Thursday, July 19, 2012

Voto Esame

The results were supposed to be available by the end of May, but it took me until the first week of July to muster sufficient courage to write a letter (in my marginal Italian) to the Segretario dello Studium nella Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi asking him the results of the final examination I took on March 16 at the conclusion of my course on the theology, history, and current process of canonization. He sent me an email this morning to inform me that I did indeed pass. In fact, I received a perfect score (“Il voto massimo 10/10”). After all that anxiety, that’s quite a relief!
It was a good course, and I did learn quite a lot. I realized after the first few lectures that I would be able to follow about 90% of what was being said – and the same for reading the textbook. But the challenge involved in studying for having to take a written exam began to unnerve me at the end! Some of my classmates opted for the April sitting of the exam in order t have a whole extra month to study! Obviously, I couldn’t hang out in Rome an extra month (Much as I might have liked to finish Lent – and the Lenten stations – in Rome). So I sat for the March exam, with some trepidation. As I remarked at the time, the only thing more undignified than having to study for a written exam at my age was actually having to take one – more than 25 years after the last written course exam I had ever had to endure! Having been a student on an off for enough years and having also taught at a university for another four years, I am convinced that exams test memorization and organization-of-information skills more than real knowledge.
Be that as it may, I can now not only claim to know my stuff, but I will soon also have a certified Roman document to attest to that. A nice conclusion to an overall wonderful experience of Church!

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations, Fr. Ron! This is very impressive! May wonderful things continue to come your way! God bless you!

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