Person:Allan Macinnis (1)

Obit from The B. C. Catholic Weekly, May 23-29, 1983:

Father Allan MacInnes, OMI His Heart was Highland By FATHER MACKEY, OMI The lines of the Scottish poet of long ago reveal the mystery of the indom itable heart of that frail son of the Hebrides, Fr. Allan MacInnes, Obla te of Mary Immaculate, whom God called to his eternal rest during the nig ht of May 5, 1983, after a long and painful illness. "From the lone shieling of the misty island, Mountains divide us and a waste of seas. . Yet the blood is strong, the heart is Highland– And we in dreams behold the Hebrides." It was on the isle of South Uist in the Hebrides that Allan MacInnes, seco nd youngest of a large family of seven boys and two girls, was born to Ang us MacInnes and Euphemia Johnston on March 15, 1907. In the warmth of that deeply Christian family, his unwavering faith and al most defiant Highland heart were forged. And it was here too that his gre at gift of brilliance was first detected and acknowledged by being grant ed a scholarship while still in grade school. With his family, at the age of 17, he left Scotland to settle in Red Dee r, Alberta. And "Clandonald", as the area was known, became almost an isla nd of Scottish tradition in the prairie waste. Fr. "Mac", as he was later affectionally to be called, continued his educa tion in Edmonton and entered St. John’s Juniorate in 1925. His long and de dicated Oblate life began when he entered the novitiate at St. Laurent a nd took vows on September, 8, 1928. He had barely begun his scholastic stu dies when his brilliance was again recognized and he was sent to the Angel icum in Rome to finish his studies and where he was ordained to the priest hood in 1934. Fr. MacInnes had a great love for youth and gladly accepted his obedien ce to St. Patrick’s College, Ottawa, where he spent the first five yea rs of his priesthood. But it was in 1935 that he began what was to beco me his life-time commitment, a Professor of Dogma, Moral and Canon L aw at the Oblate Seminary, Holy Rosary Scholasticate, where his deep fai th and keen intellect helped to nurture the vocation of many an Oblate pri est and brother. Even when he became superior of Holy Rosary in 1953, he s till retained his extraordinary empathy with youth, whom he captivated wi th his quick wit and almost endless patience and compassion. He was alwa ys the gracious host and sought after by many people from various wal ks of life. And he even lists as one of his "hobbies" during those yea rs at Holy Rosary his nearly 30 years of service on the matrimonial cour t. Little wonder that his funeral was a living memorial to his great contr ibution to the Oblate priesthood in Canada. Nearly 40 of his former studen ts, from all across Canada, joined with Fr. Allan Noonan, provincial of S t. Paul’s Province, Fr. Roy Boucher, O.M.I., provincial of St. Peter’s, a nd Fr. Joe Rossiter, pastor of St. Augustine’s, to con-celebrate in the pr esence of Archbishop James F. Carney and one of his former students, Bish op Hubert O’Connor of Whitehouse. The Gaelic quotations of Fr. Larry MacLennan, O.M.I., who preached the ser mon, brought memories and tears to the eyes of his two sisters, Mrs. Ann ie McDonald and Mrs. Marion May. As Fr. Mac’s body was carried through the doors of St. Augustine’s, the la ment of the bagpipes drowned out the noise of the city streets and spo ke of his great reverence for his Scottish tradition and the yearning in h is heart for his homeland.

1. ↑ obituary
   The B. C. Catholic, week of May 23-29, 1983.

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