December 2020

Dear friends, I am Fr. Dermot Ryan, Vice Rector of the College. At this moment I would like to offer you an affectionate greeting from the two communities of seminarians and priests at our Pontifical International College Maria Mater Ecclesiae here in Rome. It has been a difficult year for everyone. Here, too, some priests and seminarians have been infected with the Covid-19. At the beginning of this new year 2021 we hope

Advent is the Latin transcription "Adventus" which refers to the act of arrival, to the fact of having arrived; the poets of Rome spoke of the "arrival of the day". What the Church celebrates is the advent of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The very title of this time of preparation which could designate the feast of Christmas itself shows enough the relationship it holds with the celebration and the time of

This last Sunday of ordinary time, Sunday of Christ the King, the Holy Mess has been presided over by Msg. Joël Mercier, Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy, where the ministries of lectorate and acolyte have been conferred. These two ministries are conferred in the stage of theological studies (or configurator), before diaconal ordination, so that they can exercise them for a suitable period and better prepare themselves for the

Holiness is the recognition of the Church for men and women distinguished by their exemplary life due to a developed divine virtue which constitutes a model to be followed for the faithful whose Church presents to the faith of her subjects and of the whole world. Is it possible today to be holy or holy? We respond positively without denying some obstacles that participate in the path of holiness. The saints

The Holy Father Francis published on Saturday, October 3, on the feast of St. Francis on the 4th of the same month, the encyclical “fratelli tutti", where he says he wants to give a "humble contribution to reflection so that, faced with different current ways of eliminating or ignoring others, we are able to react with a new dream of fraternity and social friendship that is not limited to words".   The

The rector of the Maria Mater Ecclesiae  Fr. Enrique Tapia, L.C. has just published a book on vocational discernment in the light of the doctrine and life of Saint John of Avila. Referring to the book, H.E. Bishop Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong, secretary of the seminars for the Congregation for the Clergy, tells us: "This work addresses one of the central themes in priestly formation: vocational discernment. Deepening this argument, based

Holy Mass at the altar of St. John Paul II, with Mons. Jorge C. Patrón Wong and the community of seminarians of PCIMME This Sunday, September 20, at the beginning of the new academic year, the seminarians of the College had the opportunity to celebrate Holy Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, at the altar of the tomb of St. John Paul II. The mass was presided by H.E.

Fr. Florián Rodero, L.C., has been for almost 30 years spiritual director of so many young seminarians at the Mater Ecclesiae College. Welcoming the opportunity of this change in mission, we asked him to write, albeit briefly, a testimony of what these past years have been like for him in the beautiful work of training future priests for the people of God. The essential mission of the priest is the salvation