Author Bio's - L to Z

Paul Lachance, O.F.M., was a Franciscan Friar of the St. Joseph Province (Montreal, Canada), a Catholic priest, an author, a scholar of Blessed Angela of Foligno and the Franciscan Mystics, and teacher of Spiritual Theology at the Catholic Theological Union.  Paul was a frequent translator, contributor and author for Franciscan Institute Publications, including Matura’s Francis of Assisi – Heritage and Heirs Eight Centuries Later (2010).  He had a great love for the poor, homeless and justice issues.  He died on Sunday July 31, 2011, at the age of 73.

Shannon Larson, has a Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern College where she studied Egyptian, Jewish, and Church history, and biblical studies.  She has a Master’s degree in Medieval History from Marquette University.  There, she specialized in the crime and justice.  Larson’s research has focused on the intersection of rape and virginity in the medieval discursive contexts, and on British and Continental jurisprudence.  She is currently an independent scholar and works part time at a Historical Society.

Warren Lewis, a graduate of Abilene Christian University, Harvard Divinity School, the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto, and the University of Tübingen, is currently a Visiting Research Scholar at the Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame. His more recent publications include “Chez Daniel Pain, Amsterdam, 1700: Nicolas de Cues et Pierre de Jean Olivi, renforts tardifs du millénarisme huguenot,” Oliviana 2 (2006) with Sylvain Piron and Restoring the First-century Church in the Twenty-first Century: Essays on the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement in Honor of Don Haymes (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2005) with Hans Rollmann. He is preparing for publication his magnum opus vitae, a critical edition and English translation of the Lectura super Apocalipsim by Peter John Olivi, OFM (d. 1298). 

Born in Algeria and then raised and educated in France, Élisabeth Lopez received her doctorate in history, with high distinction, from the Université de Lyon III in 1989, with a thesis on Colette of Corbie under the direction of André Vauchez. In 1997, she went on to earn her habilitation for directing research in France from the Université de Paris X with a study Femme, Église et Société à la fin du Moyen Age.She has published a number of important studies on Colette, the Colettines as well as on the Colettans who assisted her in her work of reform. Although she has retired from active academic life, Dr. Lopez has recently prepared a short study for publication (2010): Le process d’un espion franciscain: frère Étienne Charlot.

Joseph Lortz, was born on December 13, 1887 in Grevenmacher, Luxembourg.  Lortz was a Roman Catholic Church Historian. He was a highly regarded Reformation historian and ecumenist. Beginning in the 1940s, Lortz made his ecumenical views available to general readers as well as to scholars in order to promote reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants. His writings played a role in the thinking that manifested itself in the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio. What was not widely known, however, was Lortz’s involvement with Nazism from 1933 until 1937.  HisGeschichte der Kirche (History of the Church) portrayed the church of the 1800s and the 1900s as the bastion of divine truth and moral values amid the decay of Western society.  Lortz passed away February 21^st, 1975.

John E. Lynch, C.S.P., M.S.L., Ph.D. (emeritus) is a professor emeritus at The School of Canon Law at Catholic University of America.  His areas of specialization include: Canon Law in the 13th and 14th Centuries, Canon Law and the Ordained Ministry and The General Councils of the Church.

 †Cyprian Joseph Lynch, OFM, was an accomplished editor, author, translator, lecturer, researcher, retreat director and publishing consultant.  He was a professor at The Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University from 1976 to 1993 and Professor Emeritus of the History of Franciscan Spirituality.  Prior to teaching at St. Bonaventure, Lynch taught at St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary and Sienna College.  He was a research fellow at Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC.  He earned a Master’s degree from St. Bonaventure and studied Franciscan spirituality at the Antonianum in Rome, Italy.

Beth Lynn, O.S.C., received the Poor Clare habit in Santa Barbara.  She went with other California sisters to found a monastery in Zambia, finally returning to the Bloomington, MN, convent as her permanent community, where she currently serves as Formation Director.  Beth is a graduate of the School of Franciscan Studies at the Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University.

†Raoul Manselli (1917-1984) was an Italian historian, who was concerned in particular with the history of the Middle Ages. He is best known for his biography of St. Francis of Assisi called, St. Francis of Assisi(1988).

Fr. George Marcil, O.F.M., 1930-1994 (b. March 18; d. September 4). Professed August 13, 1951; ordained May 31, 1958. Educated at Laval University (BA), St. Bonaventure University (MA), Catholic University of America (PhD); his dissertation was entitled “Efficient Causality in the Philosophy of John Duns Scotus.” He published in The Cord. He has written articles on Bonaventure, Angelo da Clareno, Francis of Meyronnes, Joannes Rada, John Duns Scotus, Matthew of Aquasparta, Peter John Olivi and the Franciscans of Biddeford, Maine. Marcil collaborated on the Scotus edition. He also served as style editor for eight Franciscan Institute publications. Appointed to the Franciscan Institute in 1975, he frequently taught the History of Franciscan Thought and courses on St. Bonaventure, Duns Scotus, Franciscan Christology and Theology of History. In the years 1985-90, he served as assistant director of the Institute; in 1990 he was acting director.

