Anniversary celebrations launched this spring for the Pontifical Canadian College underline more than just its function as a stable residence for priests studying in Rome, as important as that is. The year-long program also highlights the Canadian contribution to the universal Church from the perspectives of history and charity, its cultural role and its service to the Church in Canada.
The Canadian embassy to the Holy See only opened in 1970. But the college, which opened in 1888, has been “the Canadian cultural centre in Rome since its founding,” said Sulpician Father Éric Sylvestre, pss, rector for the past five years.
Furthermore, the college provides a space where priests from across Canada can get to know each other and “develop relationships that will serve the Canadian Church in the future,” said Sylvestre. The college “helps to create links that help the Church in Canada become more united.”
Sylvestre said he also believes the college has a responsibility to gather the Canadian Catholic community in Rome for the purpose of creating “a network of solidarity” among Canadian lay people and priests and in view of supporting each other through prayer and possibly collaborating in future projects back home.
The rector of the college also coordinates the Canadian bishops’ Ad Limina visits with the Pope and serves as the Roman postulator for Canadians whose cases have been submitted as causes for sainthood.
Sylvestre said he is currently overseeing the causes of four Canadians. He expects news on two of them by year’s end — Jeanne Mance, a laywoman and co-founder of Montreal, and Mother Rosalie Cadron-Jetté, who founded the Soeurs de la Miséricorde (Sisters of Mercy) to care for unwed mothers. Both may be recognized as Venerable.
“The college is useful and appreciated by the Canadian bishops and the Holy See,” Marc Cardinal Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and a former student at the college (1972-74) told The Catholic Register.
“It serves as a link between the Church in Canada and the central Church,” he continued. “The purpose of the college is to assure formation for priests but intra-ecclesial relations as well.”
The idea for a Canadian College was proposed by an English cardinal, Edward Henry Howard, who believed Canadian priests had their own specific needs. He turned toward the Sulpicians, whose mission is the formation of priests. The latter decided to construct a four-storey, 50-bed college on land they owned on Via Quattro Fontane.
Due to a reduction in occupancy, the Sulpicians sold the building and moved in 1974 to a temporary location. Three years later, they moved into their current residence on Via Crescenzio, just a 10-minute walk from St. Peter’s Square.
Currently, the college rents space out of the motherhouse of the Ursuline Sisters. It can accommodate up to 21 students and the rector. Another apartment in nearby Cavour Square can house up to seven.
Five years ago, there were only about 12 residents. The college is currently operating at full capacity with 28 students, though it has no plans to expand, said Sylvestre. About 70 per cent are Canadian. Since its founding, about 3,000 student priests have resided there.
The trilingual college was never intended to house seminarians, who instead usually reside at the English, French or North American colleges.
The anniversary program runs until June 2014. In April, St. Michael’s Choir School from Toronto launched the program with a concert at Canadian Martyrs Church in Rome. The performance honoured the choir’s founder and former college student, Msgr. John Edward Ronan. Another concert is planned for May 2014 to honour a former rector, Paul-Émile Cardinal Léger. All proceeds will go to the charity he founded.
The anniversary year officially opened in March with the visit of Governor General David Johnston, who was in Rome for the inauguration of Pope Francis’ pontificate.
Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto will preside at a Mass in November and Archbishop Cyprien Lacroix of Quebec will preside the closing Mass. McGill University history professor John Zucchi will present his book on the college next February.