Norcia Program

Overview

Living the Program of Studies in Italy

The College inaugurated the Norcia Program for the junior class on Monday, May 9, 2005 when 35 students, tutors, and staff traveled to Rome via Paris.  On June 6, a happy but travel-weary group returned to Warner, NH ready to spread the good news about the delights and challenges of four weeks of community living and studying in the bustling city of Rome and the tranquil walled city of Norcia.

The Heart of the Norcia Program

The first week of the Program was spent in Rome touring some of the most reverend sites of Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church, as well as important monuments of classical Roman civilization.  The Magdalen College community enjoyed Roman living or “la dolce vita,” including the hearty Italian food, sultry Roman weather, and the famous Italian ease of life that ignores on-time arrivals and departures.

For the next three weeks, the group took up residence in Norcia, a small walled city two hours from Rome high in the Umbrian mountains.  The Magdalen College community settled down to share domestic life in a former convent with easy access to the Benedictine monastery of Reverend Prior Cassian Folsom, O.S.B., a long-time friend of the College.

Common life included shared responsibility for cooking meals, morning tutorials, visits to nearby cities and sites of regional specialties such as chocolate and prosciutto factories, and evenings spent reading Shakespearean plays under the moonlight.  The morning tutorials focused on the Benedictine rule, the history of Norcia and Italy, and the life of a walled city where the citizens share community on ways that are unfamiliar to most Americans.

Readings

Lectures and discussions are conducted each morning on Benedictine monastic life, the city and culture of Norcia, and Italian history.  These tutorials continue the discussion of culture that is central to the Program of Studies—from Nature of Man I in the freshman year to the Human Person and Culture in the senior year.  Also, a tutorial introduces students to the Italian language and gives them opportunities to converse with local residents.

The readings used in the Norcia Program Tutorials

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