‘A world set apart’: seminary life before Vatican II, a study in cultural anthropology

Abstract

The following account reflects the life of the Venerabile Collegio Inglese (the Venerable English College) in Rome through the eyes of a seminarian aged 17 when he arrived at the College on 6 October 1955. During the three years he was a student at the Venerabile, he kept a daily diary. It is upon this, and upon the very detailed letters sent home, that the present article draws. The contrast with seminary life today is sharp; indeed, I doubt whether those training for the priesthood today would recognise such an account. Following the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s nothing short of a revolution took place. The present author did not experience that and therefore can only comment briefly throughout on the signs of such a revolution as they have been told by others who came after.

Keywords:

• English College Rome
• seminary life
• priest training
• Oxford University
• Vatican Council

Notes on contributor

Richard Pring was a student at the Venerabile in Rome from 1955 to 1958. He was subsequently the first Professor of Educational Studies and Director of the Department of Education at the University of Oxford from 1989 to 2003.

Notes

1. The Collegio Romano (or Roman College) was constructed by order of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 as the Jesuit house of studies, attended by the English College students.

2. The lectio was the set lecture, usually set out in the professor's text book, which was distributed (at cost) during the year. The questiones disputatae were the problems which the thesis was addressing, set out through the opinions of particular philosophers over the ages. Repetitio was the going over of the thesis subsequently – back at College with the help of the repetitore. See Boland (2007, 20).

3. ‘Minor Logic’ consisted of formal rules of logic such as those of the syllogism.

4. ‘Worker priests’ was a missionary initiative by the French Catholic Church in particular for priests to take up work in such places as car factories to experience the everyday life of the working class.

5. ‘Ordinarii’ is the name given to those Anglican clergymen who, by a special dispensation of the Pope, were able, on becoming Catholics, to continue as priests.