Hugh F. Blunt

Who was Hugh F. Blunt?

Monsignor Hugh Francis Blunt, LL.D., was a Catholic priest, author, poet, and apologist. He was born in Medway, Massachusetts to Irish immigrants Sgt. Patrick Blunt and Ann Mahon. Blunt began writing while attending St. Laurent College in Montreal. After his graduation in 1896, he attended St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts in order to become a Catholic priest, and was ordained on December 20, 1901. He was appointed to churches in Stoneham, Dorchester, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and did a great deal of writing over the course of his career. His most famous books include The Great Magdalens: Famous Women Who Returned to God Following a Life of Sin, The Great Penitents and Great Wives and Mothers, all of which are still in print. He also served as chief editorial writer for The Pilot newspaper and editor of the Sacred Heart Review.

Father Blunt had a strong interest in education and was known to be very strict. In a biography of former U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tip O'Neill, a story is told about how O'Neill and other children of the parish were warned by Father Blunt that they would be eternally damned if they visited the YMCA, since it was a Protestant institution. Blunt later performed O'Neill's wedding.