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By Gloria Falcão Dodd

The International Marian Research Institute announces the ordination of IMRI graduate and former faculty member Msgr. Frank Leo as an auxiliary bishop of Montreal.

After his July 16 appointment by Pope Francis, Leo chose Sept. 12 — the feast of the Holy Name of Mary — for his ordination. More than 100 priests and over 40 bishops attended the ordination at the Cathedral of Marie Reine du Monde (Mary, Queen of the World); the standing-room-only assembly included Gloria Falcão Dodd, an IMRI research professor, and her husband, Ennis.

In addition to the liturgical Greek and Latin Mass parts, the ceremony was in French and English, the two official languages of Canada, as well as Italian in honor of Leo’s family and his pastoral ministry at Our Lady of Consolata, the Italian parish where he was an assistant pastor. During the ceremony, Leo expressed gratitude to the University of Dayton. The ordination is available on YouTube (his acknowledgment of UD appears at approximately 2:06:00).

Leo earned his Licentiate of Sacred Theology in 2002 from IMRI with his thesis “The Virgin Mother in the Treatises of Fra Girolamo Savonarola” and a Doctorate of Sacred Theology in 2010 with his dissertation “The Virgin Mother in the Sermons of Fra Girolamo Savonarola.” A longtime member of the Mariological Society of America, he is a founding member and president of the Canadian Mariological Society.

— Gloria Falcão Dodd is a research professor for the International Marian Research Institute in the University of Dayton’s Department of Religious Studies.