Fehlner was born on July 20, 1931, in
Dolgeville, New York. He was ordained in Rome on July 14, 1957. He completed a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the
Seraphicum, with a thesis about the Ecclesiology of St. Bonaventure. Fehlner died on May 8, 2018, in
Chicopee, Massachusetts.[5][6]
Theological career
Fehlner taught dogmatic theology and Mariology in Franciscan seminaries and universities in the United States and in Italy for 40 years.[citation needed] He is the author of several books and contributed to theological and pastoral journals in the United States and Europe.[7][8] From 1985 to 1989 he was the editor of Militia Immaculatae (Rome), a Marian review for the clergy. He wrote and lectured extensively on Franciscan theology and Mariology. His series on Our Lady "Mater et Magistra" has been featured weekly on Mother Angelica's EWTN.
He served as North American Regional Superior (Delegatus Generalis) of the Institute of Pontifical Right of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate from 1996 until 2002.
Fehlner was a Kolbean scholar. He explained and defended the teachings of St. Maximilian Kolbe against theologians and mariologists who consider the Saint to be a heretic or a pious journalist.[9] He has written and spoken in support of the
fifth Marian Dogma, the Blessed Virgin Mary's roles as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate.[10][11]
Selected works
The Role of Charity in the Ecclesiology of St. Bonaventure (1965)[12]