MSC Student House, Via Aventina 3, Rome – part of our Australian Province history.
Recently, Tim Brennan MSC, stationed at the General House in Rome, working for Professional Standards through the congregation, sent some photos of his wandering around the area where our former international Student House was located. We were there from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s.
Since the mid-1970s, the MSC have rented it to St Stephen’s School. For further information on St Stephen’s School scroll down to read their Wikipedia entry.
San Saba sanctuary
The house was in the Jesuit-run parish of San Saba. Just up the street was the Polish College (where John Paul II stayed during the sessions of Vatican II).
For the record, here is the list of names of those who studied, especially at the Gregorian and Angelicum Universities. Each of these men contributed to the Formation/Theological Ministry of the Province, teaching at Croydon, Canberra (some at both), St Paul’s National Seminary and many at the Yarra Theological Union.
Amongst them have been a Superior General, later a Bishop, a Provincial, 4 Rectors of St Paul’s, Academic Dean at YTU, world expert on Diakonia, the founder and all subsequent editors of Compass, the editor of Nelen Yubu, and the writing of a number of books between them. They were mainly pursuing Theology but there were some specialists in Scripture, Canon Law and Moral Theology, Church History, Liturgy and Philosophy. Peter Malone, Barry Brundell and John Bosman were ordained in the chapel.
What was the chapel
The list in chronological order.
E.J. Cuskelly
Maurice Griffin
Bernard Power
Dennis Murphy
Joseph Chown
Cyril Connolly
Martin Wilson
Peter Hoy
John Collins
Walter Black
John Doggett
Peter Malone
Barry Brundell
John Bosman
Laurence Dunlop
John Flynn
Peter Chalk
John May.
Fr J. J. McMahon was the superior in the mid-60s. Quite a number of bishops stayed at Via Aventina for each session of Vatican II, especially Virgil Copas, Archbishop of Port Moresby.
The building is still the same colour
Here is the Wikipedia description of St Stephen’s School.
St. Stephen's International School is a co-educational, non-denominational, boarding and day school, enrolling students from ages 14-19 in grades 9-12 and or for a postgraduate year. It is located on the Via Aventina in Rome, Italy, near the Circus Maximus, Forum, and Colosseum.
The total number of students per year for all four grades is approximately 250, and the student to teacher ratio is 12:1. The school is home to about 40 students, who board on campus for 9 months of the year. The boarding students come from around the world, and spend holidays and summers away from the school. A small number of boarders come from the United States to complete either a semester or year abroad. There are about 210 international day students who live with their families in Rome. Many of them have parents who work for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) or other international organizations.
Founded in 1964 by Dr. John O. Patterson, former Headmaster of the Kent School in Connecticut, St. Stephen's provides a liberal arts education. The school is modeled on the American independent school tradition, and offers six major academic areas: English, foreign language, history, mathematics and computer studies, experimental science, and the arts.
Primary objectives are academic excellence, fellowship and cooperation among students and faculty, and the development of students as independent, responsible, and involved members of the larger world community. The curriculum prepares students for an American high school diploma, including a variety of Advanced Placement subjects, and the International Baccalaureate (IB) which allows students to enter universities worldwide.
