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In Tribute to Our Friend Robert L. Wilken
The Pontifical Faculty has received with sadness and with hope in the resurrection the news of the passing on June 6, 2026 of our dear friend and benefactor Robert Louis Wilken.
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June 11, 2026
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The Pontifical Faculty has received with sadness and with hope in the resurrection the news of the passing on June 6, 2026 of our dear friend and benefactor Robert Louis Wilken.
Robert L. Wilken taught at many institutions, including as the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Virginia for many years and as the Randall Chair at Providence College in 2011-12. Wilken held the unparalleled distinction of having served as the president of these three societies: the North American Patristics Society (1985-86), the American Academy of Religion (1989), and the Academy of Catholic Theology (2012-13). In addition, he was an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and served as chairman of the Board of the Institute on Religion and Public Life.
Wilken authored many books of great importance to theology, especially to patristics. Many readers have enjoyed learning from him through his monographs on John Chrysostom and Cyril of Alexandria and in such works as The Spirit of Early Christian Thought, The First Thousand Years, and Liberty in the Things of God.
We at the Dominican House of Studies were honored that Wilken, who had been Lutheran, entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in 1994 in our St. Thomas Chapel. In 2014, Wilken accepted the invitation to give the Pontifical Faculty’s Commencement address, which can be read here. In 2022, Wilken donated his personal library to the Pontifical Faculty’s library. In sum, we received well over 1,500 books and other library materials from him.
Robert Wilken generously gave his support to many Dominicans and to this school. On learning of his death, Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., President of the Pontifical Faculty, said, “Robert was a superb scholar, and his eloquent writing has helped many to understand the history of theology and its greatest figures — and, more importantly, it bears witness to the faith of the Church, which he himself loved and served.”
Please join the Pontifical Faculty in praying in thanksgiving for the life and teaching of our friend Robert Louis Wilken. May the Lord grant him eternal rest and bless with consolation his wife of 66 years, Carol, and all their family.
