The academic year 2018-2019 began officially on this past October 27.
The New Academic Year has Begun at the
International College ‘San Lorenzo da Brindisi’ in Rome
The academic year 2018-2019 began officially on this past October 27; officially, given the presence of the new General Minister of the Order, Br. Roberto Genuin, for the first time. A solemn Eucharist was celebrated in the Collegio church, at which new and old students, formation staff and personnel participated, as well as many friars from the General Curia and other houses dependent on the General Minister. This year begins with the particular circumstance of the Rector, Br. Francesco Neri, and the Spiritual Animator, Br. Kilian Ngitir, having both been elected as General Councilors of the Order. In this sense the moment was also a farewell for them. New appointments to these positions should be made shortly when the General Council meets in the coming days.
The event for the opening of the academic year took place on October 27, in the afternoon and evening, with the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist. The readings were those of the thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary time, with the gospel of Jesus’ healing of the blind man Bartimaeus in Jericho (Mk 10: 46-52). The General Minister spoke on the dialogue between Jesus and Bartimaeus in his homily:
“At the beginning of this new year of study, life, and growth, the cry of blind Bartimaeus resounds, strongly, loudly, and over and over: Jesus, son of David, have pity on me! We too could react like the great crowd that was following Jesus; we too could try to make Bartimaeus keep quiet, reproving him. Or we could identify with Bartimaeus’s situation, making his cry our own: Son of David, have pity on me! If we can do this, it becomes the moment in which we place ourselves before the Lord without defensiveness, in truth. We will begin this year of study well if we make ourselves like Bartimaeus, recognizing from whom comes light and liberation: the Lord Jesus, he who alone has righteous compassion for those who are in ignorance and error [Hebrews 5:2].”
Drawing on his own experience, the General Minister exhorted the students to not make study in itself an absolute priority; the gift of time at the Collegio, he continued,
“Is a great opportunity that the Lord grants us so that we might respond better to his call to be Capuchin friars whose rule and life is to observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience, without anything of one’s own, and in chastity. So, if I want to be attentive to the Lord who is passing by, his call urges us on to study and to a more serious academic commitment. I will then find myself, if I am ready to hear his voice, more available to use my human and intellectual abilities, not for sad and limited personal interests, but to better respond to the requests of my brothers. The brothers count on me for my competencies. Then, and only then, my sense of my place within the fraternity and in the midst of the People of God will be illuminated.”
After the Mass, all present shared in a fraternal supper in the large refectory of the Collegio. It was a moment for the students and their formators to renew their mutual wishes for a good year of work.
This year the Collegio has about seventy students, to which are added about twenty friars assigned to various tasks. The students attending the Pontifical Antonianum and Gregorian Universities are about forty percent each. The rest attend the Pontifical Lateran University and other universities and institutes.
This academic year also coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the current structure of the Collegio, which moved to its current location in 1968. The anniversary was celebrated this past June. For those who have not seen the commemorative volume prepared by Br. Benedict Vadekkekara, we are offering the file here for download.
Download PDF of the book – in Italian
the International College ‘San Lorenzo da Brindisi’ of the Capuchin friars in Rome: At the Service of Formation (1908-2018)
Video
Photos
- By Br. Paweł Teperski OFMCap – Communications Office
- By Br. Bashir Ajaz OFMCap – Student at the Collegio