On Wednesday, May 31st, on the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 23 Legionaries of Christ Brothers completed their studies of Classical Humanities in the Novitiate and College of Humanities in Cheshire, Connecticut after two years of formation. The conclusion of the school year and the graduation ceremony began at 4 pm with a Eucharistic concelebration, celebrated by Fr. David Daly, LC, territorial vicar for the North American Territory. This mass was offered in thanksgiving of the men graduating, as well as the professors and administrative team at the Legion of Christ College of Humanities.
Later on the brothers went to the ceremony where everyone received their graduation diploma, and then the graduation speech: The studies of humanities are a useful tool in the formation “where a legionary learns how to listen” as Dr. Baltazar Lopez Ph.D. Professor of Literature and Classical Languages commented at the graduation speech. At the end of the ceremony, all those present went to the dining room for a celebratory dinner.
Following the speakers, Br. Juan Pablo Alarcon, LC, gave a commencement speech full of references to concrete studies during his studies. He referenced Beatrice’s eyes in the Divine Comedy, as a reflection of Our Lord or the passage in chapter IV of the Aeneid – when Aeneas has to leave Dido to go to Carthage and then to Rome, in the same way, the brothers had to leave their lack of humanities to go to the promised land of humanities and then to Rome. In conclusion, he entrusted the fruits of these two years of studies to Our Lady.
Finally, the celebration concluded with a barbecue in the gardens where all the brothers and professors shared and thanked for these two years of humanistic studies and preparing themselves for their new stage of formation in Rome.
Written in collaboration with Br. Márquez Nahym Alejandro, LC.
