‘Our Countryman, the Bishop of Rodez’: Seignelay Colbert of Castlehill and the Scottish Mission

Abbé Colbert de Castlehill entered the Scots College, Paris in 1747. He did not come home to Scotland to serve the Mission once he had completed his studies, but rather remained in France where he eventually was consecrated Bishop of Rodez in 1781. Unlike his uncle, Abbé Alexander Colbert, who had strong links with influential members of the Scottish Catholic community, he seems to have had very little contact, if any, with the Scottish Mission until 1790. By then, however, John Farquharson, the Rector of the Scots College, Douai, had established a connection with Colbert who, alongside another member of parliament, Merlin of Douai, actively supported the Rector’s endeavours to preserve the Scots College, Douai from the worst effects of the French Revolution. Two years later, the now refractory Bishop of Rodez was again called on to help the Scottish Mission in its attempt to resolve its dispute with Alexander Gordon, Principal of the Scots College, Paris at a time when events in France threatened the very existence of that establishment. This chapter first seeks to explore the role the Bishop of Rodez actually played in those two major crises for the Scottish Mission which ultimately failed to secure its Scots Colleges in France, then examines the nature of his relationship with the Scottish Mission during his exile years in Britain.