John Francis Wippel (1933-2023) was a priest, philosopher, professor, and former provost (then named academic vice president) who cast a long shadow on the campus of The Catholic University of America (CUA). We in Special Collections are especially grateful to the late Monsignor, and his estate executor, for bequeathing us his personal papers, which include correspondence and photographs, covering 1958-2021, in eighteen boxes, received in 2024, as well as thirteen valuable rare book volumes, most of them related to Saint Thomas Aquinas and published before 1500, more recently transferred to our charge. Eventually, the personal papers will have an online guide (or finding aid) on our website, which may include links to any portions that are digitized, while the rare books will be cataloged and searchable via the library website.

Wippel grew up on a farm near Pomeroy, Ohio, where he developed lifelong interests in baseball, the American Civil War, and Philosophy. He was educated at Sacred Heart Parish School, St. John Vianney Minor Seminary, and Theological College at Catholic University as a ‘Theodore Basselin Scholar.’ At CUA he earned a BA and MA in Philosophy and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology. Ordained as a Roman Catholic priest for the Diocese of Steubenville in 1960, he rejoined CUA that same year as an instructor in the School of Philosophy. The year after he was granted leave to pursue a doctorate in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, completing with distinction his dissertation on Godfrey of Fontaines in April 1963. He returned to CUA’s School of Philosophy in the fall of 1963, becoming Assistant Professor in 1965, Associate Professor in 1967, and Ordinary (Full) Professor in 1972.

In recognition of his contributions to CUA’s academic and ecclesiastical mission, he was named an honorary prelate with the title of Monsignor on May 28, 1989, followed shortly by his colleagues, Fr. Robert Sokolowski of the Archdiocese of Hartford, and Fr. Robert Trisco of the Archdiocese of Chicago.  Other honors include CUA’s Alumni Association Achievement Award for Research and Scholarship in 2001 and the Provost Award for Lifetime Excellence in Scholarship, Research and Teaching in 2006.  Msgr. Wippel became Theodore Basselin Professor of Philosophy in 2001 and after retiring in 2021 was named Professor Emeritus. While his field was metaphysics, he also published on many related subjects and was author or editor of over a dozen books and monographs and nearly one hundred articles and book chapters becoming a world class scholar of medieval thought, especially of St. Thomas Aquinas and Godfrey of Fontaines. It was primarily for the latter that he was awarded the  Maître-Agrégé de l’Ecole Saint Thomas d’Aquin by Louvain in 1981, akin to the German Habilitation, which is rarely given. He also served as a board member or president of the Journal of the History of Philosophy, The Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, The American Catholic Philosophical Association, and The Metaphysical Society of America.

With so many scholarly endeavors and achievements he also spent many productive years in academic administration, beginning with a stint as Acting Dean of the School of Philosophy and Acting Director of the Medieval and Byzantine Studies Program (that he had co-founded) in 1975. He also served as Director of the University’s Early Christian Studies Program, 1978-1980, and in January 1989 agreed to serve as Assistant Academic Vice President for Graduate Studies. He was a dedicated, efficient, and thrifty administrator and from late 1989 until 1997 was the Academic Vice-President (AVP), which towards the end of his tenure was renamed University Provost.

It was in his role as Academic Vice President that I first encountered Msgr. Wippel as he bears some responsibility for my career at CUA by signing my initial appointment letter to the library staff in January 1990. He was always a respected, if somewhat distant elder to me, but I interacted with him many times over the years, occasionally drawing a comment or provoking a wry smile, with remarks about baseball, the Civil War, or William of Ockham while sharing the elevator in Aquinas Hall. My fondest memory of him, however, is that he and an associate randomly shared a table with my family and I at the CUA Service Award Dinner in 2011 where I was, among others, honored for twenty years of service. He seemed mildly amused when I told him, for better or worse, it was his fault that I was CUA Archivist! I must also confess I was one of many who took advantage of the arbitrary price control he maintained on a Tuna Sandwich, $3 as I recall, in the old Caldwell Dining Room during his era as AVP/Provost. For more information on Msgr. Wippel, please see the wonderful memorial site created by the CUA School of Philosophy, and for inquiries regarding his papers and rare books at CUA contact Special Collections. Special thanks to Alexis Howlett, Sally Kendrick, and Dr. John McCarthy.