Background
Born in Borrodale on the Isle of Skye on 7 November 1841, he was the second son of Angus MacDonald and Mary MacDonald (née Watson).
Born in Borrodale on the Isle of Skye on 7 November 1841, he was the second son of Angus MacDonald and Mary MacDonald (née Watson).
Hugh MacDonald was educated at Street Cuthbert"s College, Ushaw.
On the completion of his studies, he taught there for a year as Professor of Humanities. Ordained to the priesthood on 21 September 1867, he acted for two or three years as a secular priest in Greenock. Subsequently joining the Congregation of the Redemptorists, he entered upon his new vocation with great energy, conducting missions all over the world, but proving especially valuable in the Highlands from his thorough acquaintance with the Gaelic language.
He was appointed the Bishop of the Diocese of Aberdeen by the Holy See on 14 August 1890, and consecrated to the Episcopate on 23 October 1890.
The principal consecrator was Archbishop William Smith, and the principal co-consecrators were Bishop John McLachlan and Bishop (later Archbishop) Angus MacDonald. The wisdom of his nomination was manifest from the very outset of his episcopal career in the repair of old, or the erection of new churches, in the enlargement of schools, and in the promotion of the general prosperity and working order of his diocese.
He took a great interest in the welfare of the junior seminary of Street Mary"s College, Blairs, near Aberdeen, and threw himself enthusiastically into the scheme for rebuilding and extending the institution. He erected the Cathedral chapter at Aberdeen, made the canonical visitation with great regularity, and altogether infused a great amount of order into the administration of his diocese.
Personally, he was of a most amiable and unassuming disposition, respected by all classes of the community in the North, and held in the highest estimation by his clergy and people.