Thadeé Matura, OFM, internationally renowned Franciscan scholar and a specialist in Franciscan spirituality, has written over a dozen books on St. Francis of Assisi and his message.  He was born in Poland and has lived in Canada and Western Europe.  He is well respected as one of the most prominent living scholars on the writings of St. Francis.  His publications with FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS include:  Francis of Assisi: Heritage and Heirs Eight Centuries Later (2010) andFrancis of Assisi: The Message in His Writings (2004).

Kathleen McCarron, OSF, is a Sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia. She is a licensed social worker and has worked with religious congregations companioning sisters through life transitions. Kate served as a General council member from 2002 – 2008, and is currently a counselor in the community retirement facility.

Ann Flynn McCarthy, has enjoyed a successful career in the field of public relations and communications, including 20 years with Wegmans Food Markets in Western New York.  A recipient of St. Bonaventure University’s Gaudete Medal, she is an active community volunteer, and a founding trustee of Mt. Irenaeus, Franciscan Mountain Retreat.

Daniel F. McCarthy, is a graduate with honors of the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and a member of the St. Bonaventure Chapter of Kappa Tau Alpha, the Journalism National Honor Society.  A reporter and former news editor for The Bona Venture, he has also been a contributor to The Buffalo News, Newsday, and covered St. Bonaventure Basketball games for the Associated Press.

Robert J. McCarthy, is an award winning journalist who began his career with the Olean Times Herald, and joined The Buffalo News in 1982 as a general assignment reporter.  He subsequently covered police, state government and transportation beats and in 1992 was appointed political reporter, his current assignment.  He is a former president of the Buffalo Chapter of the SBU Alumni Association and was named Alumnus of the Year in 1986.

Pat McCloskey, OFM, teaches religion at Roger Bacon High School in Cincinnati. He writes for St. Anthony Messenger and is author of St. Anthony of Padua: Wisdom for Today and co-author of The Friars Minor in China, 1294 – 1955.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Damian McElrath, OFM, attended St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary, Callicoon, NY, and was received into the order in August, 1948. He taught at St. Francis College and in 1958 he received a licentiate in Theology. He studied at the Gregorium in Rome where he received a doctorate in Ecclesiastical History in 1961.  He taught at Catholic University, George Washington University, Holy Name College, and Washington Theological Coalition. From 1968 to 1970 he was a regent at the Washington Theological seminary and chairman of the history department until 1971.  In 1972 the Board of Trustees elected him the 16th president of St. Bonaventure.  Franciscan Christologywas published in 1980.

Steven J. McMichael, OFM Conv., Is an associate professor in the Theology Department of the University of Saint Thomas. He has a M.A. in Franciscan Studies from the Saint Bonaventure and doctorate degree in theology (S.T.D.) from the Gregorian University in Rome. Steven is a frequent visitor at the lectures of Center for Medieval Studies. He has written on medieval Christian, Jewish and Islamic polemical literature, especially the work of the Spanish Franciscan Alonso de Espina (d. 1464) and his Fortalitium Fidei. He is currently working on the theme of the resurrection of the dead in medieval polemical literature and on medieval Franciscan preaching on the resurrection of Jesus.

Mary Meany, PhD, is associate professor and former chair of the Department of religious Studies at Siena College. With a PhD from Fordham University, she initiated a popular course on the Franciscan tradition at Siena. Dr. Meany is an active participant in the American Academy of Religion and the International Congress on Medieval Studies. She and her family live in Clifton Park, New York.

Ramona Miller, OSF, was a staff member with Franciscan Pilgrimage Programs from 1987 to 2011.  She got to know the places of Clare through her ministry in Assisi with the Pilgrimage Program.  As a member of the Sisters of Saint Francis of the Third Order Regular of Rochester, Minnesota, she has served in elementary and secondary schools as well as serving in pastoral ministry.  She was a member of the Promoting Group of the Movement for a Better World.  She completed a Master’s degree in Franciscan Studies from the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University.

Tom Missel is the director of media relations and marketing at St. Bonaventure University. From 1986-2001, he was a sports writer, reporter and editor at the Olean Times Herald, where he won several Associated Press and Thomson Newspaper awards for his writing. He graduated from SUNY-Fredonia in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.  Tom edited and designed – in short, the creative force – for A LEGACY DEFINED.

Dominic Monti, OFM, a native of Bradford, Pa., has served as provincial vicar of Holy Name Province, the largest province of Franciscan friars in the United States, since 2005. He is widely respected as a Franciscan history scholar. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from St. Bonaventure University and a bachelor of sacred theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Fr. Dominic received a master’s degree in sacred theology from Union Theological Seminary, New York, and a PhD. with a concentration in the history of Christianity from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School. He was ordained in 1971. From 1979 until 2002 he was a faculty member at Christ the King Seminary and the Washington Theological Union, while maintaining his contacts with SBU by teaching in some summer sessions.  In 2002 he returned to St. Bonaventure and was a member of the faculty as a professor of theology. In March of 2003, Fr. Dominic was appointed interim president of St. Bonaventure University.  He edited Breviloquium:  Works of St. Bonaventure (2005).

