College Gita to Genazzano
Posted on 16. Apr, 2018 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Mother of Good Counsel – Prayer Card from Genazzano
Prayer to Our Lady of Good Counsel – Prayer Card from Genazzano
On Sunday 15th April the whole College community made a gita to the Shrine of Our Lady, Mother of Good Counsel, in the town of Genazzano, about an hour’s drive from the centre of Rome. The afternoon’s itinerary included a visit to the Castello Colonna, the ancient seat of the Colonna family and, for a time, the Borgia family. The town of Genazzano was famous for contributing a significant portion of its revenues to the building of the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome. The Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel was built in the 13th century to recognise the town’s commitment to the great Roman Basilica of Mary. Later, in the 15th century, the image of Our Lady, Mother of Good Counsel, is said to have miraculously appeared in the Church. Over the generations since many Popes have had great devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel.
During our pilgrimage the Rector reminded us all, seminarians and priests alike, that what are needed today in the Church are seminarians and priests of virtue, men who live at the higher level. He exhorted us to pray fervently to Our Lady, Mother of Good Counsel, for the help that we need when making important decisions, for the assistance we need to live lives of virtue.
Visit of Mary Immaculate College Students
Posted on 28. Feb, 2018 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Students from Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, pictured with Bishop Brendan Leahy, Fr Paul Finnerty (L), Fr Tom Norris (R) and Dr Patricia Kieran (Front R)
On Thursday 22nd February 2018 students from the Faculty of Education at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, joined the College community for Mass. Our celebrant that evening happened to be Bishop Brendan Leahy of the Diocese of Limerick, whom the students know well.
The students are pictured here together with Bishop Leahy, Fr Paul Finnerty from the Diocese of Limerick and the Vice-Rector of the Irish College, Fr Tom Norris, our Spiritual Director, and Dr Patricia Kieran, Lecturer in Religious Education at Mary Immaculate College.
Forty Hours Solemn Eucharistic Devotion
Posted on 27. Feb, 2018 by John Coughlan in Carousel, Uncategorized
Santísimo by LaRedCultural is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
The Forty Hours Eucharistic Devotion holds a special place in the spiritual life of the community at the Pontifical Irish College. During Lent, from Thursday 1st until Saturday 3rd March, the residents of the College availed of the opportunity to gather as a community before the Blessed Sacrament and to pray before the Lord in continuous solemn adoration.
This distinct time of prayer gave us time to deepen our appreciation of the importance of the mystery of the Eucharist in our lives. Forty is a significant number. Noah was on the ark for forty days. The Israelites spent forty years in the desert. Jesus fasted for forty days, and it is maintained that Jesus lay in the tomb for approximately forty hours from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. This period of prayer also reminded us of the length of time Jesus spent with his disciples between the Resurrection and the Ascension.
The Forty Hours Eucharistic Devotion was a grace-filled opportunity for the College as we gathered together as a community to recognize the great gift we have in the Holy Eucharist. This Lent the intention of the community gathered in prayer over the days of the Forty Hours Eucharistic Devotion was the protection of all human life from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death.
Choose Life! see chooselife2018.ie
Throughout the period of Lent the community at the Irish College have committed to praying together twice a week for the same intention of the protection of all human life.
Roman Station Masses for Lent
Posted on 22. Feb, 2018 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Walking up the Via Merulana towards the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
Waiting for the Basilica to be opened (6:50am)!
For the season of Lent, in preparation to renew our baptismal promises at Easter, many of us give something up. The traditional tasks of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, are at the core of our Christian practices. And, there is the tradition now of taking up something for Lent.
An example of taking something up is the ancient tradition of making a pilgrimage to a different Church each day during Lent to celebrate Mass. The community here at the Irish College take up this practice of the Roman Station Masses. They take place every day during Lent at a different Church in the city. As a community we commit to at least one of these Masses each week.We also take responsibility for serving two of the Masses each year.
On Wednesday morning 21st February 2018, we made our way to Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four major Papal Basilicas here in Rome known fondly in English as “Mary Majors”, for 7am Mass. This is the Basilica that Pope Francis visits before and after every apostolic visit that he makes. In this Basilica of Our Lady we find a relic of the manger of Jesus in a reliquary enshrined below the Altar.
Further information on the Roman Station Masses can be found at: https://www.pnac.org/station-churches/the-roman-station-liturgy/ . We are very grateful to the community at the Pontifical North American College for all that they do each year to facilitate this beautiful pilgrimage tradition.
St Mary’s College Singers
Posted on 20. Feb, 2018 by John Coughlan in Carousel, Uncategorized
St Mary’s College Singers pictured with the Vice-Rector, Fr Paul Finnerty
On Sunday 18th February 2018, the St Mary’s College Singers visited the College. They sang at the Sunday Celebration of the Eucharist.
St. Mary’s College Singers, established in 2008, is a choir of 47 Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass voices from those that have a connection with St. Mary’s College C.S.Sp, in Rathmines, Dublin, an all-boys’ primary & secondary school, founded in 1890 and run by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. We sing a wide variety of music, both sacred and secular, contemporary and classical. Our primary role is in supporting the liturgy in school masses, communion, confirmation etc, but we also perform stand alone concerts and carol services in both the school and in the community. We thoroughly enjoy singing and hope we give some of that joy to our community and audiences.
