Welcome to the renewed website of the Sapientia College of Theology of Religious Orders. On the one hand, we would like to provide you with the opportunity to find your way around the practical issues related to our College but at the same time we invite you to get closer to the spirituality, aspirations and life of our institution.
After a long preparation, education began at our college twenty years ago, in the academic year of 2000/2001. The three founding religious orders - Franciscans, Piarists, Benedictines - decided to provide the theological training of their youth jointly, with concentrated forces.
But what does it mean today that three religious orders, together with other monastic communities and secular professionals operate a College, hereby give home for young people and adults who want to study in different fields in the heart of a beautiful capital city, Budapest? The founders were guided by the belief that Hungarian monasticism had a mission from God and the church in higher education and adult training. This is what drives us successors as well; we wish to share the community knowledge and experience that our Christ-following way of life, which has always wanted to renew, has accumulated over many generations, and which nourishes and guides our search for God to this day.
That is why it is self-evident from the very beginning that our College, together with its monk students, opens its doors to seculars and tries to adapt its trainings to the needs of the Hungarian church and society. Thus, in addition to cultivating Catholic theology, we consider our profession to be the teacher training, the training of catechists and pastoral staff, the practice-oriented training that reflects the emergencies of society (pastoralist, child and youth protection specialist, specialist in gypsy social studies) and to introduce a Christian economic approach.
Sapientia College of Theology of Religious Orders provides space to this, which represents the far-reaching and diverse tradition of the monastic way of life since its foundation: the Benedictines’ monastic way of life, in which the basis for unreserved hospitality is ensured by staying persistently in community and the common worship; the Franciscan spirituality of gospel simplicity and poverty, in which respect for the created world and the other man is rooted in loving fidelity to the tradition of the Church; the commitment to teaching of the Piarists, which puts young people at the center and always seeks new ways to make sure that the gospel reaches their hearts and minds.
Many of our faculty members who have studied in theological and philosophical workshops throughout Europe and overseas are qualified in fields other than the “sacred sciences” too. Our goal is not just to transmit knowledge. In cooperation with the excellent practitioners and institutions of religion, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, we want to look at and understand life in its own reality, and in this we want to be companions and helpers for our students and guests in our programmes. The framework for this is provided by the renovated Piarist building on the bank of the Danube, with its rich and hospitable library, well-equipped classrooms and communal spaces.
I thank you for your kind attention to our College and we welcome your interest in our programmes.
Fehérváry Örs Jákó OSB
