Ratisbonne Monastery

 

GENERAL PRESENTATIONS

 

The Salesian Theological Centre in the Holy Land started in Bethlehem in 1929. From there it was transferred first to Tantur in 1949 and then in 1957, to Cremisan, near Bethlehem; at the beginning of the academic year 2004–2005 it was relocated to the Ratisbonne Monastery in Jerusalem.

The goal of the Studium Theologicum Salesianum is to promote the study of and a deeper understanding of the mystery of Christ, as proposed by divine revelation and as interpreted by the teaching authority of the Church. This Study Centre aims particularly at the theological formation of Salesian candidates to the Priesthood. It is also open to students from other religious congregations, to diocesan students of the Latin rite or other rites, and to lay students. The student candidates to the Priesthood, who attend this study centre, ordinarily conclude their studies with the Bachelor’s degree in Theology.

Given its privileged location in the Holy Land, the Study Centre aims especially at highlighting a biblical formation by offering appropriate means to achieve this end. In addition, thanks to the ethnic and cultural richness of the Holy Land, it offers the students the possibility of achieving a desirable and necessary ecumenical and inter-religious formation.

The Studium Theologicum Salesianum is affiliated to the Faculty of Theology of the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome. The arrangement of studies of this Centre is governed by the principles and norms issued by the Holy See, by the Salesian Congregation, and by the Salesian Pontifical University. Another set of norms concerning the identity and the mission of this Study Centre is contained in the statutes, with which the Rector Major of the Salesians established the Salesian Monastery Ratisbonne “Saints Peter and Paul”, and in the Academic Regulations.

 In academic activities the medium of communication is English. Knowledge of Italian is also cultivated.

 The teaching staff and the personnel belong mainly to the Salesian Community of Ratisbonne. Other lecturers from the Theological Faculty of the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, and also from theological Centres nearby, make their contribution.