with old lore and tales that lightened their journey for them."

After marrying Margaret MacPherson, a Strathspey shepherd's daughter and descendant of Clan MacPherson (Scottish Gaelic: Clann Mac a' Phearsain), in Fort William on 21 November 1852, John MacDonald saved enough money to buy an inn and a pub at 179 High Street in Fort William (Scottish Gaelic: An Gearasdan), formerly (Scottish Gaelic: Baile Mairi), Lochaber, Scotland.

Early life

File:Ben Nevis Inn.jpg

Ben Nevis Inn where Fr. Allan MacDonald is believed to have been born

Fr. Allan MacDonald, the third surviving child of his parents, was born in an upper room of his father's inn on 25 October 1859. He was named after his recently deceased paternal grandfather, Allan MacDonald (Scottish Gaelic: Ailein Òg) (1782-1859).

Fr. MacDonald later recalled how, during his early life, both the town of Fort William and the surrounding countryside had undergone a language shift from Gaelic to Scottish English. He accordingly described the Fort William of his childhood as, "half Lowland and half Highland."

He later told Amy Murray that he considered his loss, in having grown up without the oral literature and bardic poetry taught in the Ceilidh houses of the Gàidhealtachd, to be irreparable. Despite being repeatedly told otherwise, he considered himself to be permanently crippled as both a seanchaidh and a traditional singer. He concluded, "I would give anything if I had been born fifteen miles to the westward."

According to Roger Hutchinson, Fr. MacDonald's later statements about the complete Anglicisation of Fort William during his childhood were an exaggeration. Census records from the era reveal that 70% of Fort William's population reported the ability to speak both the English and Gaelic languages. At the same time, however, English was the language of commerce and was seen as a means of future advancement. For these reasons, John and Margaret MacDonald, being innkeepers, had made a choice to teach only English to their children.

At the same time, Fr. Allan's lifelong fascination with the Scottish folklore of the Highlands and Islands, an interest his father also shared, began as a child in Fort William. He later told Amy Murray about how deeply he believed as a child in local stories about the each-uisge, or "water horse", of nearby Loch Linnhe, whose back could magically expand in order to accommodate all the children who wished to ride him. But then, the water-horse would gallop off into the nearest lake to drown and eat the children on his back. Fr. Allan later recalled, "Many's the horse I wouldn't get on as a child for fear it would be the each-uisge."

Seminary studies

Blair's College

On 15 August 1871, 12-year old Allan MacDonald entered the minor seminary at Blair's College in Aberdeen, which had been founded in 1829 to rebuild the Catholic Church in Scotland after Catholic Emancipation ended centuries of religious persecution. At the time he arrived, the future Gaelic poet and scholar spoke only English.

According to the 1871 national census, which was taken only a few months before Allan MacDonald's arrival, Blair's College consisted of 49 seminarians, a Rector, a Procurator, three professors, a housekeeper, a cook, and twelve maids recruited from nearby villages.

According to John Lorne Campbell, both living conditions and discipline were very spartan at Blair's College during the 1870s. So much so, that Fr. MacDonald often said in later years that, after what he had experienced at Blair's College, all the hardships of being a priest in the Outer Hebrides looked luxurious by comparison.

According to his biographer Roger Hutchinson, Fr. Allan MacDonald would maintain, "a cordial dislike", of the Blair's College Rector, Fr. Peter Joseph Grant, for the remainder of his life. For example, in a Gaelic poem Rannan do Mgr Mac an Tòisich ("Verses to Fr John MacIntosh of Bornish"), addressed three decades later to a seminary friend, Fr. MacDonald recalled the Blair's College Rector as, "that ghastly man called Grant" (Scottish Gaelic: riaghladh a' Ghranndaich ghrànda). Fr. MacDonald further expressed disgust at how Fr. Grant used, "to make our pens scratch hard", every Tuesday and Wednesday evening before feeding his desperately hungry students their porridge. Fr. MacDonald added, "All the same to him were Latin, English, or a thousand lines of that monster Homer!" (Scottish Gaelic: "'S bu choingeis leis Laideann, no Beurla, No mìle rann na béist' ud Hòmar!")

