Vatican City, Jan 21, 2012 / 05:38 am
Pope Benedict XVI advised the seminarians of his diocese that it takes “integrity, maturity, asceticism, constancy and heroic fidelity” to be a good seminarian and become a great young priest.
As Bishop of Rome, the Pope addressed the students and staff of the Almo Collegio Capranica, one of the oldest seminaries of Rome, on Jan. 20 in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.
The seminary is celebrating its 555th anniversary on Jan. 21, the Feast of St. Anges of Rome.
Pope Benedict explained that seminary life must be founded on “a solid spiritual life animated by an intense relationship with God, as individuals and in the community, with a particular care for liturgical celebrations and frequent recourse to the sacraments.”
And once ordained, he added, priestly life “requires an ever-increasing thirst for sanctity, a clear 'sensus Ecclesiae' and an openness to fraternity without exclusion or bias.”
St. Agnes was a young Roman woman who lived between the 3rd and 4th century. She chose to die, rather than surrender her virginity. The Pope pointed to her example as one for the seminarians to follow.
“For St. Agnes martyrdom meant agreeing to spend her young life, generously and freely, completely and without reserve, so that the Gospel could be announced as the truth and beauty which illuminates existence.”