Alison More. PH.D., is a researcher for the project “Religious Orders and Identity Formation in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe” at Radbound University in Nijmegen.  Her particular focus is on preaching and the reception of sermons in houses of later medieval religious women.  Her doctoral thesis is titled “Milites Christi in hortis liliorum Domini Hagiographic Constructions of Masculinity and Holiness in Thirteenth-Century Liege.”

†John R. H. Moorman was an English divine, ecumenist and writer.  He was Bishop of Ripon from 1959 to 1975.  Born in Leeds, Moorman was educated at Gresham’s School, Holt and Emmanuel College, Cambridge.  He gained the B.D. degree in 1940 with this work The Sources for the Life of Saint Francis of Assisi.  During the Second World War, Moorman resigned his living and worked as a farmhand in Wharfedale and during this period completed his thesis Church Life in England in the Thirteenth Centuryfor a doctorate of divinity (Cambridge University, 1945).  In 1945 he went to Lanercost Priory, and in 1946 re-opened Chichester Theological College.  While there, he also served as chancellor of Chichester Cathedral.  In 1956 he resigned to concentrate on his Franciscan writings.  He was a frequent visitor to the Vatican and led a delegation of Anglican observers to the Second Vatican Council.  In 1967 he became the chairman of the Anglican commission which led to the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission.  He died at age 84 in Durham.  He has three books with FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS:  A History of the Franciscan Order from Its Origins to the Year 1517, Medieval Franciscan Houses and Saint Francis of Assisi.

 Thomas Nairn, OFM, is the senior director of Ethics at the Catholic Health Association, U.S.A. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Erica and Harry John Family Professor of Catholic Ethics at Catholic Theological Union. He holds a PHD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He has lectured or given workshops in the U.S., Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, South Africa, Trinidad, and Zimbabwe.

Joseph Nangle, OFM, presently serves as the treasurer and secretary for the Board of Directors of the Franciscan Action Network. Rev. Nangle has previously been involved in missionary work in Latin America and has recently retired from Franciscan Mission Service (FMS) in Washington, DC, of which he was a cofounder. A member of the Franciscan Friars of holy Name Province he currently ministers to the Hispanic community at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Arlington, VA. He has lived at the Assisi Community, an intentional community in inner city Washington, DC, for the past twenty-two years. Consisting of two vowed members and a number of lay women and men, the community strives for a simple lifestyle while engaging in a verity of activities, and ministries for social change.

Timothy Noone, is a professor of Philosophy at Catholic University of America.  He received his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 1988.  His areas of interest include Medieval Metaphysics and Epistemology, Franciscan Philosophy, and Philosophy of History.  Noone has worked on various select publications some of which include: Of Angles and Men: Sketches from High Medieval Epistemology, John Duns Scotus, Quaestiones super secundum et tertium De anima, and Universals and Individuation.

 Dawn Nothwehr, OSF, a Franciscan Sister of Rochester, Minnesota, is Associate Professor of Ethics and Chair, Historical & Doctrinal Studies, at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, IL.  She is Co-Editor of the NEW THEOLOGY REVIEW.  Mutuality as a formal norm, the ethics of power from a feminist perspective, and the relationship of ethics and spirituality are Dawn Nothwehr’s major interests. Issues that interest her include: empowerment of the poor and vulnerable, human/environmental relations, relations in moral disagreement, friendship, and marriage. Her research has involved how to deal with the “Other” that is created when moral disagreement occurs, and how Franciscan theology shapes ecotheology and ecological ethics. She is the author of The Franciscan View of the Human Person (FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS, 2005), Mutuality: A Formal Norm for Christian Social Ethics and editor ofFranciscan Theology of the Environment: an Introductory Reader.

Philip F. O’Mara is an Associate Professor, Department of English, at Bridgewater College, Bridgewater VA.  He received a B.A. from St. John’s University, New York, and an M.A. and PhD. from Notre Dame University.  O’Mara did his postdoctoral research on various subjects and at various universities, most recently on the Bible as Literature at Yale.  In 1997, he translated and FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS published, The Franciscan Leader:  A Modern Version of the Six Wings of the Seraph.

 Kenan B. Osborne, OFM, is a member of the Order of Friars Minor, Province of St. Barbara, California, and Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology at the Franciscan School of Theology, Berkeley. He is an internationally recognized theologian who specializes in sacramental theology, Christology, ecclesiology and the multicultural dimensions of Christian theology. He earned a BA at San Luis Rey College, a B.Th. at Old Mission Theological seminary, and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at The Catholic University of America and a Doctorate in Theology at Ludwig-Maxmilian Universitat. He has published the following books with FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS:  The History of Franciscan Theology (2007) andThe Franciscan Intellectual Tradition: Tracing Its Origins and Identifying Its Central Components(2003).