His other instructors included Fr. James A. Smith, the future Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh. The main linguistic focus was upon the study of Ecclesiastical Latin. Seminarians who wished to also learn Gaelic, were given Fr. Ewen MacEachen's Gaelic dictionary and his literary translation of Thomas a Kempis's Imitatio Christi as textbooks. They were then encouraged to pursue their studiy of Gaelic on their own time. According to John Lorne Campbell, however, the careful study of Latin and Koine Greek had already well prepared the seminarians of Blair's College to acquire additional languages and many were very successful at learning Gaelic using this method.

Allan MacDonald's acquisition of the language was also helped by the many native Gaelic-speakers among the seminarians of Blair's, including the aforementioned John MacIntosh. MacIntosh, who was a native of Roybridge in Lochaber, was very much an outdoorsman compared with Allan MacDonald and was known for his prowess as a hunter, fiddler, and shinty player. Following his own ordination and assignment to Bornish, South Uist, Fr. MacIntosh would become known as, "The Big Priest of the Horses" (Scottish Gaelic: Sagart Mòr nan Each).

Other languages that were taught included French, Spanish, and Italian, which were intended to prepare the seminarians at Blair's for further studies at the Scots Colleges in Paris, Douai, Rome, and Valladolid. Geography was also taught using a globe, as were, "philosophy in all it's branches", and theology.

At the same time, though, both of Allan MacDonald's parents died during his studies at Blair's College. Iain Ailein Òg died at his Fort William hotel of tuberculosis and chronic gastritis on 25 March 1873. He was only 58 years old. His widow, 45-year old Margaret MacPherson MacDonald, also died at Fort William of pulmonary congestion on 20 December 1875. The surviving MacDonald siblings immediately left home and dispersed. 12-year old Elizabeth "Lizzie" MacDonald was taken in by her maternal great-uncle Alexander MacIntosh, who had similarly taken in her fatherless mother three decades earlier. After completing school in Fort William, Elizabeth MacDonald joined her older sister Charlotte MacDonald as a domestic servant in Glasgow. Their teenaged brother Ronald MacDonald moved to Glenshiel in Lochalsh, where he began working as a hired farm hand.

Valladolid

In September 1876, Allan MacDonald was advised by his professors to continue his priestly training at the Royal Scots College, which had been founded in Madrid by Colonel William Semple of Lochwinnoch and his wife, Doña María de Ledesma in 1627, as a major seminary for the illegal and underground Catholic Church in Scotland. Allan MacDonald began the journey to Spain shortly before his seventeenth birthday.

Since being reopened by Rector John Geddes at Valladolid in 1771, the Royal Scots College had been located inside a three-storey 18th-century tenement located on a wide street just to the south of the city center. The windows were always kept shuttered as men on the street outside led donkey carts back and forth from the main plaza.

In September 1876, Allan MacDonald arrived at Valladolid after a railway journey via Paris and Bordeaux. Valladolid was once again nominally at peace following local battles and skirmishes of the Second Carlist War and, as a new student, MacDonald would immediately have joined the students and faculty for their autumn break in nearby Boecillo, where the Royal Scots College owned a vineyard.

At the time, the Rector was Fr. John Cowie, a native of Fochabers in Morayshire and longtime professor of Classics, philosophy, and theology under previous Rector Fr. John Cameron. Fr. Cowie, as the Vice-Rector, was considered to be the heir apparent after Fr. Cameron retired, but suffered terribly from, "agonies of self doubt", and had to be encouraged and persuaded by the Church hierarchy to accept the promotion. During his "dutiful and uninspiring" 1873 through 1878 tenure as Rector, Fr. Cowie, according to Roger Hutchinson, "clung like a drowning man to the written and unwritten rules of his predecessor." According to the historian of the Scottish Colleges in Spain, Bishop Maurice Taylor, this was because Fr. Cowie, "had a dread of innovations that might lead to precedents." This led, however, one professor at the Royal Scots College to lament in 1875, "Lord, save us from scrupulous Rectors."

