Starting Points

Already in the 8th century, some rulers wanted to end their earthly stay in the centre of Christianity. From the 16th century onwards, they began to establish national institutes in Rome, which enabled pilgrims and priests living in Rome to be the link between the leadership of the Church and the Pope and the mother nation. The hospice and small cemetery were precious domestic and eternal life elements. In the past, multinational state organizations also offered accommodation to students from the Slovenian area. The Slovenian Institute in Rome was thus only ranked 109th among such institutions.

Before the Second World War, Dr Anton Korošec (1872–1940) was one of the first initiators of a Slovenian Institute in Rome. Blessed Anton Martin Slomšek (1800–1862) had already favoured the idea. On one occasion, Bishop Gregorij Rožman said: “We would love to have a Slovenian institute in Rome to represent our interests at the Holy See.” During his time as the head of the Ljubljana diocese, the issue of a Slovenian institute in Rome was a topic of conversation on various occasions. In the academic year 1933/34, a discussion took place within the Faculty of Theology in multiple circles that, following the example of other nations, Slovenians should also get a theological institute in Rome, where Slovenian students could stay during their specialist studies.

The need for a Slovenian institute in Rome became evident in the second half of 1945 since such an institute, according to Dr Ivan Ahčin, could be “the testimony of the free part of our nation in emigration to the importance of Sloveneness within the universal Church”. After the Second World War, the initiators of the advocacy for the setting up of a Slovenian Institute were the Jesuit Fr. Anton Prešeren (1883–1965) and the Bishop of Ljubljana Msgr Anton Vovk (1900-1963), who was able to make his first ad limina apostolorum visit at the beginning of 1960.

Beginnings Abroad

The dominance of communist anti-church ideology in the area of ​​the former Yugoslavia drove many refugees into the world, many of them, unfortunately, also underground. Among the hundreds of thousands of refugees were many priests, religious men and women, theologians and their professors, and the Bishop of Ljubljana, Gregorij Rožman (1883–1959). On June 25, 1945, the theologians (38) and their professors (7) received the decree of the then Congregation for Seminaries and Universities in the Vatican in the Maniago refugee camp (Italy) to continue their higher education in the Benedictine Abbey of Praglia near Padua. The following year they moved to Brixen. From 1952 to 1960, due to the small number of students and hoping that it would be an opportunity for theologians from emigration and homeland, when the opportunity emerged, they found hospitality in the Diocese of San Luis in Argentina, in the town of Androgué.

During Bishop Vovk’s visit to Rome, the idea of ​​a broader-based Slovenian institution in Rome matured. On the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, May 31, 1960, a request was addressed to the Congregation for Seminaries and Universities in the Vatican to establish the Slovenian Church College in Rome. On July 4, 1960, the Prefect of the Congregation above issued a temporary decree (No. 1328/60) on establishing the Slovenian Church Dormitory.

Concretization in Rome

According to Pope John XXIII’s decision on November 22, 1960, the congregation mentioned above issued a decree establishing the Collegium slovenorum de Urbe at Via dei Colli 8, where a small Slovenian centre already existed.

On October 27, 1965, all three Slovenian bishops were present at the opening of the college, to which they could send the first students from their homeland. Significantly, on that very day, Pope Paul VI signed the Decree of the Second Vatican Council on the ministry and life of priests. They acquired land along Via Aurelia, which was available to expand and construct a larger facility. Pope Paul VI blessed the foundation stone on May 9, 1969. In the spring of 1970, a decision was made to select one of the existing facilities. Therefore, on December 13, 1970, a multi-purpose building from the 1950s was bought at Via Appia Nuova from the Lux et amor association.

The ground floor of the building, intended for production and storage, had to be adapted and adjusted to the new purpose. On June 18, 1973, Slovenian bishops blessed the renovated building of Slovenik. During the audience, in addition to the bishops, the Slovenian faithful from the homeland, abroad, and emigration were represented in large numbers, Pope Paul VI awarded Slovenik the title of “papal institution.”

On the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Slovenik, on November 22, 1990, the institution was visited and blessed by Pope John Paul II, who presided over the Eucharistic service and met with the leadership of the Church in Slovenia and the residents of the institution. Just over a month later, a plebiscite decision made Slovenia autonomous and independent.

Slovenik, the Slovenian Papal Institute in Rome, grew and matured on the holy foundations of three popes: Holy Pope John XXIII, who founded it, Holy Pope Paul VI, who counted it among the papal institutions, and Holy Pope John Paul II, who visited and blessed it.

