Frank Quinn

Francis Currier “Frank” Quinn, O.P. (1932–2008), was an American Dominican priest, liturgical theologian, church musician, teacher, and writer. Born in Faribault, Minnesota, he began seminary studies at St. Mary’s College in Winona in 1950 and made profession in the Order of Preachers, Province of St. Albert the Great, in 1953. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1959. Quinn earned a master’s degree in musicology from The Catholic University of America in 1961 and later completed a doctorate in liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame in 1978.

Quinn’s professional life joined theology, music, and pastoral formation. He began teaching liturgy and music to Dominican seminarians at St. Peter Martyr Priory in Winona in 1961. In 1973 he joined the Aquinas Institute of Theology, then in Dubuque, Iowa, and continued with the institute after its move to St. Louis, remaining on the faculty until 2007 and eventually holding the Fra Angelico Chair of Liturgical Theology. His teaching included liturgical, systematic, and pastoral theology, and he wrote and edited material on liturgical prayer and song.

Music remained central to Quinn’s ministry. He served as an organist and choir director, wrote liturgical music and hymn texts, advised liturgical and music commissions in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and worked as a consultant to the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. He was also active for many years in the worship life of St. Francis Xavier College Church at Saint Louis University. His career reflects the post–Vatican II effort to unite theological scholarship, vernacular liturgy, congregational song, and careful pastoral practice.