According to a 1906 article for The Celtic Review by his Valladolid friend, Fr. George Henderson, Allan MacDonald understood the necessity for learning Latin, but intensely disliked both Greek, which Fr. Henderson ascribed to Fr. John Cowie's flaws as a teacher, and philosophy, which Henderson commented, "may have been in part his loss, if not his wisdom."

A less negative influence than Fr. Cowie was Inverness-born Fr. James MacDonald, both a specialist in and an enthusiast for the ongoing Neo-Thomistic revival.

Literary scholar John Lorne Campbell, however, would later credit the Royal Scots College's Vice-Rector, Fort William native and native Gaelic-speaker Fr. David MacDonald, with being, "the main influence" upon Allan MacDonald's student life in Spain and his subsequent development. Fr. MacDonald was known for his intense dislike of with what he saw as the excessive strictness of Frs. Cameron and Cowie, which he made no effort to conceal. His battles against both Rectors ultimately resulted, much to the relief of the student body, in Fr. MacDonald's own promotion to Rector, following Fr. John Cowie's death in March 1879. John Lorne Campbell has termed Fr. David MacDonald, "a man remarkable for piety and learning, who spent nearly forty years of his life at the College and improved it greatly."

For example, after the Restoration of the Scottish Catholic hierarchy in 1878, Fr. David MacDonald also set up an experimental Gaelic-language immersion program for students who wished to serve as priests in the newly erected Diocese of Argyll and the Isles. Fr. MacDonald did this not only out of ethnic pride and love for his native language, but due to his awareness that many of his students would be serving parishes with enormous numbers of Scottish Gaelic monoglot speakers.

According to Roger Henderson, "There was therefore from 1878 onwards a vocational purpose to Allan MacDonald's pursuit of fluency in the 'mother tongue' which his parents had 'given over'. In every other way he was a north-west Highlander to his core. He cannot have visualised an ideal future for himself outside the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles. But without fluent Gaelic he could not realistically expect to be posted to such heartlands as Arisaig or the Hebrides. Without Gaelic his future was more likely to lie in some benighted Glasgow parish or among the John Cowie's and Peter Grants of the dour northeast. With Gaelic, the hills and islands of his people beckoned him."

According to John Lorne Campbell, "At Valladolid there were several Highland students and they used to produce a holograph Gaelic magazine, of which at least one copy has been preserved. Fr. Allan contributed to this, apparently under several pseudonyms, for his handwriting appears frequently in the surviving copy."

For the rest of his life, Fr. George Henderson would always treasure a small copy of the Gaelic edition of Thomas a Kempis' Imitatio Christi which Allan MacDonald had given to him during their studies in the Royal Scots College at Valladolid.

In March 1882, a 22-year old Allan MacDonald returned to Scotland after five years in Spain.

Priestly ministry

Ordination

Following his return, Allan MacDonald's examiners reported to Archbishop Charles Eyre that they were, "well satisfied, not only with his theoretical knowledge, but also with the prudence and good sense with which he applies this knowledge to particular cases." Allan MacDonald was, in the words of Rector Fr. David MacDonald, "without any canonical impediment, except want of age."

Allan MacDonald was accordingly ordained to the priesthood at St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow by Archbishop Eyre on 9 July 1882.

Diocese of Argyll and the Isles

After his ordination, Archbishop Eyre offered Fr. Allan MacDonald a teaching position at Blair's College, which the latter declined.

He was then assigned instead as assistant Rector of St Columba's Cathedral in Oban, which was a temporary wooden pro-cathedral located on the site of the modern Cathedral Hall. Fr. Allan immediately developed a close and long-term friendship with Bishop Angus MacDonald of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles.

