Feast and Festivity

Diego Velazquez's The Immaculate Conception (1618)

On Monday, the NAC joined the universal Church in celebrating the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the only non-Sunday feast day other than Christmas that is always a holy day of obligation. The feast day has particular importance for our community as the Immaculate Conception of Mary is our college patroness and the day we celebrate its birthday each year. Cardinal John Patrick Foley of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre celebrated Mass for us here at the college, followed by a nice pranzo complete with toasts to Pope, country, and college. Several bishops, ambassadors, university deans, and other VIPs were able to join us in the celebration as well.

This year's feast has a particular significance in that it kicks off the year-long celebrations marking the North American College's 150th year. In 1854, concerned about the status of the Church in America, Pope St. Pius IX sent Archbishop Gaetano Bedini as a legate to the United States to assess how Rome might be able to help the Church there. Bedini returned recommending, among other things, that a college be founded in Rome for American men studying for the priesthood. A few years later in 1858 the Vatican purchased a block section of Humility Street in downtown Rome, originally a Dominican convent dating from 1598. The North American College officially opened December 8, 1858, with twelve seminarians.

In its first years, the NAC grew slowly, mostly trying to survive the various political upheavals both in Italy and at home. Though the political and social movement of Risorgimento often brought Italian nationals at odds with the Church, and eventually saw the end of the Papal States the NAC weathered the storm. Likewise, seminarians from both sides of the Civil War were present at the college from 1861-1865. In order to maintain peace and fraternity, all discussions of the war and of politics were strictly forbidden.

In 1924, the American bishops purchased ten acres of the Villa Gabrielli on the Janiculum Hill, near the Vatican and overlooking the old city, as a new site for the North American College. The old site became the Casa Santa Maria, a house for postgraduate priests studying in Rome. The new building project on the land was delayed by World War II (during which time the college in fact closed), but in 1953, the new building of the North American College opened with nearly 200 students as residents.

Since then the North American College has done well for itself, training men from America to be priests back home while still providing the vibrant experience that is living and studying in Rome at the heart of the Church. The college has been graced by the visit of various popes as well, including Pope John XXIII in October 1959 for the college's centennial, Paul VI in 1970, and John Paul II in 1980. We keep up the hope, despite the slim chances, that our current pontiff might find the time in his busy schedule to visit us during our sesquicentennial!

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Thanks to all of those that sent along Thanksgiving wishes. We had a nice time here, with a lovely Mass and a huge meal, complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, pumpkin pie ... and pasta! It was quite the feast. Thanksgiving weekend is traditionally known as New Man Weekend, as it is their first time away from home for a big holiday and a chance for them to grow closer as a group. On Friday, we had a special dinner for our class and some of the staff of the college; it was a great mix of American barbecue and Mexican food, probably the two cuisines hardest to find here. On Saturday, the New Men put on the long-awaited and much-anticipated New Man Show, a variety and vaudeville comedy show of sorts, done each year by the first year students as an opportunity to have some fun and show off their class spirit. It was a rousing success. And on Sunday, in a further effort to bond as a class, the New Men participated in the annual Spaghetti Bowl, a football game between the first years and everyone else. Although we lost (it's nearly unheard of not to lose), we kept it close and competitive till the end. It was indeed a good chance to, in some sense, define the Class of 2012 for the rest of the school. I feel privileged to be a part of a great group of men seeking to serve the Lord and his Church, and I am confident that the NAC community will benefit from its presence.