William Robertson

(Northern District) Born at Keith, 13th May 1829, the son of William Robertson and Elizabeth Dawson; ordained a deacon in Palencia, 27th March 1852, left for St.-Sulpice to complete his course, and ordained a priest in Paris, 21st May 1853; died at Fochabers, 9th July 1857.

Date	Age	Description
13 May 1829		Born Keith
1844-1846	15	Blairs
2 Jul. 1846	17	Arrived in the College
27 Mar. 1852	22	Ordained a deacon in Palencia
1853	24	Left for St-Sulpice to complete his course
21 May 1853	24	Ordained a priest in Paris by Monseigneur Sibour, Archbishop of Paris
1853	24	Preshome
1853-1857	24	Fochabers
9 Jul. 1857	28	Died Fochabers

Report of the ordination of William Robertson in the Scottish Catholic Directory of 1854.

The Rev. William Robertson, born in Fife-Keith, Banffshire, on the 13th May, 1829, was admitted, on the 7th August, 1844, into Blairs College, whence he was sent, on the 10th June, 1846, to the Scots College, Valladolid. He was there ordained Subdeacon on the 20th December, 1851, by the Bishop of Valladolid, and Deacon at Palentia on the 27th March, 1852, by the Bishop of that See. Having obtained the consent of his own Bishop to pass a year in the Seminary of St. Sulpice, he repaired thither in April following, and was raised to the order of Priest on the 21st May, 1853, by Monseigneur Sibour, Archbishop of Paris. On his return to Scotland in August following, having been for some months employed at Preshome, he entered upon the charge of the Congregation of Fochabers on the 20th November, 1853.

Obituary of William Robertson from the Scottish Catholic Directory of 1858.

Pray for the soul of the Rev. William Robertson , who died at Fochabers, on Thursday the 9th July, 1857, in the twenty-ninth year of his age and fifth of his Priesthood.

Mr. Robertson was born in Fife-Keith on the 13th May, 1829. Having evinced in early life a marked disposition for the ecclesiastical state, he was admitted into. St. Mary’s College, Blairs, on the 7th August, 1844, whence he was sent, on the 10th June, 1846, to the Scots College of Valladolid. On approaching towards the termination of the usual course of theological studies, he was ordained Subdeacon on the 20th December, 1851, by the Bishop of Valladolid; and, on the 27th March, 1852, lie received the order of Deacon at Palentia, at the hands of the Bishop of that Diocese. Wishing to perfect himself still more in learning and in the knowledge of the duties of his calling, he obtained permission from the Right Rev. Dr. Kyle, his own Bishop, to pass a year at the Seminary of St. Sulpice, in Paris, to which he repaired in the following April. He was raised to the Priesthood on the 21st May, 1853, by Monseigneur Sibour, late Archbishop of Paris. On his return to Scotland in August following, he entered, after a residence of some months at Preshome, upon the charge of the congregation of Fochabers on the 20th November of the same year. He had not been above two years in this his only charge, when he manifested insipient indications of declining health, and the malady under which he laboured gradually gaining upon him, while his case gave his friends various alternations of hope and fear, his constitution, naturally weak, at length yielded to its fatal inroads. All hopes of recovery being now given up, he lingered on for several months, calmly and earnestly preparing himself for the crisis, till he expired at six o’clock in the afternoon of the day above mentioned.

The obsequies of the deceased took place on Tuesday the 14th July. They were attended by the Right Rev. Bishop and by ten clergymen. Before the funeral service began, his Lordship addressed a few words of comfort and exhortation to the sorrowing congregation. After reciting with the clergy the Office of the Dead, he celebrated Mass, and performed the other funeral rites customary on such occasions. The funeral, which was most numerously attended, then proceeded to the ancient Churchyard of St. Ninian, at Chapelford, in the Enzie, where the mortal remains of this youthful and pious Priest were deposited in their last resting place.