St. Augustine's Confessions
Wednesdays January 6, 20, and 27. 2021: 7-8PM (Zoom)
European contact with the “New World” after 1492 is often portrayed as led exclusively by misguided, self-interested, and tragically violent conquistadors. This new discussion series will offer students a first exposure to a different and often forgotten set of actors: the saintly women whose loving witness, devotion, and peaceful genius helped carry the good news of Christ throughout North, Central, and South America. Interested students: contact Dr. Jocelyn Moore (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
April 30, 2021: Servant of God Mother Mary Lange, O.S.P. (1784-1882) and Venerable Mother Henriette Díaz DeLille (1813-1862)
March 26, 2021: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821)
October 30, 2020: Catholic Nurses During the U.S. Civil War
February 13, 2020: Mother Mary Joseph Rogers, foundress of the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic
March 22, 2019: Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Nican Mohopua, with Catherine Addington (Spanish)
February 22, 2019: St. Rose of Lima, with Jorge Secada (Philosophy)
January 31, 2019: “On the Female Vocation,” with Sr. Maria Juan Anderson, RSM and Sr. Prudence Allen, RSM. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), “Spirituality of the Christian Woman”
November 9, 2018: Bl. ‘Conchita’ Concepcion Cabrera de Armida of Mexico, “To My Priests”
October 19, 2018: St. John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem [On the Dignity of Women]
March 16, 2018: Sigrid Undset (1882-1949), The Wreath; “My Reasons to Convert”
February 23, 2018: St. Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) and Bl. Miriam Teresa Demjanovich (1901-1927), Fr. Chauchetiere, Life of Katherine Tekakwitha (1685/95); Bl. Miriam Teresa, 2 selections from Greater Perfection: 1) religious humility, charity, perfection; 2) universal call to Holiness
November 10, 2017: St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955) (Saint of Racial Justice) and Sr. Thea Bowman (1937-1990), with Fr. Gerry Fogarty, S.J.
September 17, 2017: Dorothy Day (1897-1980), with Kate Hennessy (Day's youngest granddaughter) and Laura and Steve Brown of Casa Alma (Charlottesville Catholic Worker House), “On Pilgrimage: December” (1948), “What do the Simple Folk Do” (1978); Peter Maurin, “House of Hospitality,” and other selections from Essays for the Green Revolution (1949)
April 21, 2017: Dorothy Day, with Laura Brown (Casa Alma) and Fr. Bill Garrott, O.P.
March 1, 2017: St. Mother Frances Cabrini, with Charles Kromkowski (Politics)
Feb.24, 2017: Our Lady of Guadalupe and other Marian Apparitions, with Nichole Flores (Religious Studies)
February 10, 2017: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, O.S.H. (1651-1695), with Allison Bigelow (Spanish), “Response to Sor Filotea”
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An Introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica
St. Thomas Aquinas’s great Summa Theologica is one of the most important and widely recognized works of philosophical and theological wisdom ever written, a master work for the ages that continues to influence Western religion and philosophy. Despite its import and promise, undergraduate and graduate students today receive almost no exposure to the Summa. This lunch seminar reading group will be led by various faculty, our local O.P.s, and several guest scholar experts. Lunch will be provided by the Institute, and we'll read and discuss selected parts of a common online text of the Summa. Interested students can attend one, some, or all of the planned discussions. Contact Charles Kromkowski (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Anna Stelow (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Jorge Secada (Philosophy), or Bill Wilson (Religious Studies).
