In his apostolic letter about Saint Augustine of Hippo, entitled Augustinum Hipponensem, written on the occasion of the 16th centenary of his conversion, Saint John Paul II described this great Father of the Church with these words, “Augustine of Hippo ... has been present in the life of the Church and in the mind and culture of the whole western world ever since.
In the same letter, Saint John Paul II reminisced that “on another occasion, I urged in particular the spiritual sons of this great saint ‘to keep the fascination of St Augustine alive and attractive even in modern society’.” Responding to the powerful invitation of the Holy Father, the Maltese Augustinians made the vast spiritual heritage of Saint Augustine available to all of us. They did this by instituting the Augustinian Institute in 1983, thanks to the sterling work of Rev. Professor Edward Fenech OSA, aided by a group of zealous Augustinians who made their own the Prior General’s vision of propagating the study of Augustine and his teachings across the world. Since then, this admirable initiative has been growing and has proved a success thanks to the vision of the Augustinian Province as well as the dedication of Rev. Professor Salvino Caruana OSA and his collaborators.
Throughout the years, the Augustinian Institute was enriched by the contributions of three Rectors of the University of Malta, two Archbishops, and other deans and heads of departments of diverse faculties of the same University to delve deeper into the main theological, philosophical and current issues which keep challenging both the Church and our ever changing society. At the conclusion of each academic year, the Augustinian Institute presents a Certificate of Attendance to those who participated in one or more of the courses.
At present, the academic year is made up of four study-units. The principal study-unit is called ‘Augustine For All’. It consists of a group of 10 lectures held from September to December. The other study-unit is the ‘Annual Saint Augustine Lecture’. It is held in two venues, one at the University of Malta and the other at the Institute. This lecture is delivered by a scholar who has an international reputation in Augustinian studies and research. The third study-unit is the Lectio Augustini. The latter is comprised of eight sessions of two hours each, starting from January and finishing in March. In these sessions a subject from the Augustinian corpus, which is also connected with the dominant theme that is dealt with during the academic year, is carefully studied. The fourth and last feature of the Augustinian curriculum for the year is the two-year study-unit in the Philosophy For All group of lectures. The four semesters of the study-unit is comprised of 10 lectures each semester on ancient philosophy, Neoplatonism, Christian Neoplatonism, and the philosophy of Augustine of Hippo’s Cassiciacum Philosophical Dialogues of 386/387.
The Augustine For All course of this year will tackle religion and secularism. The lectures will focus on Religion and Philosophy, Religion and Economy, Religion and Politics, Religion and Society, Religion and Journalism, Religion and Psychology/Psychiatry, Religion and Law, Religion and Woman, Religion and Reason in Saint Augustine. Augustine For All starts on 2 October 2 and ends on 10 December. The 19th annual Saint Augustine Lecture of this year will be delivered by Mgr Prof. Henri Teissier Archbishop Emeritus of Algiers who will talk about Augustine the Algerian. The Lectio Augustini for this academic year shall be focusing on the Didachè, the Letter to Diognetus, the Literature of Martyrdom and the Ascetic and Monastic Literature. The Lectio Augustini lectures start on Friday 22 January and end on 11 March 2016.
The Philosophy For All course will be held from Thursday 8 October to Thursday 26 November 2015 for the first semester. The second semester starts on Thursday 21 January and ends on Thursday 10 March 2016.
To appreciate and examine Augustine’s relevance in today’s world, follow a course at the Augustinian Institute? Kindly contact the Institute by writing to the following address: Augustinian Institute, PO Box 61 Imsida PO MSD1000. You can contact the director Rev. Prof. Salvino Caruana OSA on 2124 9407 or 9940 2102. Or the Institute’s secretary on 2701 0827 – 9945 0099.
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap