Italy – A Summer School of Sacred Art at St Thomas Institute of Theology Messina
Two intensive weeks (29 May – 1 June, and 26-30 June) will be held at the St Thomas Institute of Theology, Messina, which is attached to the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS) in Rome.
They will be dedicated to the formation of pastoral leaders, catechists and experts in the field of liturgical music, sacred art and religious tourism in various shrines. Led by Fr Antonino Romano, Director of the Giovanni Cravotto Centre for Religious Pedagogy, it will offer a comprehensive study programme and an excellent opportunity to develop synodal skills for local churches to strengthen basic skills in proclamation and catechesis.
This first edition of the Summer School will bring together nationally and internationally recognised experts such as Monsignor Giuseppe Liberto, former Director of the Capella Musicale Pontificia Sistina, Fr Giovanni Lombardo, Music Director at Messina Cathedral, Cav. Valerio Ciarocchi, lecturer at the San Tommaso Institute and member of the Italian Society of Musicology, and several other university lecturers such as Prof. Angelo Sindoni, Professor Emeritus of the University of Messina.
The participants come from various church and cultural backgrounds: students, pastoral leaders, parish choirs, oratory leaders. The activities will take place in workshop mode for 8 hours of intensive daily work.
In the second week, various lecturers and experts will take turns in workshops on sacred art and religious tourism for Shrines: Carmelite Friar Egidio Palumbo for iconology, Prof. Giustina Aceto for Musicology, Prof. Arianna Rotondo for Latin Rite sacred art, and archaeologist Prof. Katia Ingoglia, and other experts.
The main interest will be in the methodological approach, one which is interested in the real circumstances of daily life, especially at a propitious time for spirituality in Italian shrines.
