Sylvester Joseph Hunter (1829-1896) was born in Bath, and his family moved to London shortly thereafter. He attended St. Paul’s School before enrolling at Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated in 1852 and began practicing law, publishing two legal textbooks. In 1857, Hunter converted to Catholicism, following his two sisters into the church. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1861 and was ordained as a priest in 1870. Hunter quickly became a respected writer and scholar, earning a teaching post at Stonyhurst College. He also began training Jesuit priests in 1875, and was appointed as Rector of St. Beuno’s College. Sylvester Joseph Hunter died only two years after the first edition of his 3-volume Outlines of Dogmatic Theology was published.