Fr. Basil Cole, O.P.

Fr. Basil Cole joined the Dominicans in 196o and was ordained to the priesthood in 1966. He finished his theological studies at Le Saulchoir in Etiolles, France earning the lectorate and licentiate degrees in 1968. He later received the doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (the Angelicum). After teaching theology and philosophy at Pilarica College for the Notre Dame Sisters (1968-69), Fr. Cole was elected prior of St. Dominic’s in San Francisco, where he also served as parish priest, a member of the provincial council and lecturer at various institutions (1970-1975). Elected prior of Daniel Murphy High School community in Los Angeles he became a member of the Western Dominican preaching band and preached throughout the American West.

Fr. Cole was later an invited professor at the Angelicum from 1985-97. In 1998, he became an assistant professor of moral, spiritual, and dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies. From 2010-2013, he was prior of the novitiate in Cincinnati and taught at Mt. St. Mary Seminary (Cincinnati) as an adjunct professor of theology. He then returned to the Dominican House of Studies as a full professor until he became emeritus in June of 2023

He's written for The Priest, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Faith and Reason, and Angelicum, and has also been a long time collaborator for Germain Grisez’s four volume series of moral theology, The Way of the Lord Jesus. HIs books include A Sense of Humor and Virtue: A Thomistic Theological Perspective, Music and Morals: A Theological Appraisal Of The Moral And Psychological Effects Of Music, and Angelic Virtues and Demonic Vices: Aquinas's Practical Principles for Reaching Heaven and Avoiding Hell (2024, TAN Books).