George Matulaitis Journal

104 He invited me to dinner on the following Tuesday (November 21st). November 19 I went to the Basilica of St. John Lateran where I made my confession and heard two Masses. Then I returned to my lodgings where I read and prayed for the rest of the day. November 20 I went to the Sacred Congregation of Studies. About eleven o’clock, the secretary, Monsignor Dandini, received me. 1) He told me that he was very pleased that the rector had submitted his report. The Congregation had been expecting it and waiting for it. 2) He requested that the Academy make every effort to introduce philosophy in accordance with the Decree and other regulations issued by the Congregation. In connection with this I explained how difficult and actually impossible it would be to add physics, astronomy, and secular subjects in general to the curriculum. First of all, the government would not consent to the introduction of such subjects in the Department of Theology, and if it did consent, then it would try to impose a Russian Orthodox professor. That is both undesirable and dangerous. He replied: is it necessary to consult the civil authorities in every instance? Could we not, for example, introduce those subjects under the guise of cosmology or natural philosophy? 3) At least two years should be dedicated to the study of philosophy and two to the study of theology. This is a general rule, applicable not only to Russia, but everywhere else as well. 4) Only those who have completed their seminary studies and have been ordained should be admitted to the Academy. I was surprised at this, because at theAcademy of St. Petersburg I had always been under the impression that the students there ought not to be ordained to the priesthood until they had completed their studies and that there was a Decree of the Congregation of Studies to this effect. Then I learned fromMonsignor Sapieha that there had been a plan to include a regulation in the Decree requiring that only ordained priests would be admitted to the Academy. 5) He asked whether the Rector of the Academy had any other duties. I said that he did not. He was pleased with this because the Congregation