At the time, the fishermen and shopkeepers of Oban were overwhelmingly Gaelic-speaking, but were religiously a mixture of Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Catholics were a tiny minority and anti-Catholicism in Oban was so intense that Bishop MacDonald is said to have needed an armed bodyguard even to safely stroll around the town during his first years there. The Diocesan See, however, had been placed in Oban anyway, because Oban was, according to the 1882 Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, "the capital of the West Highlands and the Charing Cross of the Hebrides."

Roger Hutchinson has accordingly written that, while the Catholics of Oban would have been too few to overwork Fr. Allan MacDonald as a pastor, the language immersion experience there would have done wonders for his Gaelic. The anonymous author of an obituary in The Celtic Monthly later recalled that, in Oban, "Father Allan was a veritable son of Anak, being 6ft. 3in. in height, and was known in his communion as the 'high priest.'" (Scottish Gaelic: Sagart Mòr).

He was then assigned to Daliburgh, South Uist. The island of Eriskay, located across the bay, was also in his care. When sick calls on Eriskay were required, MacDonald would trudge down to the beach and light a bonfire as a signal to the Eriskay fisherman to come and ferry him across.

This era also saw the agitation of the Crofter's Commission and the Highland Land League. Therefore, MacDonald was active in demanding greater rights for the impoverished Crofters who were his parishioners. At the time, the island's government and school board were dominated by members of the Church of Scotland. Therefore, MacDonald also began urging his parishioners to vote against the candidates of the landlord, Lady Emily Gordon Cathcart. This was a task which required great tact and, according to John Lorne Campbell, it is very telling that the Protestants of South Uist still speak very highly of MacDonald.

However, his health was broken in an epidemic during which MacDonald tirelessly provided the Sacraments to the dying. To assist his recovery, MacDonald was assigned to Eriskay which he immortalised in his poem, Eilein na h-Òige (Isle of Youth). He swiftly earned the love of his parishioners and oversaw the construction of a St Michael's Church and rectory, both of which still stand on Eriskay.

In May 1905, Fr. MacDonald wrote to his friend from Royal Scots College, Fr. George Henderson, "I am in better health than when I saw you last, and as happy as a king. The Bishop offered me charge of Fort William, for which I thanked him. I told him I had much sooner stay where I was, and I was left in peace."

Death

According to his death certificate at the General Register Office in Edinburgh, Maighstir Ailein died of pneumonia, pleurisy, and influenza in the bed of his Rectory at 1 o'clock am on 8 October 1905. His younger brother, Ronald MacDonald, who had recently come over from his farm in Glenshiel, was present at his passing. Fr. Allan MacDonald was also survived by his married younger sister, Mrs. Elizabeth. By the 1930s, Elizabeth's daughter, Margaret "Meg" MacInnes, had become well known as a Gaelic traditional singer. Until her death c.1947, MacInnes regularly visited Eriskay, where she was locally regarded as Fr. Allan's heir.

A Tridentine Requiem Mass was offered for his soul at St. Michael's Church by Fr. Allan MacDonald's first cousin, Canon Alexander MacKintosh (1853-1922), who also wrote and published an obituary, "which has provided the basis for all subsequent biography." In 1909, a Celtic High cross was dedicated at Fr. Allan MacDonald's grave in the parish cemetery.

He is still fondly remembered on both South Uist and Eriskay.

Folklore collector

MacDonald began collecting folklore when he was assigned to Oban shortly after his ordination. From Donald MacLeod, a fisherman and parishioner of St Columba's Cathedral from the Isle of Eigg, Fr. MacDonald collected multiple Catholic hymns in Scottish Gaelic. He supplemented these with several of his own compositions and translations and anonymously published a Gaelic hymnal in 1893.

MacDonald, a lifelong admirer of the Jacobite movement, was an expert in the history of the Jacobite rising of 1745. His manuscripts are still preserved and, although unpublished, remain a rich source of Scottish mythology and history.

Fr. MacDonald supplied most of the material that was plagiarized and published by Ada Goodrich Freer who was commissioned to investigate Hebridean folklore about second sight by the Society for Psychical Research in 1894-1895. Goodrich Freer published reports under own name, in the journal Folklore and gave absolutely no credit to Fr. MacDonald, for which she has received very harsh criticism ever since.