†Raffaele Pazzelli, TOR, (1922-2011) studied at the Pontificio Ateneo “Angelicum” where he was awarded a Doctorate in Sacred Theology.  He served as the President of the International Historical Commission and as the editor of the Analecta TOR. He was a professor of Franciscan studies at the Institute of Spirituality at the Pontificio Ateneo “Antonianum.” In 1991 he was elected as the Minister Provincial of the Province of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy and reelected in 1995. On March 7, 1994, Fr. Raffaele was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Saint Francis in Loretto, Pennsylvania, which recognized:  “Father Raffaele has dedicated many years to the research into the roots of both the Third Order Regular and the Third Order Secular of Saint Francis. His many courses of instruction and his numerous publications of articles and books that focus on Franciscan history and spirituality have been an inspiration to Franciscans throughout the world. His work is a stimulus to a new generation of Franciscans interested in gaining more precise information regarding our identity and charism in service to the people of God in the contemporary society”.  His 1989 book, St. Francis and the Third Order: The Franciscan and pre-Franciscan Penitential Movement, is a publication of FIP.

Luigi Pellegrini, OFM Cap, PhD, is the 19th recipient of the Franciscan Institute Medal (Summer 2006). Professor Pellegrini is known for significant contributions to Franciscan studies in the areas of the question of the Franciscan insediamenti in Italy, the life of the early Franciscans (especially their eremitical orientation), the scritti of Francis of Assisi and the manuscript tradition of the early Franciscan sources, with special attention given to the Early Rule.  He is a contributing editor to the 2011 book, The Writings of Francis of Assisi: Letters and Prayers, Studies in Early Franciscan Sources.

 Ingrid J. Peterson, OSF, is a Third Order Franciscan sister from Rochester, Minnesota.  She has an undergraduate degree from the College of Saint Teresa in Elementary Education; an M.A. in public address from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and a PhD. in English, with a concentration in Medieval Renaissance and Romance Literature from the University of Iowa. She taught graduate level courses on medieval women, Clare of Assisi, and the Franciscan mystical tradition at the Franciscan Institute, Saint Bonaventure University and the Franciscan International Study Centre in Canterbury, England. She has studied and taught the medieval women mystics for over 30 years. Her 1993 book,Clare of Assisi: a Biographical Study was published by Franciscan Press, Quincy, Illinois. She co-authored Praying with Clare of Assisi with Ramona Miller in 1994. She also co-authored The Franciscan Tradition: Spirituality in History with Regis J. Armstrong and representatives from the first, second, and third orders, which was published by Liturgical Press in 2010. Sr. Ingrid was awarded the Franciscan medal in 2001, given by the Franciscan Institute for outstanding scholarship in Franciscan studies—to date, the only woman to be so honored.  Peterson’s book, Clare of Assisi: A Medieval and Modern Woman, was published in 1996 by Franciscan Institute Publications.

Darleen Pryds is Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, CA.  She received her BA and MA at the University of Southern California and her PhD. in medieval religious history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  A Catholic laywoman, Darleen is especially interested in teaching and researching historical cases of lay religious leadership. She has published several articles and a book on lay preaching within the Medieval Church. Darleen has received many research grants, including a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy; a Research Fellowship at the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame; and a National Endowment for the Humanities Research grant to research at the Vatican Film Library at Saint Louis University. She remains a loyal alumna of her alma mater, USC, and loves watching USC football games. Her book, Women of the Streets, Early Franciscan Women and Their Mendicant Vocation, was published by FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS in 2010.

Mary Petrosky, F.M.M., is a member of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. She presently ministers as a Spiritual Director at the Franciscan Center for Spirituality and Spiritual Direction at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan.

Josef Raischl, SFO, lives with his wife Bernadette and their three children in Dachau, near Munich. He is Director of St. Christopher’s Hospice Home Care Services in Munich. His graduate studies encompass both philosophy and theology from the Catholic University of Eichstätt and the Franciscan International Study Centre, Canterbury, England, as well as an MA in Social Work in Munich. He did his post-graduate studies in Franciscan Spirituality in Rome at the Capuchin Franciscan Institute of the Pontifical University Antonianum. Among his publications with André Cirino are the following: Franciscan Solitude; The Journey Into God: A Forty-Day Retreat with Bonaventure, Francis and Clare, in German, Auf Gott Zugehen; My Heart’s Quest: Collected Writings of Eric Doyle, Friar Minor, Theologian; Three Heroes of Assisi in World War II; and A Pilgrimage through the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition. Josef composed the music and produced the compact disk for St. Francis’ Office of the Passion: The Geste of the Great King.

Thomas Reist, OFM, hails from Buffalo, New York. Most of Fr. Thomas’ ministerial activity has been in the area of formation — the training of aspiring or new members of the Franciscan community. His interests include history, spirituality, tennis, classical music and swimming.  Reist and Robert J. Karris, OFM, translated the text for the 2008 book, Works of St. Bonaventure: Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection.

Helen Rolfson, OSF, is a Rochester (Minnesota) Franciscan, currently serving as associate professor of theology at St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. She is a student of liturgy, spirituality, and monasticism, and has translated a number of medieval Flemish spiritual texts. For more than a decade she has been a member of the international ecumenical dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the classic Pentecostals.

