Rev. Rutherford H. McDonald

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Rutherford Hubert McDonald

The third of three sons of Michael and Ella McDonald, Rutherford Hubert McDonald was born in Algoma, Wisconsin on October 17, 1876.  He was the brother of my great-grandmother Frances Tooley. 

Reverend McDonald, or "Uncle Uncle" as he was called in my family, was a descendent of Scotch Irish Protestantism (on the McDonald side) and New England Puritan blood (on his mother's side).  He was converted to Roman Catholicism as a young man by the esteemed Abbot Pennings, O. Praem.  He changed his name to MacDonald, presumably to better reflect his Scotch Irish heritage.   

According to In His Vineyard, a book of sketches of the bishops, priests and permanent deacons of the Green Bay diocese, Rutherford received his education in the classics at St. Norbert College and at Mt. Calvary and his theology training at St. Francis Seminary. 

Before being ordained by Bishop Fox on June 10, 1906, he spent two years (from 1898 to June, 1900) at St. Norbert preparing for the priesthood.  At the end of June, 1900, he took his vows of the Premonstratensian order and sailed for Europe--Holland and Belgium to be exact--to spend a year or so in the convent before returning to the U.S. in November, 1901 to accept a professorship at St. Norbert College. 

Rutherford McDonald (back left) with Abbot Pennings and students

During his stay in the Abbey of Berne, Heeswyk, in Holland and the Abbey of Tongerloo, in Belgium, he wrote home to this family.  A few of these letters exist and are shared in Vol. 4, Issue 3 of Family Times.  He described his time there in one letter like this:

"I am contented and well satisfied here... all I have to think of are my studies and my religious duties,... I am firmly convinced as ever that it is my vocation to become a priest." 

O Priest!  Thou art not thine own master but the servant and minister of Christ; thou art not thine own, thou art the spouse of the Church.  S. Norbert

To be a priest is the greatest and the sweetest obligation of my life.

Souvenir of the Ordination to the Priesthood of

Rev. Rutherford Hubert McDonald

conferred by the 

RT. REV. J. J. Fox, D. D.

at St. Francis Seminary, St. Francis, Wis.

Trinity Sunday, June 10, 1906

and of his

FIRST HOLY MASS

celebrated June 21, 1906 in the

Church of the Immaculate Conception

Algoma, Wis



"Uncle Uncle" spoke several languages fluently and had a passion for crossword puzzles.  He is remembered for sitting in his big chair with a stack of puzzle books and filling them all in as fast as he could read them.  When asked why he did the puzzles, his reply was "Oh, some of them are quite good!!"

His best buddy was his dog "Hans."  "Uncle Uncle" spoke German to the dog and the dog obeyed. 

Reverend MacDonald served for over 60 years.  At the time of his death at age 91 on November 3, 1967 he was a pastor at St. Patrick's Church in Lead, South Dakota.