FEATURE
Following the Holy Doctor Abbé James Baxter on life at the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest Seminary at Gricigliano ‘In all things, let us advance steadily and simply – nothing by force, all through love.’ Such is seminary formation in the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Patience, humility, obedience – ‘little virtues’, as St Francis de Sales calls them – are the chosen means to forming holy priests, the desired end of our formation. However, since there is no onesize-fits-all programme for sanctity, we follow the holy Doctor, who entreats us ‘to be good at what we are’, which means that through the collaboration with the grace of God, each man must carefully discern his vocation, developing his own various talents and gifts according to the Will of the Lord and eliminating from his character those traits which are opposed to the divine teachings. Although this means the ongoing struggle of a lifetime, there are appropriate instruments which give us the strength never to give up this battle: a fraternal community, the participation in the mysteries of the
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liturgy, and the continuous study of the rich tradition of the Church as reflected by Scripture and the Magisterium. A year of spirituality spent at Gricigliano before beginning to study philosophy and theology is of great importance, as a vocation to the Institute is one to a particular form of priestly life - i.e a community of secular canons - with the particular spirituality of the Institute, which is drawn from
our three co-patrons: St Benedict, as the symbol of unity between faith, culture, liturgy, and life; St Thomas Aquinas, as the beacon of fidelity to the Church's doctrine and the papacy; and St Francis de Sales, as the gentleman priest of an ever-growing love for those in material and spiritual distress. Thus, does one’s seminary begin as it means to go on, with a formation which is spiritual but also thoroughly human, including general culture,
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