 Prof. Roberto Rusconi studied Political Sciences at the Catholic University of Milan. He was professor of Medieval History at the University of Trieste, of Franciscan Studies at the University of Perugia, of Church History at the Universities of Salerno and L’Aquila. At the Università Roma Tre he is professor for the History of Christianity and supervisor of the BA in Religious Studies. He is a member of the faculty in the doctoral program in History of Christianity at the Università Roma Tor Vergata.  Prof. Rusconi is a specialist in the Italian religious history from the end of the middle ages to the beginning of the modern times. He published mostly on the regular orders and their pastoral activities: the preaching in the vernacular and the hearing of confessions. Many of his books and articles concern also apocalypticism, eschatology and prophecy. He is interested in the study of religious iconography.  Francis of Assisi in the Sources and Writings (2008, with Nancy Celaschi, OSF).

James G. Sabak, OFM, is a member of Holy Name Province, New York, and is currently a third year doctoral student in the School of Theology and Religious Studies, Catholic University of America, with a concentration in Sacramental Theology and Liturgy. He was a teaching fellow at the School of Theology and Religious Studies in fall 2005, during which time he designed and taught a course on the evolution, historical significance and contemporary consequences of the social teachings of the Catholic Church. From 1997 – 1998, he was a lecturer at Siena College Albany, New York, where he designed and taught a course in theology behind and historical evolution of sacramental practices and understandings in the Catholic Church and a course in Christology.

Elise Saggau, OSF, has a Master of Divinity degree from Loyola University in Chicago, and a Master of Arts degree in Franciscan Studies from the Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University in St. Bonaventure, NY. She taught theology at Mundelein College in Chicago and at the Spiritan Missionary College Seminary in Tanzania, East Africa. She also has many years of experience in religious education at parish and diocesan levels. From 1995 through 2001 she was the editor of The Cord, and served as Assistant Director of Publications at the Franciscan Institute. She is now engaged in free-lance publication work and on-going Franciscan education / formation. She currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Carla Salvati teaches at John Abbott College in Montreal. Salvati was a contributing author to the 2006 book, The Stigmata of Francis of Assisi.

Joy Schroeder, PH.D, is Professor of Theology and Religion with Capital University, and Associate Professor of Church History, History-Theology-Society Division at Trinity Lutheran Seminary.  Joy has been published in Magistra: A Journal of Women’s Spirituality in History, Mystics Quarterly, The Sixteenth century Journal, as well as other books and periodicals.  She was featured lecturer at St. Bonaventure University during the 2011 Summer Session of the School of Franciscan Studies; her topic was “Sacred Space and Spiritual Authority: The Assisi Pilgrimages of Angela of Foligno.”

Katarina Schuth, OSF, has been a member of the sisters of St. Francis, Rochester, Minnesota, since 1960. She currently holds the Endowed Chair for the Social Scientific Study of Religion at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, where she is a faculty member and researcher. Her work primarily focuses on Catholic theological education and the relationship between the Church and American culture.

James P. Scullion, OFM, is a Franciscan Friar of Holy Name Province. Since 1989 he has been Assistant Professor of Sacred Scripture at the Washington Theological Union. He has served at the Union as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic dean (2000 – 2002) and has been involved in the formation program for his Province as Assistant Director of Post – Novitiate Formation and Vicar (1991 – 1999, 2002 – 2004). Prior to his studies and teaching he was an Associate Pastor at St. Bonaventure Parish, Patterson, NJ (1979 – 81). He has served on the editorial board of New Theology Review and currently is a scripture consultant and writer for Share the Word. He has published articles on various New Testament topics as well as on the use of Information Technology in the classroom. He contributed a chapter,” Creation – Incarnation: God’s Affirmation of Human Worth,” in Made in God’s Image: The Catholic vision of Human Dignity (Paulist Press, 1999).

Xavier John Seubert, OFM, holds a doctorate in sacramental theology from the University of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany and is a graduate of New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. He was recently appointed Professor of Liturgy and Sacramental Theology at Christ the King Seminary in Buffalo, NY, and is the Thomas Plassmann Distinguished Professor of Art and Theology Emeritus at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NY. He has also taught at The Washington Theological Union and Villanova University. His main interests are the relationship between religious symbolism and the artistic process, Franciscan and Byzantine art history and the sacraments of Christian Initiation. He has published articles in Worship, Cross Currents, New Theology Review, and The Heythrop Journal and is presently working on a book on the sacramentality of art. He is a frequent lecturer at The Cloisters of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Thomas Shannon, PhD, is professor in the Department of Humanities at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. Professor Shannon, who received his doctorate from Boston University, is an active participant in many of the ethical debates surrounding health care and biological research. His extensive writings include two books and several articles that examine the ethical theory of John Duns Scotus. Professor Shannon lives with his wife and children in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Maurice W. Sheehan, OFM Cap, PhD, academic dean of Holy Apostles Seminary, received his doctorate from the University of Oxford. He edited a book of essays on St. Francis of Assisi published by Franciscan Institute Publications in 1082 entitled, St. Francis of Assisi:  Essays in Commemoration.

