St. Ninian's Cemetery Stone #23 Bishop William Fraser Dimensions: - Base: 90” x 48” x 12” - Stone: 78” x 36” x24” Inscription: HONORI et MEMOIRE RMI GUILLELMI FRASER ECCAE ARICHATENSIS PRIMI EPISCOPI QUI OBIIT IV NONAS. OCTO :AN:DNI MDCCCLI AETATIS AN:XXVII OMNIBUS IN EO PAUPERUM ALTOREM SUBLATUM CONLACRYMANTIBUS R I P THE REMAINS OF THE VENER- ABLE BISHOP WERE TRANSLATED TO THE VAULT UNDER THE HIGH ALTAR OF ST. NINIAN’S CATHEDRAL, OCT. 29, 1879 Material: white marble Condition: Weathered in places making the incised marble hard to read, but overall in good shape. Bishop William Fraser was born to John and Jane Fraser of Inverness County, Scotland. He was a powerful and respected man, described later by Pat Walsh as someone who “[looked] in lay dress like the general of an army or some great man of the world. Fraser emigrated to North America in 1822 and was made pastor of Antigonish in 1823. We would become the bishop of Arichat and subsequently Halifax. According to the 1827 census his household consisted of 2 male and 2 female servants and numbered among his assets were 12 acres of cultivated land, 1 horse, and 1 horned cow. He spent part of his income supporting aspiring priests, as was the case in 1831 when he “sent five students to the [Prince Edward] Island and tried to support the [St. Andrew’s] college financially.” Other sources corroborate his strong and modest character. In A. A. Johnston’s book Antigonish Diocese Priests and Bishops, Bishop Fraser is described as someone who was “profoundly learned, singularly affable, modest and unobstrusive, [and who] never cared for human applause, nor other any man’s displeasure.” Raymond A. MacLean states that the Bishop as “noted for strength of arm and vigor of intellect, and although “somewhat stern in look and abrupt in speech, his big heart overflowed with the purest benevolence for all.” Bishop Fraser was originally buried in the Old Catholic (St. Mary’s) Cemetery on Main Street, among his congregation, but in 1897 his remains were exhumed and translated to the vault at St. Ninian’s Cathedal, ostensibly against his wishes. At that time the monument described here was erected. There on carvings/engraving on all four sides of the monument. On the east, there is a cross; the west, a sceptre; the north, two panels featuring a stag’s head with antlers and a simple flower; and the south, two more panels, on one a mitre and the other a chalice. Chad Leblanc (edited by Christopher Greencorn) [ Back ]