ROME, OCT. 21, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Teresianum Faculty of Rome continues to encourage students to make the study of theology a school of life.
“The study of theology requires humility and the search for truth as well as charity and love,” said the rector, Father Virgilio Pasquetto, at the opening of the academic year.
He encouraged students to “transform study into a life experience and a genuine spiritual journey.”
The opening Mass at the Teresianum took place Oct. 15, feast of St. Teresa of Jesus. The Eucharistic concelebration was presided over by the vicar general of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, Father Zdenko Krizic.
In the homily, the vicar said that for the saint of Avila, “knowledge of Christ is attained following a double path: the intellectual path, through theological study, and mystical knowledge, through prayer and the sacramental life.”
“Both one and the other are necessary to live an authentic evangelical faith and to be able to transmit it to others,” said Father Krizic.
St. Teresa, he said, didn’t want to only know more, “but to live more, that is, to practice what has been learnt.”
“Teresa was very unhappy with her theological formation and suffered as a result, as she felt unable to understand or explain many spiritual phenomena of her life,” continued the vicar.
“But in the end,” continued Father Krizic, “with the help of learned men and above all by practicing the virtues, she learned by experience what she didn’t know because of lack of university formation.”
The Teresianum, belonging to the Order of Discalced Carmelites, is located next to the Roman Basilica of St. Pancreas.
