Fr. Stefan Heid

About Fr. Stefan Heid

Fr. Stefan Heid is professor of the History of Christian Culture, Liturgy, and Hagiography at the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archeology in Rome. He received a degree in Catholic theology from the University of Bonn, Germany, in 1988, and studied Christian Archaeology and Classical Greek, becoming a vice chairman for the Dept. of the History of the Ancient Church, Patrology and Christian Archeology at the University of Bonn, 1985 to 1986. In 1991, he received a doctorate in theology from the University of Bonn. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Cologne in 1994. In 2000, he completed habilitation and Venia legendi (independent study and permission to teach) History of the Ancient Church, Patrology and Christian Archaeology. In 2001, he was appointed professor of History of Liturgy and Hagiography at the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology in Rome. In 2004, he was an invited professor of the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical University St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. In 2006, he became vice rector at the Pontifical German College in Rome, Campo Santo Teutonico. In 2007, he became associate professor of the faculty of theology of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He then became a Chaplain to His Holiness, Pope Benedict in 2009. Since 2011, he has been director of the Institut of the Goerres-Gesellschaft.

He has been an editor for the quarterly review: Romische Quartalschrift fur Christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte, and co-editor of Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana. His published books and monographs include: "Chiliasmus und Antichrist-Mythos. Eine fruhchristlich Kontroverse um das Heilige Land." Hereditas 6 (Bonn 1993); "Kreuz, Jerusalem, Kosmos: Aspekte fruhchristlicher Staurologie" Jahrbuch fur Antike und Christentum. Erganzungsband 31 (Munster 2001); Celibacy in the Early Church. The Beginnings of a Discipline of Obligatory Continence for Clerics in East and West (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000); "Giuseppe Wilpert archeologo cristiano," Atti del Convegno, Roma; Ed. Stefan Heid. May 16-19, 2007, Sussidi allo Studio delle Antichita Cristiane 22 (Citta  del Vaticano 2009); In collaboration with Chr. Gnilka / R. Riesner, Blutzeuge. Tod und Grab des Petrus in Rom (Regensburg 2010).

Cross, Altar and the Right Way of Praying

Recalling the rituals and rubrics of the past which retain their meaning today. In the Vatican, and in the pontifical basilicas of Rome (formerly called “patriarchal basilicas”), a ruling has recently been made that a standing cross sho … [Read more...]