Fr. Marcel Chappin S.J., professor emeritus of the Faculty of Theology, died in Rome on the night of 24 December 2021. The funeral will take place on 27th December at 11.00 am, in the General Curia of the Society of Jesus.
Originally from Nijmegen (Netherlands), Fr Chappin entered the Society of Jesus on 7th September 1961 and was ordained a priest on 28th August 1976. At the Pontifical Gregorian University he obtained a Baccalaureate in Theology (1976) and a Doctorate in the Faculty of Ecclesiastical History (1982), publishing a dissertation entitled: "Pie VII et les Pays-Bas, 1814-1817: attitudes et positions de la Curie Romaine. Contribution to the history of religious freedom". He began teaching in the Faculty of Theology in 1981, where for many years he taught courses in Church History to first cycle students. He founded the Advanced Course for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and directed it from 1991 to 1996. In 1991 Fr Chappin was appointed Vice Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre 'Cultures and Religions' of the Pontifical Gregorian University for three years, and in 1994 he was appointed Curator of the Archives at the Pontifical Gregorian University, a post he held for seven years.
Appointed by the Holy Father as a member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, Fr Chappin was a member for three five-year terms (2004, 2009, 2014) and was currently a member emeritus. On 29 September 2007, Fr Chappin, who had been an official of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State since 1996, was appointed Vice Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, a role he held until 2012. Chappin's appointment was a recognition of his competence as a scholar, a passionate, curious and rigorous historian, who for more than thirty years has nurtured a passion for history in his students and colleagues.
On 15 April 2013, an event entitled "The Historian's Ministry" took place at our University to pay tribute to Fr Chappin on the occasion of his 70th birthday, during which the book "Suavis laborum memoria. Chiesa, Papato e Curia Romana, tra storia e teologia", edited by Fr Roberto Regoli, who was also the driving force behind this tribute, and by Prof. Paul van Geest.
"In these days of Christmas", concludes Rector Nuno da Silva Gonçalves in his Letter to the University Community, "celebrating the Son of God born for us, we entrust Fr Chappin to the Lord, as a manifestation of our gratitude for the fruitfulness of his service to the Church and his teaching in our University".
(Foto di Paolo Pegoraro/Pontificia Università Gregoriana)
(Foto di Alfredo Cacciani/Pontificia Università Gregoriana)