William J. Short, OFM, is a Franciscan Friar of the Province of St. Barbara, and Professor of Spirituality at the Franciscan School of Theology, Berkeley, California. He received his doctorate from the Gregorian University, Rome, and has been involved particularly in the publication of early Franciscan texts for the past decade. He resides at Mission San Miguel in central California, where he is also Guardian of the local friar community. Brother Bill, with a special love of things medieval, is a scholar equally comfortable in the fields of spirituality, Christian history and the Franciscan tradition. He researches, writes, lectures and translates in four languages. His frequent lectures, retreats and workshops outside the school educate the wider community about the Franciscan tradition.

Paul Spaeth, is the Director of the Library at St. Bonaventure University (1993-present).  He earned three degrees; his B.A from Houghton College, M.L.S from University of Buffalo, and a M.A. from St. Bonaventure University.  Spaeth has edited four different works and translated St. Bonaventure’s Collations on the Ten Commandments.

Andreas Speer, PhD, received his doctorate in Philosophy from University of Bonn (1986); Habilitation in Philosophy, University of Cologne (1994); Asst. Professor at the Thomas-Institut (Cologne). His publications include studies on Bonaventure and medieval aesthetics as well as numerous articles on diverse topics on medieval philosophy and intellectual history. He was a contributing editor to the 2011 book from Franciscan Institute Publications, John Duns Scots, Philosopher: Proceedings of “The Quadruple Congress”, Subsidia 5.

Elaine Banks Stainton completed her undergraduate work in history and French literature at Indiana University, then studied classical archaeology at the University of Maryland, where she received a masters degree in this field in 1972. She worked in the department of Greek and Roman Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, before continuing her studies in archaeology at Princeton University. While at Princeton she studied both classical archaeology and Renaissance and Baroque art, eventually completing her doctoral work in Renaissance painting. She received her Ph.D. in Art and Archaeology in 1978, with a dissertation on the Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto.  She edited, Walls Speak: The Narrative Art of Hildreth Meiere.

†Robert M. Stewart, OFM, PhD,  (1950 – 2001) served as associate professor of theology at St. Bonaventure University from the mid-1990s until 1997. He earned his PhD from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. He was director of the International Center for Secular Franciscan Studies and a member of the Formation Directorate of Holy Name Province. Father Bob was diagnosed with cancer in 1996. His acceptance of death was apparent in many aspects of his life. From the “Do Not Resuscitate” wristband he wore for months, to his referral to his disease as “Brother Cancer,” he embraced “Sister Death” as much as he embraced life. In 1997 he discussed this philosophy in an article in America magazine. He later developed it into a book, “Making Peace with Cancer: A Franciscan Journey,” which Paulist Press published in 2001.  Franciscan Institute Publications published Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order: Origins, Development and Interpretation in 1991.

Daniel Sulmasy, OFM, M.D., PhD., is a Franciscan Friar, the Kilbride-Clinton Professor of Medicine and Ethics in the Department of Medicine and Divinity School at the University of Chicago, where he serves as Associate Director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics He has previously held faculty positions at New York Medical College and at Georgetown University. He received his A.B. and M.D. degrees from Cornell University and completed his residency, chief residency and post-doctoral fellowship in General Internal Medicine at the John Hopkins Hospital.

Spirit and Life:  Essays on Contemporary Franciscanism serves as a vehicle for publication of papers presented at conferences, symposia and/or workshops that seek to bring the Franciscan tradition into creative dialogue with contemporary theology, philosophy and history.  During the fiftieth anniversary year (1991) of The Franciscan Institute, the publication of this journal was a refounding of an earlier Franciscan Institute series entitled Spirit and Life, established in 1948 by Philotheus Boehner, OFM, one of the co-founders and first director of The Institute.

Sister Adele Thibaudeau, OSF, is Director of the Center for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation at Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  She contributed to the 1999 publication by Franciscan Institute Publications of Franciscan Studies: The Difference Women Are Making (Spirit and Life series).

Giacomo Todeschini (Milano, 1950) studied at the University of Bologna (1969-1973; doctoral thesis, 1973, on the medieval economic Franciscan doctrine). In the following years, he obtained scholarships at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (1974), Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici di Napoli (1975) and at Bologna University (1976-1979). G. Todeschini has held the chair in medieval history at the University of Trieste since the Academic Year 1979/80. At present Giacomo Todeschini’s research project focuses on the role played by Jewish medieval communities and by Jewish medieval socio-economic doctrines in the Patristic and Scholastic construction of a western discourse on public infamy as well as on alienigenae or outsiders as more or less peripheral subjects.  Franciscan Wealth: From Voluntary Poverty to Market Society (2009, translated by Donatella Melucci).

