Friar Wayne Hellmann, OFM Conv. did something unusual when he received an honorary Doctor of Letters from Lourdes University in Toledo, Ohio, on Saturday, May 16. He had the hood of his Conventual Franciscan habit pulled over his head as they placed the traditional doctoral hood over his shoulders.

“Now I have two hoodies,” Fr. Wayne said, to the delight of the Class of 2015, their faculty, and assembled family and friends.

Fr. Wayne Hellmann, OFM Conv. meeting Pope Benedict XVI

Of course, Fr. Wayne has earned many other honors since earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy in 1964. He received his License in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of St. Bonaventure (the Seraphicum) in Rome in 1968, and his Doctorate in Theology from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universtat in Munich in 1974. And he has received many awards and other recognition during his distinguished academic career at St. Louis University.

But as the commencement audience witnessed, his greatest gift, the one he passes on each day, is being a great teacher. His legacy is a long line of students who have carried away from his classroom a greater understanding of God, the Gospel life of St. Francis of Assisi, and themselves.

Fr. Wayne in his element, teaching student Friars visiting Mount St. Francis in southern Indiana.