On 15 June 2021, the doyen and grand seigneur of the ITM, Professor Dr Hans Kiefner, unfortunately passed away after a serious illness. Professor Kiefner headed the Institute for Canon Law at the University of Münster for decades, where I worked as an assistant and researcher. I owe my academic training to Mr Kiefner, who introduced me with great meticulousness and fatherly care to the primal research on Savigny or early modern canon law history, for example. His thoughtful, calm attitude, his scholarly curiosity and his Swabian liberality left their mark on me. I will always have fond memories of him! Thomas Hoeren