Diane Tomkinson, OSF, a graduate of Swarthmore College, has been a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia (Aston) since 1983. She served in campus ministry in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and parish ministry in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, Wilmington, Delaware, and Lake City, South Carolina. She received her master’s degree in theology from Washington Theological Union in 1994 and is currently a doctoral candidate in historical theology at Fordham University. She has presented papers on early Franciscan women at the 1999 College Theology Society Convention and at the International Medieval Conference in Kalamazoo, Michigan (2000 and 2001). Her dissertation is on Angela of Folingo as vernacular theologian and on Angela’s Trinitarian Theology.

David Tracy, STL, STD,  teaches a wide variety of courses in contemporary theology at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. He offers classes in philosophical, systematic, and constructive theology and hermeneutics, and courses dealing with issues and persons in religion and modern thought. His publications include The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism and On Naming the Present: Reflections on God, Hermeneutics, and Church. He was a contributor to That Others May Know and Love: Essays in Honor of Zachary Hayes, OFM (Franciscan Institute Publications, 1997).

Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, is a Franciscan sister, an author, a theologian and an artist. He is also an evocative presenter, leader and retreat facilitator. Well-known in the Franciscan family for her refreshingly practical perspectives, she is pioneering the Franciscan Center for Incarnation Studies – a new resource center “without walls,” dedicated to recovering and celebrating the spiritual legacy of Sts. Francis and Clare. It is based on the incarnation – oriented context of the “Canticle of the Creatures.” Currently, she serves in leadership ministry, both as a province councilor in her own international Franciscan congregation and as vice-president of the Franciscan Federation.

†Dominic Joseph Unger, OFM Cap., (Mid-America Prov.), 1907 – 1982, was a scholar, academic and prolific writer.  Franciscan Institute Publications published Unger’s First Gospel, Genesis 3:15 in 1954.   He wrote extensively on Saint Irenaeus of Lyons including St. Irenaeus of Lyons:  Against the Heresies(three volumes).

Edith van den Goorbergh, OSC, is a member of the community of Poor Clares at Megen, the Netherlands. She was a Franciscan missionary in Indonesia before she entered the Order of Poor Clares. She publishes on the spirituality of St. Francis and St. Clare and is a corresponding member of Franciscaans Studiecentrum in Utrecht. In conjunction with Theodore Zweerman, O.F.M., she published a book on the spirituality of St. Clare: Light Shining Through a Veil: On Saint Clare’s Letters to Saint Agnes of Prague (Leuven: Peeters, 2000). Respectfully Yours: Signed and Sealed, Francis of Assisi – Aspects of His Authorship and Focuses of His Spirituality, completed in partnership with Zweerman, was translated from the Dutch and published by Franciscan Institute Publications in 2001. Zweerman was on the staff of Franciscaans Studiecentrum when he died in 2007.

†Nello Vian (1907 – 2000) was a librarian and Italian writer.  He served as secretary of the Vatican Library from 1949 to 1977 and then was general secretary of the Paul VI Institute of Brescia, 1979 to 1992. Among his works: Golden Words – The Sayings of Brother Giles of Assisi (Franciscan Herald Press/Franciscan Institute Publications, 1990);  The Youth of  Giulio Salvadori (1962);  Years and Works of Paul VI (1978) and The Lion in Writing (1980). He took care of critically and commented upon numerous historical and literary texts.

†Damien Vorreux, OFM, was a major scholar on the Franciscans. Among his many books, he wrote a text on the meaning of the signature symbol of St. Francis of Assisi, the Tau. In this posthumously published work, he explained that this letter, the last of the Hebrew alphabet, and the Omega in the Greek, was very well known at the time of St. Francis, and was already used by the Semites, Greeks and Latins. Father Vorreux, who entered the Franciscan order after being in obligatory work service for the Vichy government and then escaping from a forced labor camp in Germany, lived in a monastery in Paris from 1975 until his death in 1998.

Prof. Dr. Antonie Vos is professor of Systematic Theology and Church History at the newly founded Protestant Theological University (Utrecht) in the Netherlands. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Utrecht and is the founder of the Research Group John Duns Scotus. This Research Group is a member of the Franciscan Institute which is part of the Catholic Theological University. He has written many books, including Contingency and Freedom: John Duns Scotus, Lectura I 39 (1994), Duns Scotus on Divine Love (2003) and The Philosophy of John Duns Scotus (2006).

Joanna Waller specializes in language-related services, including foreign language translation, interpretation and more in Whitstable, Kent, UK.

 Flavian A. Walsh, OFM, was born in Springfield, Mass., in 1930; he was professed as a Franciscan in 1951 and ordained a priest in 1956. Fr. Flavian served for 20 years as a missionary in Japan and as Provincial Vicar of Franciscan Holy Name Province.  The book, Spirit and Life: Mission in the Franciscan Tradition, was written by Walsh with Anselm Moons, OFM, and published by Franciscan Institute Publications in 1995.

