Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kyle, James Francis
KYLE, JAMES FRANCIS, D.D. (1788–1869), Scottish catholic prelate, born at Edinburgh on 22 Sept. 1788, was received into the seminary of Aquhorties, on the banks of the Don, in Aberdeenshire, on 23 Oct. 1799; was appointed professor in that seminary in 1808, and was ordained priest in 1812. He remained at Aquhorties till January 1826, when he was sent to St. Andrew's, Glasgow. On 13 Feb. 1827 papal briefs were issued appointing him bishop of Germanicia, in partibus, and vicar-apostolic of the newly formed northern district of Scotland. He was consecrated at Aberdeen 28 Sept. 1828 by Dr. Penswick, vicar-apostolic of the northern district of England, assisted by Bishops Paterson and Scott. He died at Preshome, in the Enzie of Banff, on 23 Feb. 1869.
Kyle collected many early documents, some formerly in the Scots College, Paris, relating to the history of catholicism in Scotland. He computed that his letters and papers connected with the ecclesiastical history of Scotland from about 1597 to a comparatively modern period amounted to thirty thousand. Kyle also supplied Prince Labanoff with valuable materials for his ‘Collection of the Letters of Queen Mary of Scotland.’ Kyle's collections are now in the library at Buckie, on the coast of Moray Firth, together with volumes of materials, collected either by Kyle himself or under his directions, for a history of the catholic religion in Scotland since the Reformation.
[Brady's Episcopal Succession, iii. 474; Catholic Directory, 1891, p. 62; Hist. MSS. Comm. 1st Rep. 120; London and Dublin Orthodox Journal, 1837, iv. 121; Register and Magazine of Biography, i. 290; Stothert's Catholic Mission in Scotland, pp. 509, 643.]