Fr. Cyprian Davis, OSB

Monk-Senior, Faculty

Department: History
Title: Professor Emeritus of Church History

Education History

• BA (Saint Meinrad College, 1953)
• STL (The Catholic University of America, 1957)
• LicSciHist (University of Louvain, 1963)
• DrSciHist (University of Louvain, 1977)

Biography

Fr. Cyprian Davis, OSB, is a professor of church history in the School of Theology. He regularly teaches Black Catholic history at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies, a summer institute at Xavier University in New Orleans.

He received the John Gilmary Shea Award from the American Catholic Historical Association for his book, The History of Black Catholics in the United States. He also wrote the book, The Church: A Living Heritage, as well as numerous articles. His most recent book is Stamped with the Image of God: African Americans as God's Image in Black (Orbis Books, 2004), which he co-edited with Jamie Phelps, OP.

He has also finished a book on the life of Henriette Delille, the black foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, and most recently edited a book of historical essays about Saint Meinrad, To Prefer Nothing to Christ, (Abbey Press, 2004) as part of the archabbey's 150th anniversary.

In 2002, he was awarded the Johannes Quasten Medal for excellence in scholarship and leadership in religious studies from The Catholic University of America.

In 2004 he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Saint Meinrad Alumni Association.

He has received honorary degrees from the University of Notre Dame in 2001, the Catholic Theological Union in 2002, St. Vincent's College, Latrobe, PA, in 2003, and The Catholic University of America in 2006.

He has been a Benedictine monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey since 1951.

He serves as archivist for Saint Meinrad Archabbey and for the Swiss-American Benedictine Congregation. He also is the archivist for the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, of which he was a founding member in 1968.