Raymond Myles Hickey

1905-1987

Raymond Myles Hickey (1905–1987), was a priest, author, and veteran of the Second World War, also known as Reverend R.M. Hickey, and later Monsignor. Hickey was born on 12 September 1905 in Jacquet River (located in Restigouche County), New Brunswick. He attended the local school until age 16, at which point he left to pursue jobs in a lumber mill and on a farm in order to save enough money for future education. Hickey returned to finish his studies in 1923, attending St. Thomas High School in Chatham (now Miramichi). He went on to graduate from St. Thomas University as Valedictorian of his class in 1928. After graduation, Hickey attended Holy Heart Seminary in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the fall of 1928. He was ordained at St. Michael’s Basilica on 25 June 1933 by Bishop P.A. Chaisson, who appointed him pastor to the parish of Notre Dame du Sacré Coeur in Bathurst, where he served from 1933 until 1937. In 1937, he became a member of faculty at St. Thomas University in Chatham, where he remained for three years. On 5 June 1940, he became chaplain for the North Shore Regiment, mobilized as part of the 8th Brigade, 3rd Canadian division. By the time the war ended, Hickey had been promoted from Captain to Major, and received the Military Cross from King George VI for “exceptional bravery and courage during the landing in Normandy, France, at St. Aubin-Sur-Mer on D-Day, 6 June 1944.” Hickey returned to New Brunswick where in 1946 he was appointed pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Campbellton. It was during that time that he began writing his first book, The Scarlet Dawn (1949).  Hickey was appointed pastor of St. Mary’s in Newcastle, N.B. in 1954. After completion and blessing of the new church, Hickey was made a Monsignor. In 1961, he suffered a heart attack that forced him into retirement. He stayed at Mount St. Joseph in Chatham and published My Hobbies Three in 1973. In 1976, Hickey was awarded his degree of Doctor of Law, Honoris Causa, from his Alma Mater, St. Thomas University. In 1979, Hickey was chosen to represent the Canadian R.C. Chaplaincy Service at the 35th anniversary of D-Day in France. This experience formed the subject of his third and final book, D-Day Memories (1980). On 14 September 1987, Monsignor Hickey was in Carpiquet, France attending the unveiling of a monument to the fallen men of the North Shore Regiment. Some hours after delivering a speech, he died of natural causes.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Chatham, Newcastle, Jacquet River