Gerard "Gerry" William Hughes, S.J. (22 March 1924 – 4 November 2014) was a Scottish Jesuit priest and spiritual writer who served as the Chaplain of

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

from 1967 to 1975.

Life

Hughes was born on 22 March 1924, in

Skelmorlie Skelmorlie is a village in North Ayrshire in the south-west of Scotland. Although it is the northernmost settlement in the council area of North Ayrshire, it is contiguous with Wemyss Bay, which is in Inverclyde. The dividing line is the Kelly ...

, North Ayrshire,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, to Margaret (née Barry) and Henry Hughes. Hughes was then educated at

Mount St Mary's College Mount St Mary's College is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school situated at Spinkhill, Derbyshire, England. It was founded in 1842 by the Society of Jesus (better known as the Jesuits), and has buildings designed by notable ar ...

Spinkhill Spinkhill is a small village in North East Derbyshire, England. It is approximately one mile south of the nearest town, Killamarsh, and half a mile north-east of Renishaw. It is home to the Church of the Immaculate Conception and its associat ...

. All four of his grandparents had moved to Scotland from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Career

Hughes was known for his 1985 book, ''God of Surprises'', which sold almost 250,000 copies and was eventually translated into almost twenty languages. He also published several other books including his 1997

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

, ''God, Where Are You?'', as well as ''God in All Things'' in 2003 and his last book, ''Cry of Wonder'', released in 2014.

Death

Hughes died on 4 November 2014, at the age of 90, and is buried in the grounds of St Beuno's Jesuit Spirituality Centre, Tremeirchion, Wales.

References

1924 births 2014 deaths Scottish Jesuits Scottish spiritual writers British Roman Catholic writers People associated with the University of Glasgow People from North Ayrshire People educated at Mount St Mary's College {{Scotland-writer-stub