Rev. C. Frank Phillips, C.R., completed studies in Music Education from St. Louis University. He studied music theory and composition with Dr. Robert Neidlinger, music history with Rev. Francis Guenter, S.J. and organ with Dr. Marie Kraemer. As a seminarian, Phillips had the privilege to work with Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel, P.A., who was a noted liturgical giant of his time.

He received a Master’s of Divinity from St. Louis University and was ordained January 1977 as member of the Congregation of the Resurrection. He taught Music history, theory, choir and religious education at Weber High School for 11 years until stationed at St. John Cantius parish in 1988. In 1998, Phillips founded the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius as a Roman Catholic religious community of men dedicated to a restoration of the sacred in the context of parish ministry. Its mission is to help Catholics rediscover a profound sense of the sacred through solemn liturgies, devotions, sacred art, sacred music, as well as instruction in Church heritage, catechetics, and Catholic culture. This mission is reflected in the community's motto: Instaurare Sacra (Restoration of the Sacred).