Gerald Edward Kiesling was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August15, 1925, the son of Edward Joseph and Florence Marie Fiset Kiesling. His only brother, Curtis James, preceded him in death at the age of twenty- two. Sometime after his baptism at St. Gregory Church, the family moved to Elmwood Park, Illinois, where the first three years of his scholarly career were undertaken in John Mills Public School. Gerald completed his elementary education at Our Lady of Victory School and his secondary education at Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago. Following a year of college work at Quigley, he studied philosophy at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, from 1944 to 1947.

He entered the Dominican Order at the Dominican House of Studies, River Forest, Illinois, where he received the habit and the religious name of Christopher on August 4, 1947. A year and a day later, he professed simple vows in the same Priory, then continued studies there until 1951, at which time he moved to St. Rose Priory in Dubuque, Iowa, to pursue theological studies until 1955. He was awarded the licentiate in philosophy in 1949 and the lectorate of Sacred Theology in 1955. His ordination to the priesthood took place in the St. Rose Priory Chapel in Dubuque, Iowa, on May 27, 1954.

Following additional theological studies at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome in 1955 and 1956, he achieved the Licentiate of Sacred Theology degree. ln 1960 to 1961, he was awarded the Doctorate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. During the academic year 1970-1971, he studied at Yale University Divinity School through a research fellowship.

In 1956, Father Kiesling was assigned to the faculty of Aquinas Institute in Dubuque, a position which he held throughout his priestly life; in 1981, he moved to St. Louis with the school to its present location at Saint Louis University. In addition, he taught theology and liturgy courses at Mount Saint Bernard Seminary in Dubuque as well as summer courses at St. Xavier College in Chicago, Illinois; Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Siena Heights College, Adrian, Michigan; and the University of San Francisco in California. From 1969 to 1975, he was Director of the Formation Program for Diocesan Seminarians in Dubuque; from the mid-1960's and into the 1980's, he was involved in ecumenical activities, serving on the Roman Catholic/Presbyterian Reformed Consultation Board and also on the Committee for an Ecumenical Marriage Rite sponsored by the Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy.

Service to the Province of St. Albert the Great included the position of Formation Director for Dominican Students from 1975 to 1981 as well as membership on the Provincial Council, 1977 to 1981; Board of Directors of the St. Jude Apostolate, 1976 to 1979; and the Commission on Social Justice, 1984 to 1986. From 1956 to 1976, he was an Associate Editor of Cross and Crown. Upon his appointment as Editor in 1977, the journal was renamed Spirituality Today; he resigned the editorship in1985 because of ill health.

Throughout his priestly and teaching career, Father Kiesling wrote several books on theological and liturgical subjects. He also produced numerous articles for theological and professional journals, as well as for magazines with a wider audience among the laity.

At the request of the Provincial Chapter of 1985, the Master of the Dominican Order, Father Damian Byrne, bestowed the Master of Sacred Theology degree upon Father Kiesling. The S.T.M. was conferred up on him during a special Liturgy of the Eucharist held at St. Dominic Priory in St. Louis, Missouri, on December 16, 1985.

In 1980, Father Kiesling was found to have cancer of the trachea, and he endured surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments in the following years. The disease became inoperable in 1986. After being hospitalized for several weeks, he died on

September 2, 1986. Following a wake at St. Louis Bertrand Priory in St. Louis, Mass was celebrated in St. Francis Xavier College Church at St. Louis University on Thursday, September 4. He was then moved to the Priory of St. Dominic and St. Thomas in River Forest, where another Mass was celebrated on Friday evening, September 5. Interment followed at All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois, on September 6.

In 1947, as a diocesan seminarian, Gerald Kiesling applied to the novitiate explaining that he wished to become a religious "to live a more intense, less distracted spiritual life, to make my priesthood as perfect as possible." And he chose the Dominican Order because "It unites the active with the contemplative life and is devoted to the truth and the intellectual apostolate." As a student, teacher, writer, preacher and spiritual guide, Chris pursued that goal with firm purpose and a fine consistency for thirty-nine years.