Il Professore

14/08/2024

The Lord, your God, has followed you on your journey, through this great wilderness (Dtn 2:7).

(verse of the day 14/08/24).

Prof. Paolo Ricca passed away in the night between Tuesday, August 13 and Wednesday, August 14.

A Waldensian pastor, Paolo Ricca served in the communities of Forano Sabino and Turin. During his years in Forano he edited a newsletter on the Second Vatican Council.

Called to the Waldensian Faculty as Valdo Vinay's successor on the chair of History and Practical Theology, he engaged in a very intense activity of teaching, research, and dissemination, in Italy and abroad, where he was well known. The foundation of the fifth chair, which allowed him to focus his academic activities on the history of Christianity, also dates back to his impulses.

Paolo Ricca combined a convinced Protestant affiliation with a courageous ecumenical commitment free of prejudice, gaining notoriety and appreciation in other churches as well. First and foremost, however, he was a passionate and highly effective preacher of the gospel. Among his many labors, he was particularly attached to the series "Selected Works" of Luther, which he directed for forty years, until yesterday.

The Waldensian Faculty expresses its gratitude to the Lord for what it has received from this most significant exponent of the Faculty and expresses its closeness to Stella, Laura and Alberto.

Lothar Vogel, Dean