The Institute of Christ the King & Florence

The last few days of my week I spent at the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest’s St. Phillip Neri Seminary in Gricigliano, a region of Italy just west of Florence. Thursday afternoon I took a train from Siena to Florence. I had an hour-long layover waiting for my next train so I grabbed a cappuccino and pastry at a local café while I did some journaling. Then I got on a local train for the twenty-minute ride to Gricigliano. On arrival I was met by a French seminarian in cassock and fasha. From the station it is a five-minute grave-road ride up the closest hill to the seminary. The seminary, set in the rolling hills of Tuscany and overlooking the sleepy town of Sieci, is set in sloped fields of grape vines and olive trees, which when in season are picked by the seminarians for the home-made wine and olive oil produced at the seminary.  The mild yellow and orange-red brick roof of the seminary is a beautiful complimentary to the gentle shades of green that run throughout the landscape.

Currently a small crane stands in the center of seminary courtyard. The whole roof is currently being recovered. And the yellow walls are undergoing extensive renovation. The building is hundreds of years old and was originally one of the summer homes of a powerful Italian family, the Martelli Family, who had homes all throughout Europe.  Recently it belonged to French Benedictine monks, who when not receiving vocations from the region gave it to the Institute of Christ the King. The building is constantly undergoing renovation to compensate for its age.

At the iron gate entry I met Abbe Kotsko, a seminarian I met this past summer. Abbe is a French title that precedes the names of all the seminarians who have been studying for more than one year. He gave me a partial tour of the seminary before Vespers and dinner. One of the co-patrons of the Institute is St. Benedict and from him they take many aspects of traditional Benedictine spirituality and prayer structure. Having just spent a few days in Norcia with Benedictines who still keep to St. Benedict’s Rule rigorously, it was wonderful to see the similarities, the devotions and prayers taken by the Institute from St. Benedict. One of the obvious traditions is the Benedictine Prayer before and after meals that is used, and like the Benedictine meals, the seminary meals are typically had in silence, while there is a table reading, there is a lector who reads current events at the Vatican, writings of saints and other Church and religious related books.

After dinner there is about half an hour of free time, the seminarians are free to play chess, cards, or enjoy conversation before compline, night prayer. This is a lively time at the seminary because at all other times of the day there is a general rule of reservation and solitude around the seminary, there is no needless conversation or other liveliness, which is another aspect taken from St. Benedict. So for this half hour the seminarians really enjoy each others company. I met many seminarians during these evening free periods. The official language of the Institute is French, but there are enough American seminarians, and other English speakers to feel at home.

The bell rings and a sudden silence instantly falls over the room, conversations are truncated as everyone proceeds out the door into the evening chill towards the chapel. The chapel is dark, except for a few candles as the seminarians with their superiors, process into the chapel in surplus and biretta topped with the hallmark royal blue pom-pom. Compline is chanted in Latin according to the 1961 breviary. Afterwards the seminarians spend a few minutes in silent prayer before a statue of their principle patron, Our Lady. Each one files out on his own accord as the seminary goes to sleep for the night.

In the morning I went with a few other seminarians to the 7am private Mass of the financial director of the seminary, followed by a quick breakfast. Then Abbe and I were driven to the train station because we were going to see Florence for the day. We arrived in Florence and enjoyed the Cathedral, a few other churches, as well as a great flea market and a small food festival. We also went to the museum, Plazzia Vechio, where Florentine royalty once lived.

Saturday we were up in the morning, it was All Saints Day, so there was a Solemn Pontifical Mass at the Faldstool celebrated by an Italian bishop whose name escapes me presently. It was a beautiful Mass, in attendance were a few laity as well as the Sister Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus, which is the sister community of the Institute.

After Mass there was a huge celebratory lunch appropriate for such a glorious feast day. The five course French inspired meal went on for hours, with lots of food, wine, and the restriction of silence temporarily suspended, the Institute clearly demonstrated how celebration of the saints and the joy of the feast flows out of the Liturgy and into the entire day of the faithful catholic. After lunch we all moved into a sitting room for coffee and after lunch liquors on a balcony overlooking the Tuscan landscape.

After enjoying an espresso and Carthusian made liquor accompanied by long and loud wonderful conversation, the seminarians were called to help clean up the party we had just enjoyed. As a guest this duty was off limits to me, so I was blessed enjoy a long late afternoon nap until vespers. After vespers, the evening was followed by dinner, which was very light, taking into account the massive meal a few hours before. Then came the evening discussion, which was a bit muted compared to the day before because of the exhaustion brought by the days earlier festivities. Compline followed, and then bed.

Sunday is another day of merriment in the seminary, which follows properly only after prayers have been said. So we started the day with Terce, one of the minor hours of the Divine Office. Lauds was not said in choir because the seminarians are permitted to sleep in on Sundays. Terce was followed immediately by the homily for the day. The homily is given outside of the Mass so that the intensity of the Sunday liturgy is allowed to develop without interruption. After Mass and some free time lunch was had without conversation but while enjoying some classical music.

Then was a post-lunch espresso after which Abbe Kotsko showed me around some of the seminary which I had not yet seen, which for a typically quiet and reflective sanctuary seemed like it was running on fumes after two days of holiday like festivities. After this minor tour and packing I was taken to the train station for my ride home after a wonderful week that was a welcome, more contemplative change of pace from the program so far. On to the BIT classes.