- John Clement Gordon
John Clement Gordon (1644–1726), originally just John Gordon,
bishop of Galloway , was born in Scotland in 1644, and was a member of the Gordon family of Coldwells, near Ellon inBuchan ,Aberdeenshire . He became a chaplain in theRoyal Navy and then royalchaplain "at New York in America", by which time he was aDoctor of Theology ; [Keith, "Catalogue", p. 283.] when, on a vacancy in thesee of Galloway , a "congé d'élire " in his favour was issuedDecember 3 1687 . He was accordingly elected bishopFebruary 4 1688 , and consecrated atGlasgow by John Paterson,Archbishop of Glasgow .After the so-called "
Glorious Revolution ", he followed James VII/II toIreland and then toFrance , and while residing at Saint-Germain he read theliturgy of thechurch of England to such English, Scottish and Irishprotestant s as resorted to his lodgings. Subsequently, however, he was converted toCatholicism byJacques-Bénigne Bossuet . It appears that he was privately received into the Roman church during his sojourn in France, though at a later period he made a public abjuration of Protestantism atRome , beforeGiuseppe Cardinal Sacripanti , the cardinal protector of the Scottish nation.At his conditional
baptism he took the additional name of the reigning pontiff, and ever afterwards signed himself John Clement Gordon. The pope, wishing to confer some benefice pension on the new convert, caused the sacred congregation of the inquisition to institute an inquiry into the validity of Gordon's Protestant orders. After a long investigation his orders were treated as if they were null from the beginning. The decree of the inquisition to this effect was issuedApril 17 ,1704 . After this Gordon received the sacrament of confirmation, andPope Clement XI conferred on him thetonsure , giving him the benefice of the abbey of St. Clement, by reason of which Gordon commonly went by the name of the "Abate Clemente". It is observable that he never received other than minor orders in the Roman catholic church.He died at Rome in 1726. Gordon was resident in the
Papal States when James VIII/III went there with his court in 1717. He is often thought to be the author of a controversial piece entitled "Pax Vobis, or Gospel Liberty", but that attribution is now considered unlikely. [Corp (rev.), "Gordon, John", "ODNB".] He was the last Bishop of Galloway in thechurch of Scotland ,episcopacy being abolished in the Scottish church in 1689.Notes
References
:"This article incorporates text from the
Dictionary of National Biography (1890)"
* Cooper, Thompson, "Gordon, John, D.D. (1644–1726), bishop of Galloway", in "Dictionary of National Biography", (Oxford, 1890) [Article cites: Le Quien's Nullité des Ordinations Anglicanes, ii. 312, Append. p. lxviii; Francisque Michel's Les Écossais en France, ii. 274; Keith's Cat. of Scottish Bishops (Russel), p. 283; Tablet, 2 April 1853, p. 212; Estcourt's Question of Anglican Orders discussed, p. 156, Append. p. cxv; Lee's Validity of the Holy Orders of the Church of England.]
* Cooper, Thompson, "Gordon, John (1644–1726)", rev. , "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11065 , accessed 30 Sept 2007]
* Keith, Robert, "An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688", (London, 1824)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.