# Cyprian Davis > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cyprian_Davis > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cyprian_Davis.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprian_Davis > Source revision: 1342638273 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|African-American Catholic monk, priest, and historian}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix = [The Reverend](/source/The_Reverend) Doctor | name = Cyprian Davis | honorific_suffix = [O.S.B.](/source/Benedictines) | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = Clarence John Davis | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|09|09}} | birth_place = [Washington, D.C.](/source/Washington%2C_D.C.) | death_date = {{death date and age|2015|05|18|1930|09|09}} | death_place = [Jasper, IN](/source/Jasper%2C_Indiana) | region = | alma_mater = [Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium](/source/Universit%C3%A9_catholique_de_Louvain) | occupation = [Church historian](/source/Church_history) | period = | notable_works = | spouse = | children = | era = | language = | tradition_movement = | school_tradition = Catholic Church history | workplaces = [St. Meinrad Archabbey](/source/St._Meinrad_Archabbey) | main_interests = | notable_ideas = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = }} '''Cyprian Davis''', [OSB](/source/Benedictines) (born '''Clarence John Davis'''; September 9, 1930 – May 18, 2015) was an African-American [Benedictine](/source/Benedictines) monk, priest, and historian at [Saint Meinrad Archabbey](/source/Saint_Meinrad_Archabbey) in [Indiana](/source/Indiana). He is known for his work on the history of [Black Catholicism](/source/Black_Catholicism). == Biography == Davis was born in [Washington, D.C.](/source/Washington%2C_D.C.), on September 9, 1930. He converted to [Catholicism](/source/Catholic_Church) in his teenage years and became interested in joining the priesthood as well as becoming a monk. Though many [monastic communities](/source/monastic_community) (and most Catholic [religious institute](/source/religious_institute)s) did not accept [African Americans](/source/African_Americans) at the time, after high school Davis joined the seminary of [St. Meinrad Archabbey](/source/St._Meinrad_Archabbey) (1949–1956). He became a [novice](/source/Novitiate) on July 31, 1950, took the monastic name [Cyprian](/source/Cyprian) on August 1, 1951, and was ordained a priest on May 3, 1956. He was the first African American to join that monastic community.{{cite web |last1=Ginther |first1=Richard M. |title=Father Cyprian Davis, OSB |url=https://alumni.saintmeinrad.edu/page/Davis |publisher=Saint Meinrad Alumni |access-date=January 6, 2019 |date=August 10, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331042653/https://alumni.saintmeinrad.edu/page/Davis |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |url-status=dead }} Davis received a [Licentiate of Sacred Theology](/source/Licentiate_of_Sacred_Theology) from the [Catholic University of America](/source/Catholic_University_of_America) (1957), before going to the [Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium](/source/Universit%C3%A9_catholique_de_Louvain) to study [Church history](/source/Church_history), obtaining his ''Doctoral en Sciences Historiques'' (D.Hist.Sci.) from Louvain, in 1963. While there, Davis focused his work on the Church during the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages) to avoid American Church history and concerns of race and slavery. Upon his first return from Belgium in 1963, he taught church history at [Saint Meinrad Seminary](/source/Saint_Meinrad_Seminary_and_School_of_Theology), and eventually became the school's first professor emeritus in 2012.{{cite web|date=May 20, 2015|title=Benedictine Fr. Cyprian Davis, top chronicler of black Catholic history, dies|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/benedictine-fr-cyprian-davis-top-chronicler-black-catholic-history-dies|access-date=January 6, 2019|website=National Catholic Reporter|language=en}} Having returned to the US in the midst of the [civil rights movement](/source/civil_rights_movement), Davis attended the August 1963 [March on Washington](/source/March_on_Washington_for_Jobs_and_Freedom) and heard [Martin Luther King Jr.](/source/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.) deliver his "[I Have a Dream](/source/I_Have_a_Dream)" speech. He would later march with [Mary Antona Ebo](/source/Mary_Antona_Ebo) and others in the [Selma to Montgomery marches](/source/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches). As a black Catholic professor, he began to be invited to speak in black parishes and was constantly asked about the place of African Americans in the Catholic church. He was involved in writing two [pastoral letter](/source/pastoral_letter)s on race, "[Brothers and Sisters to Us](/source/Brothers_and_Sisters_to_Us)" (1979) and "[What We Have Seen and Heard](/source/What_We_Have_Seen_and_Heard)" (1984), and later received a grant from the [Lilly Endowment](/source/Lilly_Endowment) to the study the [black Catholic church](/source/Black_church), resulting in the publication of his award-winning ''[The History of Black Catholics in the United States](/source/The_History_of_Black_Catholics_in_the_United_States)'' (1990){{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Cyprian |title=The history of Black Catholics in the United States |date=1990 |publisher=Crossroad |isbn=9780824510107 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofblackca00cypr |url-access=registration |language=en}} Davis died on May 18, 2015, in Memorial Hospital in [Jasper, Indiana](/source/Jasper%2C_Indiana), at age 84. == Works == * {{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Cyprian |title=Christ's image in Black: the Black Catholic community before the Civil War |date=1989 |publisher=University of Notre Dame |oclc=22714523 |language=English}} * {{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Cyprian |title=The history of Black Catholics in the United States |date=1990 |publisher=Crossroad |isbn=9780824510107 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofblackca00cypr |url-access=registration |language=en}} * {{cite book |last1=Hayes |first1=Diana L. |author1-link=Diana L. Hayes |last2=Davis |first2=Cyprian |title=Taking Down Our Harps: Black Catholics in the United States |date=1998 |publisher=Orbis Books |isbn=9781570751745 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCzZAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} * {{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Cyprian |last2=Phelps |first2=Jamie T. |author-link2=Jamie T. Phelps|title=Stamped with the image of God: African Americans as God's image in Black |date=2003 |publisher=Orbis Books |isbn=9781570755224 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ryzZAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} * {{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Cyprian |title=Henriette Delille: Servant of Slaves, Witness to the Poor |date=2004 |publisher=Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HQTwNwAACAAJ |language=en}} * {{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Cyprian |title=To Prefer Nothing to Christ: Saint Meinrad Archabbey, 1854-2004 |date=2004 |publisher=Saint Meinrad Archabbey/Abbey Press |isbn=9780870293832 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qs2JAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} == References == {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Cyprian}} Category:1930 births Category:2015 deaths Category:20th-century African-American writers Category:20th-century American historians Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:20th-century American Roman Catholic theologians Category:21st-century African-American writers Category:21st-century American historians Category:21st-century American male writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American Roman Catholic theologians Category:African-American members of Catholic religious communities Category:African-American historians Category:African-American male writers Category:African-American non-fiction writers Category:African-American Roman Catholic priests Category:American Benedictines Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American Roman Catholic writers Category:Catholics from Washington, D.C. Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism Category:Religious studies scholars Category:Writers from Washington, D.C. Category:Université catholique de Louvain alumni --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cyprian Davis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprian_Davis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprian_Davis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.