Collegio Sant’Anselmo is located in central Rome on the beautiful Aventine Hill. Our location is optimal: Though we are in the middle of the city, we are also above it. Being away from the traffic and the noise, we can offer both a peaceful environment in which to study and ready access to the resources and transportation of a major metropolitan city.

Here live Benedictine students and other religious who come from all over the world to study at Sant’Anselmo Athenaeum or other Roman universities. We are 90 residents from all continents and from more than 30 countries. We also live with international diocesan priests who appreciate the monastic environment for the structure it provides and for close access to the Athenaeum’s Pontifical Institute of Liturgy.

The program of the day includes time to pray, study, and for encounters. In the morning, we celebrate Lauds and Mass in Italian. Throughout the day, we chant the Opus Dei in Latin. At supper, we eat together in traditional monastic style while listening to the table reading in Italian. At lunch, however, we have “colloquium”, in which the meal is served family-style as we socialize in Italian. In this way, we learn about one another and our different cultures.

As a community of students and professors, we help each other academically and learn from each other. For leisure, there is a soccer field, volleyball court and swimming pool. We also regularly host community gatherings around liturgical feasts, secular holidays, personal milestones and even barbeques.

As an international college, we also grow thanks to the richness of different cultures. We regularly celebrate evening Mass in a different language and afterward eat a supper typical of that culture. We regularly meet in organized social-language groups in which we are free to mix and practice the languages we are learning.

We hold to monastic traditions and lifestyle. Each resident is a member of a small deanery group, headed by an experienced priest who helps him navigate the new situation, spiritually, culturally and academically during his studies. We have monthly opportunities for Eucharistic Adoration and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Abbot Primate and the Prior regularly deliver conferences, which are supplemented by community days of reflection. The choirmaster arranges choir practice for special liturgies and to further a suitable performance of the Opus Dei. The good order of the house is maintained by the Prior, who is appointed by the Abbot Primate.

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