Stanisław Wielgus was born in Wierzchowiska, in what is today Lublin Region, on 23 April 1939. He was ordained a priest on 10 June 1962 by Bishop Piotr Kałwa. From 1962 to 1969 he worked as a parish priest while continuing his specialized studies. An expert in Polish philosophy and medieval philosophy, he spent thirty years teaching in the faculty of philosophy of the Catholic University of Lublin Beginning in 1989 he served three terms as rector there. He taught at the University of Munich, from 1973 to 1975 and again in 1978, where Professor Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was teaching as an associate. From 1990 to 1993 he was the vice-chairman of the Conference of Rectors of Polish Universities. He served as a member and consultant on the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, and a member of the Humanities section of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.