Friday, February 19, 2016 (5:30-8:30p m)
The St. Anselm Institute will host a special faculty & friends of the Institute dinner colloquium on Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si! We'll meet at 5:30pm, with a simple Lenten dinner served around 6:15pm. Discussion of the encyclical will follow dinner. Interested attendees are expected to have read Laudato Si, but we've also invited several faculty, including Kevin Hart, Gerry Fogarty SJ, Catholic University of America theology professor Paul Scherz and Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P. of the St..Thomas Institute, to offer initial comments on various parts of the text. After their preliminary comments, we'll open up the discussion to the full group. Given space limitations and as an aid for our dinner preparations, please let us know if you'll be able to join us. Sorry, but limited seats for this event. RSPVP: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Spring 2016 St. Augustine, City of God Reading Group
Interested in joining a new reading group? No prior expertise required! Recent UVA alum Anne (Bowie) Tew and Religious Studies Professor Emeritus Bill Wilson will lead a fun and thought-filled reading group through St. Augustine’s monumental work of Christian apologetics. This class will meet every other Tuesday, 5:45-6:45pm. Room: TBD. Arrive early for FREE PIZZA and PEARS (St. Augustine's favorite fruit)!
To add your name to this group's email list, contact Anne at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or contact the Institute at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Spring 2016: Flannery O'Connor Reading Group
We'll meet two Friday afternoons in March and April (details forthcoming) to enjoy several Flannery O'Connor short stories. No prior experience needed, plus Religious Studies professor emeritus Bill Wilson will be present to share his helpful insights into the wonderful world of Flannery.
Fall 2015 Flannery O'Connor Reading Group
Students, Faculty & Friends of the Institute:
Dante Primavera!: Spring 2015 Diving Comedy Reading Group
The St. Anselm Institute will host a special faculty/graduate student seminar discussion with Prof. Bill Cavanaugh of DePaul University on Friday, Sept. 26, 2014 from 10am-12pm. The topic of this discussion will be his latest book, Migrations of the Holy: God, State, and the Political Meaning of the Church (2011).
Moderators: Lynn Sanders (Politics) and Bill Wilson (Religious Studies)
Copies of the book will be provided to all participants: email the Institute: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Oct. 4, 2013: Faculty Colloquium on the Death Penalty with Justice Antonin Scalia
Spring 2013 Divine Comedy Reading Group!
Interested in reading Dante's Inferno for the first time? Or, perhaps, in rereading it at a very leisurely pace with other UVA Students and Faculty? The St. Anselm Institute for Catholic Thought invites you to join our new bi-monthly Dante Alighieri Divine Comedy Reading Group, which will meet for the first time on Friday, February 1, 2013 (1:30-2:30pm). No prior experience or training required. As Dante had Virgil as his guide, our group will be guided by several faculty, including William Wilson, Professor Emeritus Religious Studies; now Director, Graduate Fellows Program at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation.
When?: about 2 Fridays per month, 1:30-2:30pm
Feb. 15: Cantos 4-8 (pp. 70-139)
March 1: Cantos 9-13 (pp. 140-217)
March 22: Cantos 14-18 (pp. 218-287)
Additional Digital Dante Resource: see The World of Dante (http://www.worldofdante.org/ ).
Questions: Contact the St. Anselm Institute ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Seminar discussion with Prof. Eleonore Stump (Philosophy, St. Louis University) Friday, January 18, 2013 (10:00-11:30am)
Professor Stump ably and accessibly draws upon contemporary research on autism, moral psychology; the Biblical narratives of Job, Samson, Abraham, and Mary of Bethany, and the philosophical insights of Thomas Aquinas to make a defensible accounting of a problem with which and in which we all have participated.
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April 20, 2012: Faculty Seminar with Brad Gregory (History, Notre Dame) on The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society (Harvard, 2011)(completed)
Lumen Veritatis (completed)
Faculty Leader: Brad Wilcox, Department of Sociology
Lumen Veritatis is a Catholic discussion group serving undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Virginia. Specifically, Lumen Veritatis discusses theological, cultural, and political issues from a Catholic perspective. Previous topics include faith and the law, Mary's role in the Church, Project Rachel, and gender.
The Works of St. Anselm (completed)
Faculty Leader: Jorge Secada, Department of Philosophy
This study group engaged the major works of St. Anselm of Canterbury.