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650 Years of the Venerable English College

English Catholics are marking a milestone of their presence in Rome.   I'm Fr. Mark Harold, the vice rector of the Venerable English College right here in the heart of Rome. We're celebrating 650 years here on the via de Monserrato And I'd like to bring you in and show you around our historic building.     These hallowed halls have hosted many pilgrims and seen thousands of seminarians through to the priesthood over the centuries.   Fr. Mark Harold Vice Rector, Venerable English College The foundation of this place that we're celebrating this weekend on this site dates back to 1362. That 650 years ago. Indeed on the 27th of  January, 1362, we have a deed of foundation of the Hospice of St. Thomas - the confraternity of St. Thomas of Canterbury, which was founded on this site to welcome English people, English pilgrims and also English merchants who traveled for commercial purposes and came and stayed on this site. So, it's a really historic place and we believ that it's the oldest English institution anywhere in the world outside of England.   So, it served as a hospice for its first 200 years, but then during the English reformation, Pope Gregory XIII asked that a seminary be founded there.   This is its principal function today, a house of formation for future priests.   And, the college is thriving. There are now 45 students, up from 25, three-and-a-half years ago. Most are from England and Wales, 4 come from Scandinavia.   Being a student here is for the most part a joy. I came when I was 22, having been to the university back home in Leeds. But, coming to Rome as a young man was exciting ... is exciting. It's a foreign city, a capital city. There's so much in Rome to experience, from the ancient, historical Rome to the Renaissance Rome, the Rome of the Church and the Rome of the counter-reformation. The Rome of the modern world of culture and art. It's just an incredible place to be and it's a real privilege and  it was, when I reflect on it, such a formation, which is word we like to use for priestly study.   Today's students follow in the footsteps of saints.   Fr. Mark Harold Vice Rector, Venerable English College Along this corridor, the main corridor of the English College, there are many marble incriptions, most of them in Latin, commemorating visits of various popes to the English college. This plaque, however, that you see behind me, is a plaque in English put up about 20 years ago commemorating our martyrs of this college. There are 44 former students of the English College who were martyred during the Reformation and these are listed here. Ten of them have been canonized, beginning with St. Ralph Sherwin, the proto-martyr, martyred on the 1st of December, 1581. And, many of these, you'll see as you look at them, are classic, English names. Names like Heydock, Buxton, Lee, Hart, Southwell, Morse. They're all classic names and it reminds us very much of our heritage and that we walk here on English soil in Rome, but we commemorate those who walked before us and walked before us with great courage and great faith.   And, as a long line of cardinals, such as Blessed John Henry Newman  and, here in the beautiful chapel, St. George and Our Lady of Walsingham look on, the students are able to improve themselves for their future service to the Church as priests.   I was here for six years. People say, why does it take six years to train us. We often do seven years to train our students now.. It's to allow that development of your person, particularly in a spiritual way, your development of a life with Christ and in prayer, and to make it become a part of you. It's not just about acquiring knowledge or acquiring skill, it's about growing in Christ.   Under the gaze of those who have gone before them, these Englishmen in Rome carry on the traditions six-and-a-half centuries in the making.