This exhibit was curated by Dr. Maria Mazzenga’s Public Programming class (LSC 843) during Fall 2025. Materials come from Special Collections, which includes Rare Books, Archives, and the Museum Collections as well as the Semitics/Institute of Christian Oriental Research (ICOR) Library.
Below are brief biographies on the profiled luminaries, as written by Dr. Mazzenga and her graduate students:
Cardinal James Gibbons (1834-1921) – The First Chancellor
by Dr. Maria Mazzenga
Cardinal James Gibbons played a central role in the founding of CatholicU and served as its first Chancellor. One of the most influential voices in American Catholicism, Gibbons dedicated his life to showing that Catholic faith and democratic principles could coexist in harmony.
His leadership helped shape a confident, intellectually engaged Catholic presence in a nation often suspicious of the Church. When Gibbons advocated for the University’s establishment in 1887, he envisioned a national institution that would unite faith and reason, nurturing Catholic scholarship at the highest level.
Gibbons’ and the U.S. Bishops’ decision to base the University in Washington, D.C., symbolized a new era of Catholic intellectual life in the United States, one that continues to influence the University’s mission and identity today.
Henri Hyvernat (1858–1941) – Catholic University’s First Professor
by Dylan Orshefsky
Professor Hyvernat was one of CatholicU’s first professors, and one of its longest serving. From a young age, he showed great proficiency with language, and as part of his education through seminary, he became fluent in many Middle Eastern languages, including Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic.
In 1887, he was asked by Bishop John Keane, CatholicU’s first Rector, if he would be interested in joining the nascent university. Henri agreed to do so, and since there would be some time left before the university fully opened in 1888, Henri and his fellow seminarian alumni Paul Müller-Simonis secured a grant from the French government to perform an epigraphic expedition through parts of Georgia, Armenia, Kurdistan, and Mesopotamia.
Along the way, Henri acquired many manuscripts and materials that would be usable as part of his research and instruction at the university. Upon finishing his tour and starting at Catholic, Hyvernat was soon made head of the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages, a position he held until his passing.
Monsignor Arthur T. Connolly (1853–1933) – Patron of Learning and Art
by Daniel Buck
Arthur T. Connolly was born to Irish Immigrants in Boston. He dedicated his life to the Church as a priest, spending most of his life as a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Boston. Most of the people would have known him as a dedicated pastor, however he is a CatholicU luminary in his role as a collector and donor.
Msgr. Connolly was an avid traveler and collector of art and rare books. While he collected for himself, he also collected for the public. He was a trustee of the Boston Public Library, and he donated books to universities, including Catholic.
His initial donations, which came in the 1910s, were in the form of academic texts meant to fill out the university library. He donated rare books and art, including a Nuremberg Chronicle and a collection of ivories. These donations form the core of the modern rare book collection of the University sought out by historical researchers.
Edward John Pryzbyla (1904-2000)
by Amy Glen
Edward John Pryzbyla (“Eddie” or “Pryz”) was a beloved CatholicU alumnus and philanthropist. Born to Polish Catholic parents in Chicopee, Massachusetts in 1904, he grew up loving his community. Arriving at CatholicU at sixteen, he quickly became known for his energy, kindness, and involvement in student life. He graduated in 1925 with a BA in Philosophy. After graduating, he returned to Chicopee, where he built a successful career in insurance, real estate, and finance.
A devoted alumnus, he rarely missed meetings of the Alumni Association or Board of Governors, and his generosity transformed the campus through scholarships, landscaping, and ultimately, the Edward Pryzbyla Center – “The Pryz.” His many honors, including the Cardinal Gibbons Medal and an honorary doctorate, reflected his selfless spirit.
Regina Flannery Herzfeld (1904–2004) – Trailblazer in Anthropology
by Sadie Colebank
Regina Flannery Herzfeld was a trailblazer both at CatholicU and in the field of Anthropology. After getting her master’s and doctorate degrees in Anthropology at CatholicU in the 1930s, Dr. Herzfeld joined Father John Montgomery Cooper, founding Chair of Catholic University’s Department of Anthropology.
At a time where there were few women in Anthropology, Dr. Herzfeld faced discrimination because of her gender. Dr. Herzfeld defied expectations and went on to become the University’s first full-time female professor. However, Dr. Herzfeld’s time at the University was also marked with misogyny. For eight years, from 1938-1944, women were not allowed to teach classes in their own right. Despite this she persevered in her work and later became the first female department chair at the University.
