Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/193

 HAY

157

HAY

Hay, (1) Edmund, Jesuit, and envoy to Mary Qdeen of Scots, b. 1540?; d. at Rome, 4 Nov., 1591. He was the son of Peter Hay of Megginch (castle still standing), the bailie of Errol, and related to the earl of that title. In 1562 (being alreadyaB.D., probably of Paris University) he was selected to accompany Father Nicolas de Gouda (Floris), S.J., on his mission (June to September, 1562) from Pius IV to Mary Queen of Scots, then lately returned to Scotland. Hay practically took charge of the mission, and conducted de Gouda amid many dangers to the queen's presence in a small room at Holyrood, while the majority of the court were hearing a Calvinistic sermon; and he acted as interpreter during that important meeting, a full account of which will be found in de fJouda's report (Pollen, "Papal Negotiations", 113-161). Before their return to the continent. Hay had persuaded a small band of young men to accompany him and to offer themselves to the Society. They comprised William Crichton, Robert Abercromby (the future chaplain of Queen Anne of Denmark), James Tyrie, James Gordon, and two others, all of whom did splen- did service for their coimtry in later years. Hay made his studies at Rome with rapidity and distinction. Sent to Innsbruck in 1564, he became confessor to the archduchesses of Austria, and gained such favour that he was with difficulty removed to Paris to become rector of Clermont college. He was already regarded as the probable head of the Scottish mission, and was commissioned to report to Rome on the varying for- tunes of that country and its queen. In 1506, St. Pius V resolved to send BLshop, afterwards Cardinal, Laureo to Mary as nuncio, and Hay was to accompany him. Hay started first (6 November) with the Piedmoiitese envoy Du Croc, to see what could be done Their object was to induce the queen to break with Murray, Lethington, and the other Protestant ministers, whose conduct in the violent scenes that had accompanied the murder of Rizzio showed that they were not only faithless, but capable of appalling crime.

On 14 January, 1567, the momentous interview took place. The last Catholic sovereign of Scotland was receiving the last envoys from Rome to Holyrood. If they had had the inspiration to say exactly the right thing, and to urge it with sufficient skill, her whole future might have been changed. Unfortu- nately, Laureo had ordered Hay to ask for the execu- tion of the treacherous ministers, and this was demand- ing more than Mary was at all likely to grant. She answered that "she could not stain her hands with hersubjects' blood". Before the envoys could return, the queen's refusal became relatively unimportant in consequence of the murder of Darnley (10 Februarj'): a crime carried out with the connivance, if not the full consent, of that party in Mary's council from whose influence Father Hay had wished her to free herself. He was in Edinburgh at the time, and his reports, being those of a friendly, well-informed witness, can- not but be considered as of the greatest importance in regard to the question of Mary's guilt or innocence. Like the other representative Catholics, who were at that moment in touch with the circumstances of the case, he took a view adverse to Mary, and afterwards significantly described her as "peccatrix". Back in Paris, 15 March, 1567, Hay was soon appointed pro- vincial of France, till 6 September, 1574, during the difficult years that covered the conflict between the University of Paris and Father Maldonatus. He was next rector of the college of Pont-a-Mousson, till 1581. He then returned again to Paris and filled the respon- sible post of consultor of the Province. In 1585, he was sent back the third time to Scotland with Father James Gordon, but was forced to return after two or three years, so severe was the persecution. He was once more placed in high office, called to Rome, and cho.sen "assistant" for Germany and France, but his

health was undermined by the severities of his mission- ary life, and he soon died.

(2) John Hay, kinsman and contemporary of Ed- mund, of the family of Hay of Dalgetty;b. 1546; d.at Pont-a-Mousson, 1 608 ; a well-known scholar, professor, and writer. When a student he fell into consumption and was spitting blood. While going to consult a doctor at Strasburg. in 1576, he found that a Protestant (? Ambrose, Pape of Wittenberg), was challenging Catholics to disputation and that no one would appear against him. The Scot promptly entered the lists and soon defeated his adversary. He then returned to Scotland for a while, and was completely restored by his native air. He was afterwards stationed at Tour- non, where he carried on long and vigorous polemics against the Huguenots at La Rochelle, especially with Jean de Serres, and in later life he published Latin translations of Jesuit letters from the missions.

Pollen, Papal Negotiations with Mary Queen of Scots (Scot- tish Hist. Soc, Edinburgh, 1901); Forbes-Leith, Narratives of Scotti-ih Catholics (London, 1SS9); Prat, Maldonat etl'Univer- site de Paris (Paris, 1856); Sommervogel, Bibliotheque de la C. de J., IV (Brussels, 1S96), 161-165.

J. H. Pollen.

Hay, George, bishop and writer, b. at Edinburgh, 24 .\ug., 1729; d. at Aquhortics, 18 Oct., 1811. His parents were Protestant, his father having been a non- juring Episcopalian, sentenced to banishment for his adherence to the Stuarts in 1715. Destined for a medi- cal career, young Hay began his studies at Edinburgh University, and when barely sixteen found himself summoned, after the battle of Prestonpans, to attend the woimded soldiers on the battlefield. He after- wards followed the army of Charles Edward for some months; but before the decisive fight at Culloden ill- ness 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 in.«ight into Catholic teach- ing, and on his return to .Scotland he studied Gother's well-known work, " The Papist Represented and Mis- represented ". .\n introduction to Father Seaton, a Jesuit missionary at Edinl>urgh, was followed by a prolonged course of instruction, and Hay was received into the Catholic Church, making his first communion 21 Dec, 1749.

Debarred by the penal laws from graduating or re- ceiving his medical diploma, he accepted an appoint- ment as surgeon on a trailing vessel boimd for the Mediterranean. While in London, on his way to join his ship, he became acquainted with the illustrious Bishop Challoner. The result of their intercourse was that Hay determined to enter the priesthood ; and on the arrival of his vessel at Marseilles, Hayjoiu-neyedto Rome, where he studied in the Scots' College for nearly eight years. Among his fellow-stvidents was the future Cardinal Erskine. In April, 1758, he was ordained priest by Cardinal Spinelli, and on his return to Scot- land was appointetl to assist Bishop Grant in the im- portant district of the Enzie, in Banffshire. In 1766 Bi.shop Grant succeeded Bishop Smith as Lowland Vicar Apostolic, and soon afterwards procured the appointment of Hay as his coadjutor. He was con- secrated on Trinity Simday, 1769, and thenceforward for nearly forty years sustained practically the whole burden of the vicariate.

Of strong constitution and tmtiring energy, as well as sterling piety and zeal, he did an immense work for religion in .Scotland during this period. The stress of his ministerial labours did not prevent him from doing much active literary work. He published the first English Catholic Bible printed in Scotland; but the work which secured his own reputation as a religious writer was his complete cycle of Catholic doctrine enti- tled "The Sincere, Devout, and Pious Christian", published 1781-86, and still recognized as a work of