Reverend Ralph T. Hall, O.P.

Providence Reverend Ralph Theodore "Ted" Hall, O.P., a Dominican Friar of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas at Providence College, died on Monday evening, January 9, 2012, his ninety-first birthday, at Mount St. Rita Health Centre in Cumberland. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was the son of the late Joseph and Clara (Brutscher) Hall. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 until 1946, being awarded the WWII National Defense Ribbon. He studied in the pre-ecclesiastical program at Providence College from 1946 until 1948, when he entered the novitiate of the Dominican Friars (Order of Preachers) of the Province of St. Joseph at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, Ky. He made his simple profession of vows there on August 16, 1949. His studies for the priesthood took place at St. Joseph Priory in Somerset, Ohio, and at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 9, 1955, at St. Dominic Church in Washington, by the Most Rev. Jerome D. Hannan, D.D., Bishop of Scranton. Fr. Hall earned a bachelor's degree in pre-ecclesiastical studies from Providence College in 1952 and a bachelor's degree in sacred theology (1955) and the licentiate and lectorate degrees in sacred theology (1956) from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. From 1967 until 1968, he studied at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome, Italy, where he received a doctorate in sacred theology.He taught at Aquinas College High School and Mt. Carmel School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio, from 1956 until 1957. During the following school year, he was assigned to St. Dominic Priory in Youngstown, Ohio, while teaching theology and serving as co-chaplain at Seton Hill College in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. From 1958-1959, he was assigned to St. Peter Rectory in Memphis, Tennessee, while teaching at Siena College there.In 1959, Father Hall returned to Providence College, where he taught for more than 40 years in the Department of Theology, retiring in 2002 with the rank of associate professor. He also frequently taught courses in the Department of Philosophy. He led many student retreats in the 1960s. Over the years, he also taught evening, weekend, and summer courses at several sisters' institutions, including Emmanuel College, Mount St. Mary College, and Nazareth/Catherine Spalding College. He was a member of the Society of Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine and the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. He is survived by family members in Ohio, including two sisters, Dorothy Benedict and Ruth Dornbush, and a brother, Edward Hall.Fr. Hall's body will be received into the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary in the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas at Providence College today at 4:00 p.m. A wake will follow, concluding with the celebration of the Office of the Dead at 7:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for him there at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 12. Burial will follow in the Dominican Friars' Cemetery on the Providence College Campus.In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to Providence College, Office of Institutional Advancement, 1 Cunningham Square, Providence, RI 02918-0001, for the Dominican Scholarship Fund.Arrangements by Russell J. Boyle and Son, 331 Smith Street, Providence.