Spiritual Formation

The spiritual formation in the College is Christocentric, based on sacramental life and prayer, orientated to form a priestly conscience and a service to the Church.

Therefore, seminarians are invited to grow in the great loves of the priest: personal love for Christ the Lord, model, criterion and example of priestly and apostolic life. Filial love for Mary Most Holy, Mother of the Lord and for her own vocation. Love for the Church, wife of Christ, and for the Pope, his visible head and Vicar of Christ on earth. Love for the call to the priesthood, a free gift from God the Father, which translates into conviction and fidelity to the commitments assumed, in service to others and in the practice of charity so that, imitating the Good Shepherd, they let themselves to be pervaded of Christ’s love for humanity.

In the formation of young seminarians, liturgical and sacramental life is cultivated through the celebration of the daily Eucharist, personal and community prayer, the promotion of frequent confession, the personal search for holiness under the guidance of a spiritual director qualified, filial devotion to the Blessed Virgin and Eucharistic worship.

As specific activities to promote deep spiritual formation, the charters of the Pontifical International College Maria Mater Ecclesiae, in addition to the Eucharistic celebration, foresees: daily personal meditation, the prayer of the liturgy of the hours in community, the daily prayer of the rosary, Eucharistic adoration at the end of each day with an examination of conscience and the Completes. In addition to daily practices of piety, there are weekly spirituality and priestly formation conferences, the monthly spiritual retreat, the community Via Crucis during Lent, pilgrimages to various shrines, and annual spiritual exercises.