Biography

John MacMillan was born on May 10, 1880, in Craigston, Barra. After being educated at Blairs College on the outskirts of Aberdeen, he went to Saint-Sulpice Seminary in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.

He was ordained a priest on December 8, 1903, in Oban Cathedral and spent some time there before taking up the post of parish priest of Eigg and the Small Isles. In 1908 he went to Benbecula.

On March 8, 1923, Father John departed with nearly 300 emigrants from Barra and Uist on his way to Canada aboard the ship the Marloch, a separation he found difficult. He wrote:

"I felt that although the ship was carrying my body away, my life, at least the most precious and greatest part of me, had remained in those beautiful islands that were so dear to us. My personality had spun out of the precious soil of my island to which I was so natural that I would never be separated from it."

The separation did not last long. He spent two years as a parish priest in Red Deer, Alberta, before returning to Scotland, first to Ballachulish, and, in 1929, to Barra. He was parish priest at St Barr's Church in Northbay until 1935 and later at St Brendan's Church in his home town. He was where he wanted to be:

Tha m' eilean le fraoch air a chriosadh,
Flùraichean lurach a' chìs,
Sgeirean 'n oir chuain agus a' suaineadh na mara
Gaolach, milis leam fhìn.

Eilean nan òighean 's nam flaithean
Tha faire na Haaf san iar,
Far an tric robh mo chridhe ri mireag –
Gaol milis nach ciar.


Father John and the famous writer Compton MacKenzie were good friends and MacKenzie based the character of Fr James Macalister, who appears in the books Whisky Galore and Keep the Home Guard Turning, on Father John.

In the book Air Mo Chuairt (Acair, 1987) Ealasaid Campbell describes how he updated the waulking songs from the island:

"He started having a waulking in the hall. Of course, it wouldn't be a proper waulking but a bit of an imitation, but even at that it pleased the old women. You would think they were going to a wedding with the preparations they would have to make beforehand. After the waulking, there would be dancing in the hall, and the old women would stay to watch the young people and how they were doing at the time. When the waulking began, we were a bit confused. We might have agreed at the time with the man who wrote that the people of the waulking were rather like a number of washerwomen from a certain town who had gone their separate ways, but the goings-on and the songs greatly pleased Father John and the old women."

Fr John had been suffering from ill health for many years and in April 1943 he retired from his post. He spent the rest of his life in Allasdale. He died at the age of 72 on June 1, 1951. He was laid to rest on a beautiful, peaceful day in Borve cemetery, Barra.

Nuair a thàirneas mi 'n ospag mu dheireadh
'S a thilgeas mi 'n craiceann-sa bhuam
A' cnuasach am measg nach eil maireann
Gheibh mi cladach nam buadh.


Father John wrote poems and songs on many subjects and the hymns he wrote and translated are still popular with people today.

List of compositions

Faigh Flùraichean Bòidheach (translation)