Hugh Gilbert OSB (born 15 March 1952) is an

English Catholic The Catholic Church in England and Wales ( la, Ecclesia Catholica in Anglia et Cambria; cy, Yr Eglwys Gatholig yng Nghymru a Lloegr) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th ce ...

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

who currently serves as the

Bishop of Aberdeen The Bishop of Aberdeen (originally Bishop of Mortlach, in Latin Murthlacum) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Nech ...

. He previously served as the Abbot of

Pluscarden Abbey Pluscarden Abbey is a Catholic Benedictine monastery in the glen of the Black Burn, southwest of Elgin, Moray, Scotland. It was founded in 1230 by Alexander II for the Valliscaulian Order. In 1454, following a merger with the priory of Urqu ...

, of which he is a member, also in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Life

Early life

On 15 March 1952, he was born Edward Gilbert in

Emsworth Emsworth is a town in the Borough of Havant in the county of Hampshire, England, near the border of West Sussex and located at by the south coast of England. It lies at the north end of an arm of Chichester Harbour, a large and shallow inlet fr ...

, Hampshire, to an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

family. He was educated at the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

St Paul's School in London. At the age of 18, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church on Christmas Eve of 1970. He studied history at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

and graduated in 1974 with a

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

degree in History.

Monastic life

Gilbert was received into the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of Pluscarden Abbey in

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

, Scotland, in March 1975, at which time he was given the religious name Hugh. He made his temporary profession of

monastic vows Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role ...

on 10 March of the following year and was then sent to the former

Fort Augustus Abbey Fort Augustus Abbey, properly St. Benedict's Abbey, at Fort Augustus, Inverness-shire, Scotland, was a Benedictine monastery, from late in the nineteenth century to 1998 that also housed a school for young boys until 1993. Inception It owed its ...

, located on the shores of

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; gd, Loch Nis ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for clai ...

, for studies and preparation for the priesthood. He made his solemn profession of vows on 10 March 1979 and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

a priest in 1982 on the

Feast of Saints Peter and Paul The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul or Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul is a liturgical feast in honor, of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which is observed on 29 June. The celebration is of ancient Christi ...

(29 June) by

Mario Conti Mario Joseph Conti (20 March 1934 – 8 November 2022) was a Scottish Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of the Metropolitan see of Glasgow, Scotland between 2002 and his retirement in 2012. Ordained to the priesthood in 1958, C ...

, then the

Dom Dom or DOM may refer to: People and fictional characters * Dom (given name), including fictional characters * Dom (surname) * Dom La Nena (born 1989), stage name of Brazilian-born cellist, singer and songwriter Dominique Pinto * Dom people, an et ...

Alfred Spencer OSB, the first abbot in the history of the monastery, subsequently appointed Gilbert to various duties in the community: sub-

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

in 1984,

novice master In the Roman Catholic Church, a novice master or master of novices, lat. ''Magister noviciorum'', is a member of a religious institute who is responsible for the training and government of the novitiate in that institute. In religious institutes f ...

in 1985, and prior in 1990. Gilbert was elected by the monastic community to succeed Spencer as

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

on 29 October 1992. He received the abbatial blessing from Conti on 8 December, at which time he formally took office. He was a member of the Council of the Union of Monastic Superiors from 1993 to 1997 and of the Abbot Visitor's Council since 1995. During his time as abbot, the community grew to 27 monks.

Bishop

Gilbert was appointed the Bishop of Aberdeen by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

on 4 June 2011. He was consecrated for this office at the Cathedral Church of St Mary of the Assumption in Aberdeen by Cardinal

Keith O'Brien Keith Michael Patrick Cardinal O'Brien (17 March 1938 – 19 March 2018) was a senior-ranking Catholic prelate in Scotland. He was the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh from 1985 to 2013. Cardinal O'Brien was the leader of the Catho ...

, the

Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh The Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh is the ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh. The archdiocese covers an area of 5,504 km2. The metropolitan see is in the City of Edinburgh where the archbishop's s ...

, on the

Feast of the Assumption The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

(15 August) 2011. He chose as his episcopal motto ''Omnia in Ipso constant'' (All things hold together in Him), which is a verse from the ''

Letter to the Colossians The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy, and addressed to the church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately fr ...

'' (1:17).

Same-sex marriage

In August 2012, Gilbert argued in the Scottish

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

debate that if the Scottish Government truly believed in equality, it would also make incest and polygamy legal.

Author

Gilbert has written a number of journal articles and books on spirituality. His books are: *''Unfolding the Mystery'' (Gracewing, 2007), a collection of

homilies A homily (from Greek ὁμιλία, ''homilía'') is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture, giving the "public explanation of a sacred doctrine" or text. The works of Origen and John Chrysostom (known as Paschal Homily) are considered ex ...

and conferences on the

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

year *''Living the Mystery'' (Gracewing, 2008), reflections on aspects of the Christian life. *''The Tale of Quisquis: Reading the Rule of St Benedict as Story'' (Gracewing, 2014), conferences on the rule of St Benedict *''Words for the Advent and Christmas Season'' (CTS, 2014), homilies for Advent and Christmastide *''Words for the Lent and Easter Saints'' (CTS, 2015), homilies *''Words for Feasts and Saints Days'' (CTS, 2015), homilies

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Hugh Living people 1952 births People from Emsworth People educated at St Paul's School, London Alumni of King's College London Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism English Benedictines Benedictine abbots 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Scotland Benedictine bishops English religious writers English Roman Catholic bishops