The Franciscan Institute Medal

CITATION The Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University is privileged to honor as the first recipient of its medal for outstanding contributions to scholarship in Franciscan Studies, the Reverend Joseph C. Wey, C.S.B. Father Wey is a modest and unassuming scholar whose contributions to the critical edition of William of Ockham's Opera Philosophica et Theologica have merited international acclaim. He has been a generous and effective collaborator with the Franciscan Institute since 1973. His dedication and fidelity have served to continue the close and valued historical ties of the Franciscan Institute with the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto. We are particularly grateful for his critical editions of Ockham's Quodlibets and the lengthy question On the Interconnectedness of the Virtues, and his edition of Walter Chatton's Sentences Commentaries. Father Wey was Superior General of the Congregation of St. Basil for twelve years and led his congregation through the difficult years of the Second Vatican Council. He enjoys the respect and gratitude of his confreres, his students, and the many research scholars of the Franciscan Institute for his quiet and invaluable assistance and inspiration. Like Saint Bonaventure, Father Wey will always be remembered and esteemed by us as a man who let Divine Wisdom be his guide and goal whether as a scholar or as a religious leader. Joseph C. Wey, C. S. B. Recipient of_the First Franciscan Institute Medal July 15, 1987 THE FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE MEDAL The silver medallion bears the legend "Scholarship in Franciscan Studies" and the effigies of the four great Franciscan teachers: St. Anthony of Padua, St. Bonaventure, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham, the Venerable Inceptor. Completing the circle of the four doctors is the name of the honorée and the year of the award. FRAiVe BON C)TU ANTH JOSEPH C. WEY C.S.B. 1987 ET * VITA SPIRI ^.TUS* ON THE REVERSE SIDE of the medal is the seal of The Franciscan Institute bearing the Tau-cross-signature of St. Francis and the Institute motto, "Spirit and Life." JOSEPH CHARLES WEY, C.S.B. Joseph Charles Wey was born in Hammond, Indiana, on March i8, 1910. The family moved to a farm near Riviera, Texas, in 1913, and thence to Houston in 1917. Father Wey's primary education began at the local parochial school near Riviera in 1916 and was continued at AU Saints Parochial School in Houston, 1917-1925. His secondary education began at Heights Junior High School, Houston, 1923-1924, and was completed at St. Thomas High School in Houston, where he graduated in 1927. In the fall of 1927 he entered St. Basil's Novitiate, Toronto, where he took his first vows in August, 1928. He was appointed to St. Basil's Seminary and began his university studies in the Pass Course at the University of Toronto through St. Michael's College in 1928. In the following year he transferred into the Latin (French or Greek Option) Honour Course and graduated from this course in 1933 with First Class Honours. In the fall of the same year he began his theological studies at St. Basil's Seminary and also began graduate studies in Classics at the University of Toronto. He was awarded the M.A. in Classics in 1936, the same year in which he was ordained to the Priesthood on December 19. Father Wey began teaching in St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, as a member of the Classics staff in 1933. He taught there until 1939. After spending two quarters in graduate study at the University of Chicago in 1939, he was appointed to Assumption College, Windsor, for the year 1939-1940. There he taught Classics as well as Spanish during that academic year. In 1940 he returned to St. Michael's College, Toronto, and continued there as a member of the Classics department until 1947. He was then sent to Cambridge University, England, to pursue studies in medieval literature and in paleography. He returned in 1949 to resume his position on the Classics staff at St. Michael's College and also to begin teaching paleography and medieval Latin at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. In 1952 he was...