T. Lawrason Riggs

Thomas Lawrason Riggs (1888–1943) was an American Catholic priest and musical theatre lyricist. Riggs was the first Catholic chaplain of Yale University.

Early life The grandson of banker George Washington Riggs, Riggs was from a wealthy upper class Episcopalian family. In his youth Riggs was an acquaintance of the artist L. Bancel LaFarge, and came to know Thornton Wilder, Monty Woolley and other notable creative people while at Yale.

Graduating from Yale as a member of the class of 1910, Riggs embarked on graduate studies at Harvard University as an assistant to Barrett Wendell, which were interrupted by his foray into musical theatre. See America First received a poor critical reception when it opened on Broadway in March 1916 following previews in New Haven, Connecticut and Rochester, New York. Riggs had invested $35,000 in the production and never worked on another musical. and it is now known as the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies.

An independent member of the Yale community, Riggs resisted an attempt to reinstitute compulsory chapel attendance, and criticised the editor of the Yale Daily News for slanted coverage of religious topics. Riggs also wrote and published a seven-page pamphlet attempting to correct what he saw as an inaccurate and misleading description of the Origins of Christianity given by Professor Edwin Goodenaugh in his Western Civilisation course for Yale freshmen.

Outside Yale Riggs was a patron and contributor to Commonweal magazine from 1922 until his death and a participant of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in the 1930s. Riggs joined a rabbi and a Protestant minister on a speaking tour of the Southern United States in 1935 and the Western States in 1937. Riggs died of a heart attack in 1943.