Collegium Russicum

The Collegium Russicum (Pontificium Collegium Russicum or Pontifical Russian College) is a Catholic college in Rome dedicated to studies of the culture and spirituality of Russia.

It is located near the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, separated from the Pontifical Oriental Institute by the Church of Saint Antony, and is known informally as the Russicum.

It was founded on August 15, 1929 by Pope Pius XI, who was touched by the large flow of immigrants from Bolshevik Russia and the persecution of Christianity in that country. The money for the college building and its reconstruction was taken from an aggregate of charity donations from faithful all over the world on the occasion of the canonization of St. Thérèse de Lisieux.

The Collegium Russicum is run by the Society of Jesus and provides education and accommodation for Catholic and Orthodox students.

Former Students

• Walter Ciszek, S.J. (1904-1984) -- American priest of the Russian Catholic Church, GULAG survivor, author of, With God in Russia.
• Pietro Leoni (1909-1995) -- Italian priest of the Russian Catholic Church, survivor of the GULAG, author of Spio dei Vaticano.
• Blessed Theodore Romzha (1911-1947) -- Ruthenian Catholic Church's Bishop of Mukachevo, martyr under Joseph Stalin.
• Egon Sendler, S.J. (born 1923) -- French priest.

References

Written references

• Russicum: Pioneers and Witnesses of the Struggle for Christian Unity in Eastern Europe (review) The Catholic Historical Review - Volume 93, Number 3, July 2007, pp. 694–696

External links

• The Russian College in Rome
• Russicum College Seen as Missionary Center
• Saint Thérèse and the Russian College in Rome
• Greetings of Card. Tarcisio Bertone on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus at the Russicum Pontifical College (May 15, 2008) in Italian
• La Storia siamo noi video program on the Russicum