| Location
and history
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View of the Seminary from the olive
fields
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The
seminary of the Institute of Christ the King is located in
an ancient castle at Gricigliano near Florence in Tuscany,
Italy, only about 170 miles from Rome and the Vatican. This
castle is a medieval structure with four towers, a closed
middle court, and surrounding moat on three sides. The family
of the Counts of Martelli changed the medieval shape of the
castle in the late Renaissance to a noble summerhouse with
more subtle features. Several staterooms were opened and a
little theater served to entertain the Counts and their guests
in summertime. The castle is listed among the typical summer
villas of Tuscany, remodeled following the style of Palladio.
It majestically overlooks the valley of the River Sieve, which
flows into the River Arno running through Florence. Because
of its site in the dusky mountains of Tuscany, the castle
maintains a certain coolness even in the hot Italian summers.
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Seminary of Gricigliano
Villa Martelli
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The Martelli Family, Fontgombault,
the Institute
The last members
of the Martelli family, two spinsters that continued the pious
tradition of the family until their deaths, donated the building
and the surrounding vineyards and olive gardens of their estate
to the Benedictine Monastery of Fontgombauld in France. After
twelve years though, the abbot made the decision to close
the Priory that had been opened in the castle because of the
lack of Italian vocations. The monks then searched for another
religious community with the Traditional Mass, who would follow
them in fulfilling the last will of the pious Countesses with
the help of Augustinus Cardinal Mayer then president of the
Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei," the Institute
of Christ the King could step into the picture. There is certainly
a big difference between a Benedictine Priory set up somewhat
tentatively in an old castle and the motherhouse and seminary
of a Society of Apostolic Life with all its needs for more
and more accommodations for seminarians and guests. It took
much effort and a lot of generously donated funds to slowly
change the Institute's seminary over the years to what it
is now, adding as time went by new rooms, new offices, and
finally even a new chapel.
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Many
necessary projects
Still
today the restoration work is not finished, and the enormous
roof, the walls, and the building of the future library in
the former baroque greenhouse are always in need of a lot
of repair. Not only because of so many young men for whom
board and tuition has to be procured but also because of the
antiquity of the castle itself, our seminary somewhat resembles
a barrel without a bottom when it comes to finding the necessary
funds to maintain it adequately. So far, St. Joseph has always
helped us, through generous donors, to keep the barrel filled
at least for the most necessary expenses.
Studies
and manual works
Our seminarians not only live in
the seminary, which includes in its facilities a huge refectory
and a big kitchen, but the seminary serves also as their place
of intellectual work and study. For this reason, the superiors
had to install in another wing of the building appropriate
classrooms and also a conference hall with up-to-date teaching
equipment. Professors of Roman Universities, of the Sorbonne
and of the IPC Philosophical Faculty in Paris and also some
of our own priests with academic degrees teach a one-year
course of Spirituality, a two-year course of Philosophy, and
a four-year course of Theology as an obligatory formation
of all our candidates to the priesthood. Those members that
are not preparing themselves for priestly ordination do, nevertheless,
share part of this formation in a five-year period with selected
courses chosen for them by their superiors.
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The
intellectual formation is accompanied by a thoroughly human
formation, which includes general culture, priestly manners,
and quite an extensive amount of daily practical work in house
and garden. This combination has turned out to be very efficient
for the complete education of mind and body that we want to
give to our candidates. A purely intellectual formation is
never sufficient for a priest. If it does not go along with
a profound prayer life and the humility to accept practical
duties and fulfill them well, the personality of the priest
would certainly remain insufficiently formed.
A
community life style
For young men it is especially important to learn that
everyone who lives in a family whether it be a small or big
community has to take over responsibilities for the other,
but he also has to learn how to integrate his life into the
discipline that is the foundation of true charity towards
others. It is not always easy, and it will cost sacrifice
and mortification of the will, but in the end through free
obedience and hard work, it will give everyone joy and satisfaction.
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Seminarians
cleaning the moats
surrounding
the Seminary
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Prayer-life
Without any
doubt the most important element in seminary life is daily
contact with the Lord in the Holy Mass, the Holy Office, the
Rosary, and personal meditation. The seminarians get to know
not only the history and the rubrics of the Sacred Liturgy
but also its inner meaning and its great power for their spiritual
lives. Every single gesture has a profound signification and
every detail of the liturgy counts when it comes to our relationship
with the Lord.
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The
personal faith of our seminarians has to be measured by the
objective holiness of the liturgical mysteries and by the
unchangeable truth of Catholic Faith. Subjective piety and
objective grace have to form a unity linked by the celebration
of the traditional liturgy. Neither exteriorism nor pietism
can survive where a seminarian, under the guidance of the
authority of the Church, represented by his superiors strives
in his liturgical participation and his interior life to "do
what the Church does." This authentic Roman Catholic
harmony between subjective and objective, between nature and
grace, between the human and the Divine is a fruit of obedience
towards the tradition that the Lord himself has given and
guarantees to Holy Mother Church.
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Philosophy
with the Dr. Couillaud |
As
our founder, Monsignor Gilles Wach, S.T.D., frequently quotes:
"We do not save the Church, the Church saves us."
She does so because She follows the directions of the Lord
himself who has died for this redemption on the Cross and
who has founded the Church as the instrument to prolong His
salvation through the centuries. In its seminary, the Institute
of Christ the King wishes to form faithful "administrators
of the Holy Mysteries" that do nothing else than what
Christ wants them to do for souls: bring them through the
sacrament of the Church to Him. |