On November 4, 1965, the Republic of Italy recognized Slovenik as a legal entity, and after the addition of the title “Papal” on February 19, 1979, the status of a legal entity. On May 27, 1989, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments declared Mary Help of Christians the principal patroness of Slovenik and the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius and Thomas Aquinas the secondary patrons of the institution.

Mission of Slovenik

College for Student Priests

Jesuit Fr Anton Prešeren, authorized by Bishop Vovk to establish a Slovenian institution in Rome, wrote, among other things, in a request dated May 31, 1960, addressed to the competent congregation: “His Excellency Msgr Anton Vovk, Bishop of Ljubljana, on January l, during his stay in Rome, was aware of the great need to prepare younger professors for the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, and approved the plan to prepare at least a few rooms in the mentioned house for some priests who had completed their theological studies in Argentina, as they would easily get permission to travel to Rome for higher studies at various Roman institutions.”

In a letter dated November 16, 1960, Bishop Vovk delegated Fr. Prešeren to establish a college for student priests. In it, he wrote: “We hope that the Slovenian church institution, which is so close to my heart because of its special importance for the thorough education of Slovenian priests, will make progress every day and bear the desired fruits.”

The Congregation for Seminaries and Universities, with protocol no. 1328/60 on November 22, 1960, issued a decree with the following content: “The Most Reverend Bishop of Ljubljana decided to build an institution in Rome that would receive young priests from Slovenian dioceses and properly educate them at the venerable tomb of the apostles in piety, science and priestly virtues. Therefore, the Holy Congregation for Seminaries and Universities establishes the Slovenian Institution in Rome according to the norms of Canon law. The institution has all the rights and privileges of other Roman institutions. Anything to the contrary is annulled.”

In point 6 of the temporary Statute, it is written: “The Institution accepts as students priests from all Slovenian dioceses, as well as those who come from outside Slovenian borders, who are Slovenians by descent or language so that with piety, intelligence and diligence, they not only advance in philosophy, theology, Canon law, the Bible and other ecclesiastical disciplines but also strengthen the spirit at the request of their ordinaries. Students are proposed and recommended by the ordinaries.”

The institution, especially after Pope John Paul II’s visit, began to open its doors to priests of other nationalities and rites. The Slovenian bishops supported the institution’s purpose with a simple but convincing justification: just as Slovenian priests have been guests at other institutions, especially missionary ones, so it is right that now we also help others, especially those who come from missionary lands. With this decision, we support the latter despite the decrease in the number of Slovenian missionaries.

Slovenian Theological Academy (STA)

When the University of Ljubljana was founded in 1919, the Faculty of Theology and the Theological Academy (BA) also emerged. It was founded in Ljubljana on June 1, 1920, as a section of the Leon Society. Christian-oriented laypersons and priests had participated in the latter for several years and published the scientific journal Čas for 14 Nuova years.

From the first years of the stable operation of the Slovenik at the Via Appia Nuova, there was the idea that this Slovenian home would summarize, connect and encourage a broader scientific activity. The treasure trove of documents about Slovenian places and people in the Vatican archives offered these possibilities. It was especially pointed out by Dr Rudolf Klinec, chancellor of the archdiocese in Gorizia, and Dr Maksimiljan Jezernik, the Rector of Slovenik. Thus, on April 20, 1978, the regular council of the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana founded the Institution for the History of the Church (IZC). During this period, on May 10, 1978, on the 750th anniversary of the Lavant-Maribor Diocese, Slovenian professors working at the Pontifical Roman Universities signed the charter of the Slovenian Theological Academy (STA) based in Slovenik. The president pro-tempore is the current rector of the Slovenian Pontifical Institution in Rome. According to the Statute, temporary members are all Slovenian bishops and persons appointed by the president in agreement with the founding members. The regular members are 1) Slovenian professors at Roman papal scientific institutions willing to participate; b) Slovenian scientists, priests and laypersons in Rome, in Slovenia and around the world, appointed by the president with the majority agreement of the founding members.

In its operation, the Academy focused primarily on research work in the Vatican archives. It was intensively connected with the Ljubljana Institute of Science and Technology, which did not have guaranteed permanent funds to publish its scientific discoveries. In 1983, the STA in Rome decided to buy 300 copies of the newsletter Acta Ecclesiastica Sloveniae (AES), published by the IZC in 1979. These copies were sent from Slovenik to academic institutions, Roman university libraries, famous academic persons, and many Church dignitaries.