John F. Wippel
American Catholic priest and Thomist scholar 1933-2023
John Francis Wippel (21 August 1933 — 11 September 2023) was an American Catholic priest of the Diocese of Steubenville. He was a leading authority on the metaphysical thought of Thomas Aquinas. He won the Cardinal Mercier Prize for International Philosophy in 1981, two National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, and was named a Professor of the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas. At the time of his death, he was serving as the Theodore Basselin Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Biography
Wippel was born on 21 August 1933 in Pomeroy, Ohio. He received his degrees of Bachelor of Arts (1955) and Master of Arts (1956) in philosophy from the Catholic University of America while he was a seminarian at Theological College. He was ordained a priest on 28 May 1960.
After also earning a Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 1960, Wippel then pursued a Doctorate of Philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain under the direction of Fernand van Steenberghen. He submitted his thesis after only two years and received the grade of the very highest distinction (summa cum laude). He was invited to pursue the Maître Agrégé of the École Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin at the Université catholique de Louvain, where he later studied and completed his degree in 1981 on the metaphysical thought of Godfrey of Fontaines.
Wippel died on September 11, 2023.
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