James Matthew Regan, the fourth of six children of John J. Regan and Nora E. Donovan, was born on December 3, 1911, in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He completed his early education there, attending St. Mary's Grammar School and Lawrence High School. Upon graduation from high school he attended Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island (1927 - 29). In August 1929 he entered the Dominican Novitiate at St. Rose of Lima Priory, Springfield, Kentucky, where he was given the religious name Wilfred and where he made his first profession of vows on August 16, 1930. He was then assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, River Forest, Illinois, for philosophical studies (1930-33) and earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy. In 1933 he was assigned to St. Joseph Priory, Somerset, Ohio, to begin theological studies and made his solemn profession of vows there on August 16, 1933. After one year he was assigned to the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C., to complete his theological studies (1934-37) and was ordained a priest by Archbishop Amleto Cicognani on June 1 0, 1936, at St. Dominic Church, Washington, D.C. During this time he also began a master's degree in religious education at The Catholic University of America which he completed in 1938.

Father Regan's first ministerial assignment was to Aquinas High School, Columbus, Ohio (1937-38). After a year he was assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, River Forest, Illinois, and for four years divided his time between three educational institutions: De Paul University, Chicago, Illinois, where he taught philosophy; Rosary College (now Dominican University), River Forest, Illinois, where he taught philosophy and theology; and Fenwick

High School, Oak Park, Illinois, where he was a member of the religion department. In l 942 he began to teach full-time at Fenwick High School and continued in this ministry for twenty-nine years until 1971 when he was assigned to limited service. His many young students generally considered him the best teacher they had ever had. For a time he continued his college teaching during summers at the College of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois, and at other Catholic colleges.

Father Regan was also a writer. Because of the need for a high school religion text, he joined two other Dominicans to produce the four-volume series A Primer in Theology, the first volume of which appeared in 1952, the last volume in 1957. His talents were also put to use in producing the three-volume College Theology Series published by The Priory Press.

During his years of limited service he assisted his Dominican brothers in several ways: for many years he served as a driver for the community at River Forest; he constantly supplied his fellow friars and others with newspaper clippings which related to their particular ministries and their interests. As he reached his latter eighties, his health began to fail. Shortly before his death he suffered a series of minor strokes which increasingly left him impaired in sight and in his ability to move about. He died at West Suburban Hospital, Oak Park, Illinois on March 30, 2000. A funeral Mass was celebrated on April 3, 2000, at St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, River Forest, Illinois, and burial followed in the Dominican plot at All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois.