Hay, George

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HAY, GEORGE

Scottish bishop; b. Edinburgh, Aug. 24, 1729; d. Aquhorties, Aberdeenshire, Oct. 15, 1811. An Episcopalian, he trained as a surgeon, a profession then barred to Catholics, and in this capacity accompanied the Jacobite army in 1745. After becoming a Catholic in 1749, he entered the Scots College, Rome (1751). After ordination (1758), he was missioner at Preshome, Banffshire, until his consecration as coadjutor bishop of the Scottish Lowland District (1769). Appointed vicar apostolic (1778), he was chiefly concerned with the welfare of seminaries and with efforts to repeal Scottish anti-Catholic laws. He also wrote a series of instructional works, which influenced English Catholic thought, and was responsible for publication of the first Catholic Bible in English printed in Scotland (179697). Hay did much to sustain the Church in Scotland during a period of persecution, riots and repressive penal laws.

Bibliography: a. c. kerr, Bishop Hay (London 1927).

[j. quinn]