CONNELL, FRANCIS J.

Theologian; b. Boston, Jan. 29, 1888; d. Washington, D.C., May 12, 1967. He graduated from Boston Latin School with high honors and attended Boston College for two years. In 1907 he entered the Redemptorists and was ordained to the priesthood in 1913 at Mt. St. Alphonsus, Esopus, New York. Following a parish assignment in Brooklyn, he was appointed professor of dogmatic theology at Mt. St. Alphonsus Seminary in 1915. From 1921 to 1923 he studied at the Pontifical Institute of the Angelicum in Rome, where he received the degree of doctor of sacred theology summa cum laude. He taught at Esopus (1923–40), The Catholic University of America (1940–58), and St. John's University in Brooklyn (1958–62). He also served in a variety of administrative capacities, including rector of Holy Redeemer College in Washington (1945–50), dean of the School of Sacred Theology at Catholic University (1949–57), and dean for religious communities at Catholic University (1958–67).

Connell was a scholar, writer, administrator, teacher, and preacher. In addition to numerous pamphlets and magazine articles on theological questions, he authored De Sacramentis Ecclesiae, Morals in Politics and Professions, Outlines of Moral Theology, Spiritual and Pastoral Conferences for Priests, and Father Connell's Confraternity Edition of the New Baltimore Catechism. A selection of his answers to moral problems was published under the title "Father Connell Answers Moral Questions." At the time of his death he was engaged in writing a two-volume text on moral theology. Over the years Connell's opinions on moral questions appeared regularly in the American Ecclesiastical Review, of which he was associate editor.

Connell was a pioneer on the national "Catholic Hour" radio program and appeared frequently on radio and television. He was a charter member and first president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He received from Pope Pius XII the award "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" and an appointment as consultor to the Congregation of Seminaries and Universities in Rome. He was designated a peritus for the Second Vatican Council II by Pope John XXIII and served as a member of the briefing panel for English-speaking reporters.

[l. j. riley]