Dr. Herzfeld focused her research on the roles of women and children in Indigenous North American life. Most of Dr. Herzfeld’s work was with the Cree and Inuit peoples in northeastern Canada and the Gros Ventre people in Montana. Arguably her best known work was with her Cree collaborator, Ellen Smallboy, who provided great insight into Cree life in James Bay, Canada.
Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890–1980) – Mathematician and Educational Reformer
by Jiton Davidson
Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes was born in an affluent black neighborhood in Washington, D.C., just twenty-five years after the ending of chattel slavery. Her free-born parents, teacher mother and dentist father, encouraged her love of learning. With a profound sense of service to those less fortunate, young Euphemia used her talents as a teacher, orator, department head, D.C. Public School Board president, and education advocate to help to secure a more equitable school system for black children after segregation, when racial oppression took on subtler forms.
Dr. Haynes was the first African American woman in the country to earn a doctorate in math, which she received from Catholic University of America in 1943. Using her knowledge and experience, she helped to shift the trajectory of the education system in the Nation’s Capital from standardized IQ and aptitude tests as determining factors in the type of education a student was to receive.
Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes was a fierce advocate following her Catholic faith, and she was rewarded with the Papal Medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1959.
Right Reverend Monsignor James A. Magner (1901-1994) : Administrator/World Traveler
by Abigail Hibbs
Joining Catholic University in 1940, Monsignor Magner served for nearly three decades in multiple leadership roles, including Assistant Secretary Treasurer, Director of the University Press, and Vice Rector for Business and Finance. Magner earned doctorates in Sacred Theology and Philosophy in Rome. His administrative stewardship during years of institutional growth ensured the University’s financial stability and academic expansion.
Throughout his life, Monsignor Magner led various trips around the world. Traveling had always been a passion of his and as he loved learning about different cultures. After his retirement in 1968, Monsignor Magner moved to Palm Beach, FL but continued to lead his annual group trips in addition to his personal travel. He captured his travels through photographs and video film and he brought back hundreds of objects which now are in the museum collection here at CatholicU.
Sister Thea Bowman, F.S.P.A. (1937–1990) – Voice of Faith and Culture
by Philip Reynolds
Sister Thea Bowman was a pioneer of black education at Catholic University, where she not only attended (earning both a MA and PhD in English), but created the University’s first course on black literature.
Nationally recognized, she worked around the nation, advocating for awareness bridging cultural gaps with music, teaching. She tirelessly shared the joy of a faith of which she carried an enriched expression, evident in her colorful native African garb and the soulful melodies of her voice.
“I bring myself; my black self, all that I am, all that I have, all that I hope to become,” she once told the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “I bring my whole history, my traditions, my experience, my culture, my African-American song and dance and gesture and movement and teaching and preaching and healing and responsibility – as gifts to the Church.”
Following her time at Catholic, as an alumna, she pulled the black experience of Catholicism away from the margins and into a position of greater awareness and visibility. After teaching at the university level for two decades, she moved to Jackson, Mississippi to work as an intercultural consultant for the diocese there. She would play a key role in publishing the first work of its kind tailored for the black community: “Lead Me, Guide Me: The African American Catholic Hymnal”. To this day, she is remembered as one of the most notable and influential members of the Catholic University alumni family, with an open cause for canonization.
Gerald Weiner (1941–2025) and Barbara Weiner– Collectors, Philanthropists, and Cultural Bridge-Builders
by Sebastian Vinueza
Born into a Jewish family in Chicago, Gerald Weiner, a financial executive and philanthropist, grew up with a deep awareness of faith, loss, and cultural preservation. His early encounter with the Holocaust inspired an interest in preserving Jewish traditions and led him to the plight of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants. What began as a search for Ethiopian Jewish manuscripts evolved into a mission to safeguard Ethiopia’s Christian and Islamic manuscripts.
Gerald and Barbara Weiner understood that these manuscripts were important heritage to the Ethiopian diaspora communities in the United States, particularly the Washington D.C. metropolitan region. They worked to keep them preserved, accessible, and meaningful for scholars and communities which they belong to.
Over a decade, with a final and posthumous gift in 2025/2026, Gerald and Barbara Weiner donated a total 953 Ethiopian manuscripts and scrolls (Ge’ez, Amharic, Arabic) to The Catholic University of America. Their generosity has made the Semitics/ICOR Library a space for intercultural study and dialogue, strengthening the University’s role as a steward of cultural heritage.
To learn more, visit the exhibit on campus through spring 2026 or contact us at: lib-archives@cua.edu