Pope Benedict to visit local Roman seminary Friday evening

Vatican City, Feb 12, 2010 / 08:55 am

The Holy Father will be making his annual visit to the Roman Major Seminary on Friday. He will join the seminarians and their rector in celebration on the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Trust, patroness of the seminary.

At six on Friday afternoon, Pope Benedict will pay a visit to the Roman Major Seminary, where he will be met by the Cardinal Vicar of Rome Agostino Vallini and the seminary's rector, Msgr. Giovanni Tani.

While there, the Holy Father will lead a group of seminarians from the Major Seminary, two other seminaries and two colleges in scriptural readings. He will stay with them afterward for dinner, before returning to the Vatican.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Msgr. Tani said that this year marks the first time that all of the seminarians from the other seminaries and colleges of the Diocese of Rome will be attending the celebration.

The rector added that the Feast of Our Lady of Trust is the "biggest and most beautiful" feast of the year for them. This feast, he continued, "calls us back to the fundamental signs of spirituality that are formed inside the Roman Seminary."

"In the course of the years of formation, the students learn to understand what trust means: it is really faith, but it is a faith of abandonment, a faith of openness, of confidence through Mary by living with the Lord."

The Roman Major Seminary is located on the opposite side of Rome from the Vatican, and is on the premises of the basilica of St. John Lateran, the official seat of the Bishop of Rome.