Poet

Religious poetry

MacDonald's poetry is mainly Christian poetry, as would be expected from one of his calling. He composed Scottish Gaelic Christmas carols, hymns and verse in honour of the Blessed Virgin, the Christ Child, and the Blessed Sacrament. In many of his Christmas poems, however, Fr. MacDonald points out that the Christ child came to earth and was not greeted by joyfulness, but by religious persecution and hatred by the human race.

Fr. MacDonald also translated Latin hymns and religious poetry into Gaelic verse; including Thomas of Celano's Dies irae, Stabat Mater, Ave Maris Stella, A solis ortus cardine, Te lucis ante terminum, and Salve Regina.

Due to his awareness that a lost catechism in Gaelic oral poetry had formerly been in use among the Catholics of South Uist, Fr. MacDonald composed a series of "didactic hymns", which he based upon A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, the famous "Penny Catechism" of Bishop Richard Challoner.

For example, in his song-poem An Eaglais ("The Church"), Fr. MacDonald drew upon the ancient metaphor of the Catholic Church as the Barque of St. Peter, adapted it to the culture of the Outer Hebrides, and reimagined Jesus Christ as a Hebridean shipwright. Furthermore, Fr. MacDonald, who was always interested in adapting the traditions of Gaelic oral literature to religious instruction, composed this poem after the style of a Waulking song.

Furthermore, as both a musical accompaniment for Low Mass and as an alternative to Calvinist worship, which retains in the Gàidhealtachd the 16th century practice of unaccompanied Gaelic psalm singing in a form called precenting the line, Fr. MacDonald composed a series of sung Gaelic paraphrases of Catholic doctrine about what is taking place during the Tridentine Mass. These paraphrases continued to be routinely sung during Mass upon Eriskay until the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council.

Secular poetry

However, several secular poems and songs were also composed by him. In some of these, MacDonald praises the beauty of Eriskay and its people. However, several secular poems and songs were also composed by him.

In his iconic song poem Eilein na h-Òige ("Island of the Young"), Fr. MacDonald praises the beauty of Eriskay, it's wildlife, and the fondness of its people for tales from the Fenian Cycle of Scottish mythology. He also commented upon the visits to Eriskay by Saint Columba, John of Moidart, and Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Fr. MacDonald also denounced the Highland Clearances upon the island, but expressed joy that the crofters had been granted greater rights against the landlords.

In his comic verse drama, Parlamaid nan Cailleach ("The Parliament of Hags"), however, Fr. MacDonald lampoons the backbiting and gossiping of his female parishioners and local courtship and marriage customs. Ronald Black has compared the play to similar works of comic poetry from Irish literature in the Irish language, such as Domhnall Ó Colmáin's 1670 Párliament na mBan ("The Women's Parliament") and Brian Merriman's 1780 Cúirt an Mheán Oíche ("The Midnight Court").

His poem Banais nan Cambeulach ("The Campbell Wedding"), was composed about the 7 February 1899 marriage of his housekeeper, Kate Campbell, to crofter and fisherman Donald Campbell (Scottish Gaelic: Dòmhnall mac Alastair). Father MacDonald irately skewers Clan Campbell (Scottish Gaelic: clann Diarmuid) over the Massacre of Glencoe and for repeatedly siding against the House of Stuart during the Jacobite risings. He also compared Donald Campbell's marriage to his housekeeper to the centuries-old Clan Campbell tradition of cattle raiding, the aftermath of which often left Fr. MacDonald's Clan Donald ancestors similarly destitute. While the priest further expressed a deep sense of chagrin that the bride and groom would be giving birth to more Campbells, Fr. MacDonald ended the poem by offering the couple his warmest blessings and good wishes.

John Lorne Campbell later wrote, however, "The late Ewen MacLennan who kept the shop at Eriskay from 1890 to 1900 and was present at the Campbell wedding, told me he did not recollect it's being recited."