Keith Douglass Warner, OFM, is a Franciscan Friar and coordinates Santa Clara University’s new undergraduate curriculum and new Engineering graduate minor in the Center for Science, Technology and Society.  He works closely with faculty to develop STS teaching capacity. Keith has an MA in Spirituality from the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, and a PhD in Environmental Studies from University of California Santa Cruz. Keith researches how institutions blend science, policy and human values for environmental protection initiatives.  You can find some of his publications at: webpages.scu.edu/ftp/kwarner/agecobc.htm. Keith also writes about the role of scientific knowledge in the Greening of Religions, and is beginning a research project to examine how scientists and religious leaders negotiate divergent cosmologies and moral visions in religious biodiversity protection partnerships.

Kathleen A. Warren, OSF, D.Min, is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Rochester, MN. She holds an MA in Religious Education from Loyola University, Chicago; a Master’s in Franciscan Studies from the Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University; and a D.Min from the Graduate Theological Foundation, Donaldson, Indiana. Her interest in interreligious dialogue was heightened through her ministry in the Philippines, Nigeria, India and Ghana where she was involved in leadership training with RENEW International (1994-2000).

Joseph M. White, PhD, earned a BA in history at Indiana University, an MA at Butler University, and a PhD from the University of Notre Dame, with emphasis on the history of U.S. Catholicism. After graduate studies, he was a fellow of Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, 1981-1989, working on the Lilly-funded project on the history of U.S. Catholic theological education (seminaries). Subsequently, as an independent scholar, he produced commissioned histories of Catholic institutions and collaborated in historical projects related to Indianapolis.  In 2004, Franciscan Institute Publications published his book, “Peace and Good” in America, A History of the Holy Name Province, Order of the Friars Minor, 1850s to the Present.  White has served as associate editor of the quarterly journal, U.S. Catholic Historian, since 1986. In recent years, he earned the M.L.S. degree from Indiana University.  He and wife Rebecca and their three sons reside in Bowie, Maryland.

†Bernward H. Willeke, OFM, PhD, (1913-1997), was a Franciscan missiologist. Born at Münster, Germany, Willeke joined the Franciscan order in 1932 and was ordained a priest in 1939. Expecting to go to China, he studied Sinology at Columbia University, New York, where he received his doctorate in 1945. His dissertation was on imperial government and Catholic missions in China during the years 1784-1785. From 1948 to 1950 he did research in Roman archives and collected a wealth of information on the China missions. In Japan, where he worked from 1950 to 1956, Willeke founded the Franciscan Language School. In 1956 he was appointed professor of Missiology at the School of Philosophy and Theology of the Franciscans at Paderborn, Germany, and at the same time taught Missiology at the University of Münster (1959-1962). In 1962 he became a professor of Missiology at the University of Würzburg, continuing until he retired in 1984. Willeke was an authority on Franciscan mission history, with specialization in China and Japan.  The book Friar Minors in China extensively utilized Fr. Willeke’s research.

†Allan B. Wolter, OFM, was a member of the Sacred Heart Province of the Order of Friars Minor and an outstanding giant in scholarship on Blessed John Duns Scotus. Fr. Allan taught philosophy on the campus of St. Bonaventure University during the summers in the 1950s and 1960s. He also returned to campus in 1998 as the first Fr. Joseph A. Doino, OFM Visiting Professor of Franciscan Studies. He retired from active academic life in November 2002, moved to the friar’s retirement community in Sherman, Illinois, where he died November 15, 2006. His books with FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS include:  John Duns Scotus: Mary’s Architect (with Blane O’Neill),Scotus and Ockham Selected Essays, The Examined Report of the Paris Lectures Reportatio 1-A(two volumes, with Oleg Bychkov), Early Oxford Lecture on Individuation, Political and Economic Philosophy, Four Questions on Mary, Treatsie on Potency and Act:  Questions on the Metaphysics of Aristotle Book IX, and Questions on the Metaphysics of Aristotle (2 volumes).

Rega Wood, PhD, is the General Editor, Richard Rufus of Cornwall Project, Stanford University.  Wood earned her doctorate in philosophy at Cornell University.  Together with Gedeon Gal, OFM, Wood edited Adam de Wodeham’s Lectura Secunda.  Dr. Wood currently teaches at Indiana University as a Professor of Philosophy.

The Franciscan Institute is exceptionally proud to present the Works of St. Bonaventure Series, Robert Karris, OFM, general editor.  This series provides annotated translations from the Latin originals of the works of St. Bonaventure for students and seekers who wish to steep themselves in the rich theological vision of this medieval giant. Begun in 1996 and now totaling 15 volumes with several volumes in development, this is the definitive series for the best and most current English-language translations of Bonaventure’s work.

†Theodore Zweerman, OFM, was formerly on the Faculty of Theology at the University of Utrecht, where he taught Philosophy and Franciscan Spirituality. He earned his PH.D. at the University of Louvain (Belgium). He studied Theology at the Seminary of the Dutch Franciscans and philosophy at the Universities of Louvain and Paris. His work Respectfully Yours: Signed and Sealed, Francis of Assisi – Aspects of His Authorship and Focuses of His Spirituality, completed in partnership with Edith van den Goorbergh, O.S.C., was translated from the Dutch and published by Franciscan Institute Publications in 2001. Zweerman was on the staff of Franciscaans Studiecentrum when he died in 2007.