The Pontifical Greek College of St. Athanasius ( it, Pontificio Collegio Greco di Sant’Atanasio, el, Ποντιφίκιο Ελληνικό Κολλέγιο Αγίου Αθανασίου) is a

Pontifical College A pontifical university is an ecclesiastical university established or approved directly by the Holy See, composed of three main ecclesiastical faculties (Theology, Philosophy and Canon Law) and at least one other faculty. These academic institute ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

that observes the

Byzantine rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. Th ...

. It was founded in 1577 by Pope

Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

as a college for the training of priests and seminarians of the

Arbëreshë people The Arbëreshë (; sq, Arbëreshët e Italisë; it, Albanesi d'Italia), also known as Albanians of Italy or Italo-Albanians, are an Albanian ethnolinguistic group in Southern Italy, mostly concentrated in scattered villages in the region ...

, who profess the Greek-

. More recently, they were joined by seminarians from anywhere in Europe or the Mediterranean where the Byzantine rite was practiced:

Melkite The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...

Arabs, Greeks,

Greek-Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

Albanians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Belarusians, Slovaks; in past centuries, before the establishment of autonomous colleges, also Ukrainian and Ruthenian students. It also hosted representatives of the Orthodox world. Its patron saint is

Saint Athanasius Athanasius I of Alexandria, ; cop, ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲡⲓⲁⲡⲟⲥⲧⲟⲗⲓⲕⲟⲥ or Ⲡⲁⲡⲁ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲁ̅; (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, ...

. The college Church of

Sant'Atanasio The Church of Saint Athanasius ( it, Sant’Atanasio, la, S. Athanasii), also known as Sant'Atanasio dei Greci (, ''Ekklisia Agiou Athanasiou ton Ellinon''), is a Greek Catholic titular church located on Via del Babuino 149, near the Spanish step ...

is also a

titular church In the Catholic Church, a titular church is a church in Rome that is assigned to a member of the clergy who is created a cardinal. These are Catholic churches in the city, within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Rome, that serve as honorary de ...

History

Foundation

Its foundation dates back to cardinal

Giulio Antonio Santorio Giulio Antonio Santorio (6 June 1532 – 9 May 1602) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Biography Santorio was born in Caserta. He served as Archbishop of Santa Severina from 1566 until his death.

. As protector of the

Basilian monks Basilian monks are Roman Catholic monks who follow the rule of Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea (330–379). The term 'Basilian' is typically used only in the Catholic Church to distinguish Greek Catholic monks from other forms of monastic li ...

he set up a reformed congregation for the Italo-Albanian people with the GreekThe College was named as "Greek" because it intended to specify which rite was practiced (the Eastern rite) to differentiate it from the Roman-Latin, and did not refer at all to the ethnicity of its seminarian or practitioner students. or Byzantine rite in 1573, from which he developed the idea of a seminary for a seminarians of the eastern rite, which opened in 1576 and was approved by Gregory XIII with a bull on 13 January the following year. The priests it trained were intended to oppose Turkish expansion into former

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

lands in Balkan, Greece and in the Christian east in general, prevent the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

spreading there and help bring the Eastern Churches back into communion with Rome. Between 1576 and 1577 the College was hosted by several houses in Rome, until in 1577 it found a permanent home on what is now

Via del Babuino Via del Babuino is a street in the historic centre of Rome (Italy), located in the rione Campo Marzio. It connects Piazza del Popolo to Piazza di Spagna and is part of the complex of streets known as Tridente. History The origins of Via del Bab ...

. Its students came from the

Italo-Albanian Greek Catholic Church The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church ( la, Ecclesia Catholica Italo-Albanica; it, Chiesa Cattolica Italo-Albanese; sq, Kisha Katolike-Bizantine Arbëreshë), Italo-Albanian Byzantine-Catholic Church or Italo-Albanian Church, is one of the 23 E ...

in Italy, Greece, the Arab dioceses of the

Melkite Greek Catholic Church el, Μελχιτική Ελληνική Καθολική Εκκλησία , image = Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Damascus, Syria.jpg , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = , abbreviatio ...

, as well as from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

Later history

The college was managed by the Roman Curia during the peak of the Curia's reorganisation by

pope Sixtus V Pope Sixtus V ( it, Sisto V; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order ...

. From 1591 to 1604 it was managed by the Dominicans, then by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and then from 1773 onwards by the

Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

. From 1803 to 1845 no teaching took place at the College - instead, its students attended the College of the Propagation of the Faith (now the

Pontifical Urbaniana University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian,; it, Pontificia Università Urbaniana. is a pontifical university under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of People ...

). In 1886 the college reopened under the management of the

Resurrectionist Congregation The Resurrectionists officially named the Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ ( la, Congregatio a Resurrectione Domini Nostri Jesu Christi), abbreviated CR is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right ...

, before shifting back to the Jesuits in 1890 and to the

Benedictines , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

in 1897. In 1919 it was put under the charge of the Belgian Benedictine community, headed since 1956 by

Chevetogne Abbey Chevetogne Abbey, also known as the Monastery of the Holy Cross, is a Catholic Benedictine monastery dedicated to Christian unity located in the Belgian village of Chevetogne in the municipality of Ciney, province of Namur, halfway between Brusse ...

. Its current principal is Archimandrite Manuel Nin, and its current spiritual father is Giorgio Mifsud OSB from the Melkite Diocese of Acre in Israel .

Rite

For many years the seminarians of the college only used the

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. Th ...

and rejected the

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

, leading to constant disagreements with seminarians who used the Latin Rite. The dispute was resolved by

pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

, who referred to

pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.Antipope ...

's 1755 bull 'Allatae Sunt', which repeated both rites' validity. He also pointed out that the college's church of

had four Latin altars and so both rites could be practiced on an equal footing.

Works of art

The college's collection of religious art includes works by Francesco Traballesi.

References

External links

*http://www.collegiogreco.blogspot.co.uk/ *http://www.liturgiabizantina.it/S_Atanasio/Collegio%20Greco.htm {{authority control Roman Colleges 1576 establishments in the Papal States Educational institutions established in the 16th century Eastern Catholicism in Italy Italo-Albanian Catholic Church Greek diaspora in Europe Seminaries and theological colleges in Italy Greece–Italy relations