The highlight of our year has been our participation with the community and congregation, at Holy Mass, at the Irish Pontifical College Rome where we received a very warm welcome for which we are sincerely grateful to you all.
Go raibh mile maith agat agus síochán a bheith leat.
Vespers for Christian Unity
Posted on 24. Jan, 2018 by John Coughlan in Carousel
The Most Reverend Bernard Ntahoturi, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See and Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, with some of the members of staff and seminarians of the Pontifical Irish College on the occasion of Vespers at the College marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Your right hand, O Lord,
glorious in power
(Ex 15:6)
Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi, Director of The Anglican Centre in Rome since last year, visited the Pontifical Irish College on 24th January 2018. As part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Archbishop Ntahoturi was invited to preach at Vespers celebrated with the College Community.
The archbishop’s homily focused on St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 3, verses 16-21. He reminded us that St Paul wrote these words while he was in prison, and that the people of the Caribbean, the region that selected the theme and composed the resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2018, are a diverse set of peoples marked by forms of enslavement and imprisonment similar to St Paul. That is why they identified with the Gospel of Christ, even though it arrived to the Caribbean with European colonialists. The Gospel was welcomed by the people of the Caribbean because in the Gospel they found freedom of heart and reason to pursue freedom from that which enslaves.
The contemporary Caribbean is deeply marked by the dehumanizing project of colonial exploitation. In the aggressive pursuit of mercantile gains, the colonisers codified brutal systems which traded human beings, and their forced labour. … Today Caribbean Christians of many different traditions see the hand of God active in the ending of enslavement. It is a uniting experience of the saving action of God which brings freedom. For this reason the choice of the song of Moses and Miriam (Ex 15:1-21), as the motif of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2018 was considered a most appropriate one. It is a song of triumph over oppression.
(c.f. The Vatican Website, Resources for The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, 2018)
Visit of Archbishop Jorge Patrón Wong
Posted on 19. Jan, 2018 by John Coughlan in Carousel, Uncategorized
Archbishop Jorge Patrón Wong with Fr Paul Gitter and the seminarians from St John Vianney College Seminary
On Tuesday 16th January 2018, Archbishop Jorge Patrón Wong, the Secretary for Seminaries at the Congregation for the Clergy, visited the Irish College.
He visited a group of seminarians from the St John Vianney College Seminary, Minnesota, USA, who were concluding their “Semester in Rome” programme. This group spent the Autumn semester here at the Pontifical Irish College from September 2017 to January 2018. Their formation itinerary during their time in Rome included opportunities to make pilgrimages to the burial places of Ss Peter & Paul, cultural trips within the city, as well as throughout Italy and Europe, and including modules in philosophy, art & architecture, and the Italian language at some of the Universities here in Rome. We hope that they were enriched by their time here as much as the seminary community was encouraged and energised by their presence with us over the past few months. At the end of January a new group of “SJV men” will arrive to commence the semester here.
“Men in Christ. Men of the Church. Men for Others.”
Included in the picture is Fr Paul Gitter, who is the Director of Formation for the St John Vianney men at the Irish College.
More photos are available on the Irish College flickr stream.
Notice
Posted on 12. Dec, 2017 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Notice
As a result of one of the “Pinus pinea” trees falling down in the garden of the “Pontificio Collegio Irlandese,” it was necessary to test all of the remaining trees to verify if they are safe. The result of this test showed that there is a structural defect in the remaining trees due to old age. Further to this, all of the trees will be removed and replaced. This process begins on the 14th December 2017.
For further information regarding permissions and authorisations, please click here.
For further information regarding the planned work, please click here.
Avviso
A seguito della caduta di un pino “Pinus pinea” nel giardino del “Pontificio Collegio Irlandese,” si è ritenuto necessario far analizzare tutti gli alberi del Collegio. Il risultato di tale verifica ha evidenziato dei difetti strutturali dei pini “Pinus pinea”, dovuti soprattutto all’età avanzata degli esemplari. I lavori di abbatimento inizieranno il giorno 14 Dicembre 2017.
Per ulteriori informazioni riguardo le autorizzazioni ricevute, cliccare qui.
Per ulteriori informazioni riguardo la planimetria dei lavori, cliccare qui.
Advent Liturgy of Readings with Carols
Posted on 11. Dec, 2017 by John Coughlan in Carousel
The annual Advent liturgy of readings with Carols took place on Sunday 10th December at 5pm. There were many who joined us from around the city for this joyous occasion in preparation for the Nativity.
You can find more photos here.
Fr Ragheed Ganni Memorial Cup
Posted on 24. Nov, 2017 by John Coughlan in Carousel
The image of Fr Ragheed Ganni in the Apse of the College Chapel of All the Saints of Ireland
On Saturday 11th November, the Irish College hosted the annual Fr Ragheed Ganni Memorial Cup. We welcomed teams from the Pontifical North American College, the Pontifical Beda College, The Venerable English College, The Pontifical Scots College, and the Marist College. The first match kicked off at 1pm, and eventually the Irish College emerged victorious! After the presentation, gratitude was expressed by our Rector to all of the teams who had participated. We enjoyed a meal together and finished the afternoon by gathering for Solemn Vespers. Thank you to all who made this occasion a celebration!
For more photos of the occasion, please check out the College flickr account.