RIGGS, THOMAS LAWRASON

First Catholic chaplain at Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; b. New London, Conn., June 28, 1888; d. New Haven, April 26, 1943. He was the son of Elisha Francis Riggs, known for his charitable works and for his advocacy of a restored Gregorian chant. After his early education at home, Riggs was prepared for college at Westminster School in Simsbury, Connecticut. At this Episcopal institution, his religious instruction was cared for by Father Maurice McAuliffe, later bishop of Hartford and close friend and spiritual counselor of Riggs.

After receiving an A.B. from Yale (1910) and an M.A. from Harvard University, Riggs returned to Yale as an instructor in English. During World War I, he joined the Yale Ambulance Corps and became an officer in Intelligence Interallié to do work at the peace conference. His awareness of the impact of war upon Europe's Christian cultural tradition prompted his choice of a priestly vocation. He began theological studies at the Catholic University of America in 1919, and he completed them under McAuliffe at St. Thomas Seminary in Hartford.

After ordination in 1922, Riggs received episcopal approval for residence near Yale and a limited chaplaincy there. In 1934, when McAuliffe became bishop of Hartford, the situation was reviewed and permission given for the construction of More House as a chapel and cultural center for Catholics at Yale. Meanwhile, Riggs had been active as a lecturer in behalf of the liturgical movement. He was a founder and contributor to Commonweal, a Catholic weekly published by laymen, and a participant in the interfaith work of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. But his greatest enthusiasm was for the design and construction of More House.

In his last years Riggs was a fellow of Calhoun College at Yale. Although without regular faculty status, he was in frequent demand as an authority in matters relating to Catholic belief and tradition. In 1963, Yale honored Father Riggs by establishing the T. Lawrason Riggs Professorship of Religion, the first endowed chair for Roman Catholic studies in a nonsectarian American university for a professor on permanent appointment.

[j. t. farrell]