Alexander Macdonell (bishop of Kingston)

The Right Reverend Alexander Macdonell
Bishop of Kingston
MacDonell c. 1823 by Martin Archer Shee
Church	Roman Catholic
In office	1826–1840
Successor	Rémi Gaulin
Previous post(s)	Vicar Apostolic of Upper Canada (1819–26) Titular Bishop of Rhesaina (1819–26)
Orders
Ordination	16 February 1787
Consecration	31 December 1820 by Joseph-Octave Plessis
Personal details
Born	17 July 1762 Glen Urquhart, Scotland
Died	14 January 1840 (aged 77) Dumfries, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Alma mater	Royal Scots College

Alexander Macdonell (17 July 1762 – 14 January 1840) was an outlawed "heather priest" of the illegal Catholic Church in Scotland, the first Roman Catholic military chaplain in Post-Reformation British military history, and the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Kingston, Upper Canada.

He was born at Glen Urquhart in Scotland and served as a chaplain with the Glengarry Fencibles during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. His presence insured that the regiment "distinguished itself by its humanity".^[1] When the regiment was demobilized, most of the soldiers found themselves unemployed and destitute.

He led them to Upper Canada, where they received a grant of land in return for their military service in what became the very prosperous Canadian Gaelic-speaking pioneer settlement of Glengarry County, Ontario. When Macdonell arrived in 1804, he found only three priests and three churches in Upper Canada. By his energy and perseverance he induced a considerable immigration of Gaels to the province, and left at his death forty-eight churches attended by thirty priests, plus a major seminary and a college.