MacDonald's secular verse, it is accordingly believed, was written for his own amusement and was never intended to see publication.

Legacy

File:Canna house.jpg

Canna House, where John Lorne Campbell's private archive of Scottish Gaelic literature, history, and folklore is preserved.

Beginning in 1947, literary scholar John Lorne Campbell, with the help of various friends, succeeded in tracking down the poetry manuscripts, diary, and folklore collections of Fr. Allan MacDonald, which had been missing since his death in 1905. Further detailed research by Campbell about Fr. MacDonald's life, times, and writings, as well as his diary, was similarly collected and housed at Canna, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.

The first collection of Fr. MacDonald's Gaelic verse, Bàrdachd Mghr Ailein: The Gaelic Poems of Fr Allan McDonald of Eriskay (1859–1905), was self published by John Lorne Campbell in 1965. In 1966, future Gaelic literary scholar Ronald Black received a suitcase full of Gaelic books from Dr. Campbell and brought them to Eriskay for sale aboard a ferry from Ludag, South Uist. At the time, Eriskay still had many Scottish Gaelic monoglot speakers who had known Fr. MacDonald personally. Black has since recalled that the poetry book and Campbell's "little blue biography of Father Allan", both accordingly, "sold like hotcakes".

At the urging of Ferdi McDermott of Saint Austin Press, an expanded and bilingual anthology of the priest's Gaelic verse, both religious and secular, was edited by Ronald Black and was published in 2002 by Mungo Books, which was then the Scottish imprint of Saint Austin Press. Ronald Black commented, however, that so much of Fr. MacDonald's poetry remains unpublished that the Mungo Books edition could easily have been twice as long.

For example, Fr. MacDonald's Ecclesiastical Latin to Scottish Gaelic literary translation of the Compline service from the Roman Breviary, the manuscript of which John Lorne Campbell located in the possession of Canon William MacMaster at Fort William in 1950, remains unpublished.

South Uist vocalist Kathleen MacInnes performed Fr. MacDonald's literary translation of Fr. Frederick William Faber's Marian hymn "O Purest of Creatures", Reul Àlainn a' Chuain on YouTube, on her 2006 album Summer Dawn.

Quote

• Diary entry 22 February 1898: "Read Rob Donn for vocabulary purposes. His vocabulary is more valuable than his poetry. His subjects are often enough coarse and treated coarsely. His reputation is greater than his merits. I should never dream of comparing him with W. Ross or Alasdair. Even Alein Dall is superior to him in rhyme, rhythm, and humour... Took up W. Ross and read pieces. His vocabulary has not so many strange words as Rob Donn's Reay Country Gaelic... He makes you feel with him and for him. Pity for the language that he died so young."

Published works

• Published anonymously (1889), Laoidhean Caitliceach airson Chloine, Oban, republished 1936.
• Published anonymously (1893), Comh-Chruinneachadh de Laoidhean Spioradail, Oban. Contains Gaelic hymns, like Tàladh Chrìosda, which were collected from the oral tradition, as well as original hymns and literary translations by Fr. MacDonald.
• Collected by Fr. Allan MacDonald (1958), Gaelic Words from South Uist – Edited, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Second edition with supplement, published by the Oxford University Press, N.D 1972. [CH2/1/1/13]
• Edited and transcribed by John Lorne Campbell (1965), Bàrdachd Mhgr Ailein: The Gaelic Poems of Fr Allan McDonald of Eriskay (1859–1905), Privately printed. [CH2/1/1/13]
• Eilein na h-Òige; The Poems of Fr. Allan MacDonald, Edited by Ronald Black, Mungo Books, Glasgow, 2002.

Further reading

Periodicals

• Fr. Allan MacDonald, translated by Ronald Black, A Christmas Hymn: May the Trinity be Praised, St Austin Review (December 2001), page 2.

External links

• John Lorne Campbell's Biography of Fr. Allan MacDonald
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles