Displaying items by tag: Institututum Carmelitanum

Directorate of the Institutum Carmelitanum Meets to Set Agenda

On Monday, May 4, the directorate of the Institutum Carmelitanum met at Centro Internazionale Sant’Alberto (CISA) in Rome to discuss their programming for the coming years. Participating where Boby Sebastian Tharakkunnel, the president of the Institute, Mario Loya, the Institute’s secretary, Giovanni Grosso, general archivist of the Order, and Augustinus Agung Wahyudianto, librarian.

The director of the Order’s communications office, William J. Harry, was invited to participate and give an update on the status of communications in the Order. 

Currently the Institutum is preparing a circular letter to all the Major Superiors and leadership in the Order asking them to identify confreres, sisters, and lay associates who have pursued higher studies and specialized formation in various academic disciplines and fields of expertise. To facilitate responses, a Google Form will be attached to the letter, and it can be forwarded to other members with advanced degrees. Each participant will be able to complete the form online, enabling the information to be received promptly and systematically at the Institute.

Following the collection and organization of this data, there will be a series of meetings among members engaged in the various areas of study and research. Through this collaborative effort, the Institute intends to encourage and strengthen research, advanced specialization, scholarly publications, and high-quality academic conferences within the Order in the coming years.

This initiative will also greatly assist the Order in identifying and coordinating our intellectual and academic resources across different regions, cultures, and language groups. “We believe that such networking and collaboration can contribute significantly to the growth of academic excellence and mutual enrichment within the Carmelite family,” said Boby Tharakkunnel, the president of the Institute.

The Institutum will also coordinate the Scuola Carmelitana which is scheduled for September 14-25. The program is open to all students, sisters, and lay people who are interested.

A variety of topics are scheduled to be discussed including events in the 1^st century of Carmel and its development; the evolution of the charism; the Rule; key papal documents and their importance for today; the Carmelite Rite; and essential works early in the history of the Order such as Ignea Sagitta (Fiery Arrow) and Institutio primorum monachorum (Institution of the First Monks).

Major figures in the Order, key to understanding Carmelite life, will also be discussed. These would include Mary, Elijah, and the “Fathers of the Order,” Saints Alberto of Sicily and Angelo of Licata.

The group will visit the churches of San Martino ai Monti and Traspontina as well as have a guided tour of “Carmelite” Trastevere.

At the close of the session, Fr. Boby asked, “We kindly request the cooperation and support of everyone involved so that this endeavor may bear lasting fruit for the good of the Order and its future mission.”

New Leadership of the Institutum Carmelitanum Announced

The Carmelite Order is pleased to announce a new leadership team for their international academic institution, Institutum Carmelitanum, located at St Albert’s International Centre in Rome (Italy).

Boby Sebastian Tharakkunnel, O. Carm., (Province of St Thomas, India), has been appointed as the President of the Institutum Carmelitanum. He will direct, coordinate, and promote the research and the scientific activities of the Institutum Carmelitanum for the next six years.

Father Boby was born in Kerala (India) and made his first profession as a Carmelite in 1993. He worked as Executive Secretary of the Order’s Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission and also as a member of the Order’s Inter-Religious Dialogue Commission. After earning his doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute (Rome) in 2014, he has been a professor of Canon Law, Civil Law and director of retreats and courses of personality development. Currently, he is the prior and rector of our minor seminary “Carmel Nivas” in Kerala (India).

Speaking about his appointment, Father Boby said, “It is with joy and humility that I embrace the role of President of the Institutum Carmelitanum, eager to honor the legacy of distinguished Carmelites before me and to help shape a future of renewal and excellence for this great institution.”

Giovanni Grosso, O. Carm., (Italian Province) has been appointed as the General Archivist. The Order’s General Archive is located at St Albert’s International College (Rome). The General Archivist is responsible for the entire patrimony and takes care of the ordering, custody, restoration, consultation and enhancement of the documentation preserved in the Archive.

Maximilianus Kolbe Agung Wahyudianto, O. Carm., (Indonesian Province), has been appointed as the General Librarian. In addition to a small general section, the Carmelite General Library has a specifically Carmelite section which collects all the publications of Carmelite authors and subjects. As General Librarian, Father Maximilianus will take care of the organization, conservation, updating, consultation, and enhancement of the library.

Mario Loya, O. Carm., (PCM Province) has been announced as the Secretary of the Institutum Carmelitanum.  As a member of the secretariat, Father Mario has the task of helping to coordinate the activity of the Institutum Carmelitanum especially with regard to its publications.

Michael Plattig, O. Carm., (German Province), continues in his role as editor of Carmelus, the academic journal of the Institutum Carmelitanum. Carmelus is a multi-lingual journal of scholarly articles along with an annual bibliography of Carmelite spirituality, theology, history, and biography along with other works important to researchers and students in the area of Carmelite studies.

The Institutum Carmelitanum has the task of making known the spiritual heritage of Carmel throughout the Order and throughout the modern world. It was established in 1951 by the then prior general, Kilian Lynch, to promote studies especially in the areas of Carmelite history, Mariology, and spirituality and is now developing into other areas. It produces several publications through the years including an academic journal, Carmelus.

Despite his importance in the history of the Carmelite Order, John Baconthorpe (c. 1290 – c. 1350) is still relatively unknown to modern scholars of medieval thought. Active in the Universities of Oxford, Paris, and Cambridge, Baconthorpe was later chosen by his order as a doctrinal guide, which resulted in multiple printings (from the late 15th to the mid-18th centuries) of his Parisian questions on I-III Sentences, a later version of his IV Sentences, and his Quodlibeta. Although only a handful of experts have delved into his works, whether in print or in manuscript, Baconthorpe’s intellectual project was ambitious and fascinating in the context of fourteenth-century philosophy and theology, with surviving commentaries on Matthew (in a Cambridge manuscript) and (in Paris, BnF, lat. 9540) on Augustine’s De Trinitate and De civitate Dei and on Anselm’s De incarnatione and Cur Deus homo. In his writings, the Doctor Resolutus employed an impressive variety of sources and engaged in dialogue with towering contemporary figures, such as Peter Auriol, Thomas Bradwardine, and some of his Carmelite confrères, while he was critically independent of the leading mendicants and seculars of previous generations, such as Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Ghent, Giles of Rome, Godfrey of Fontaines, and John Duns Scotus. In addition, Baconthorpe was sensitive to Averroes’s thinking but also to ideas from Jewish sources. 

Sponsored by INSTITUTUM CARMELITANUM
Taking place: CISA, Rome, MAY 9-11 2024

THURSDAY 9 May 2024

16:00 – 17:30

16:00 – 16:30
WELCOME

16:30 – 17:00
Monica BRINZEI:
(IRHT, Paris)
Presentation of the Project

17:00 – 17:30
Stephen METZGER
(Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)
The Manuscripts of John Baconthorpe in the Vatican Apostolic Library 

FRIDAY, 10 May 2024

9:45 - 17:00

9:45 – 10:30
Christopher SCHABEL
(IRHT, ERC Debate n° 771589, Paris)
The Carmelite John Baconthorpe's Parisian Questions on the Sentences 

10:30 – 11:15
Wouter GORIS
(Bonn University, Bonn)
Baconthorpe on the First Adequate Object of the Intellect 

Coffee Break: 11:15 – 11:30  

11:30 – 12:15
Maria SOROKINA
(IRHT, Paris)
John Baconthorpe on Celestial Causality: A Dialogue with Henry of Ghent

12:15 – 13:00
Monica BRINZEI
(IRHT, ERC Debate n° 771589, Paris)
Seduction, Blasphemy, Heresy and the Danger of Exercitatio Sophistica according to John Baconthorpe

LUNCH

14:30 – 15:15
Ioana CURUT
(Babes-Bolyai University, RABY-MSCA
Seal of Excellence Project, PNRR-III-C9-2022-I9, No° 760130, Cluj-Napoca)
Jewish Authorities in John of Baconthorpe's Questio determinata in Ms. Paris, BnF, lat. 16 523

15:15 – 16:00
Andrei MARINCA
(Babes-Bolyai University, ERC Nota n°948152, Cluj-Napoca)
John Baconthorpe and Avicenna 

Coffee Break: 16:00 – 16:15

16:15-17:00
Sylvain ROUDAUT
(KU Leuven, Leuven)
John Baconthorpe on the Intension of Forms

SATURDAY 11 May 2024

10:00 - 15:45

10:00 – 10:45
Niccolò BONETTI
(Università degli Studi di Udine)
Essence and Being in Baconthorpe

Coffee Break: 11:00 – 11:15

11:15 – 12:00
Mădălina PANTEA
(Babes-Bolyai University, ERC Nota n°948152, Cluj-Napoca)
The Definition of Vestigium Trinitatis in John Baconthorpe’s Commentary on Augustine’s De Trinitate

LUNCH

14:00 – 14:45
Matteo ESU
(EPHE-PSL, LabEx-Hastec, Paris)
The Theologian’s Pigeon. Baconthorpe’s Discussion of a Feudal Matter in Quodlibet III, question 4

14:45 – 15:30
Alfredo STORCK
(Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre)
Bartolomeu do Pilar and the Reception of Baconthorpe in Colonial Brazil

Coffee Break: 15:30 – 15:45 

Conclusions

Organized by: Monica BRINZEI

Mario ALFARANO, O. Carm.

Giovanni GROSSO, O. Carm.

                    Connexion Zoom: contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Scholars from around the world gathered at CISA in Rome on April 27-30, 2023 for a Workshop on Medieval Carmelite Scholastics. The gathering was sponsored by the European Research Council, the Institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes (IRHT), and the Institutum Carmelitanum.

Around 139 commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard composed by Carmelites in universities and priories all over Europe survive to this day. This workshop aimed to invite scholars to share their expertise and experience with texts produced by Carmelite authors. Servant of God Bartomeu Xiberta, O. Carm., is the author of a magisterial body of work in medieval studies that continues today to represent a pioneering approach to the scholastic heritage of the Order.

This workshop recognized Fr. Xiberta's contribution, highlighted medieval Carmelite intellectual production, identified the most preeminent authors, and depicted the doctrinal tendencies of these Carmelite scholarstics.

Among those participating were Stephen Metzger of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; Niccolo Bonetti of the Università degli Studi di Udine; David Piche of the Université de Montrèal, Christopher Schabel of IRHT-Paris; Simon Nolan, O. Carm., St. Patrick's Pontifical University; Richard Cross of the University of Notre Dame; Mario Alfarano, O. Carm., Institutum Carmelitanum; Alexandra Baneu of Babes-Bolyai University; Calla Ledsham of Catholic Theological Colege-Melbourne; Wouter Goris of Universität Bonn; Monica Brinzei of IRHT-Paris; Iona Curut of Babes-Bolyai University; Matteo Esu of Paris; William Duba of the University of Fribourg-Fragmentarium; Andrei Marinca of Babes-Bolyai University; Alexander Anisie of Babes-Bolyai University; and Roberto Lanbertini of the Università di Macerata. 

The principal organizer of the event was Monica Brinzei assisted by Carmelites Mario Alfarano, Giovanni Grosso, and Simon Nolan.