He died on 11 February 1799, at the age of sixty-three. The last five years he was not able to celebrate Mass because of paralysis and later he lost the power of speech. One can only try to imagine his spiritual and mental suffering, not to mention the physical. During this period he was cared for at St. Peter’s, Aberdeen, by his two priest-nephews, John and Charles Gordon. Charles was to become the legendary “Priest Gordon
”. Both are buried with him within the remains of the pre-Reformation church of Our Lady of the Snows, in the grounds of the University of Aberdeen. The professors of King’s College waived the usual fees for a burial, considering it a privilege to have buried on their property the body of such a great and good man. Dr. John Watts, in his work “Scalan: the Forbidden College, 1716-1799”, succinctly sums him up as a man who made a deep impression on all types of people “without compromising principle”.
The photo shows members of the San Ambrosio Society, former students and professors of the Royal Scots College, Spain, gathered round the grave of Bishop Geddes, who rescued the Scotch College in Madrid and re-established it at Valladolid.