First Cycle - Courses

In the Liturgy the Church celebrates the mystery of Christ, revealed and realized in history according to a plan, an "arrangement" that the theological tradition will call "the economy of salvation." This divine plan finds its center in the Lord's "Passover." After the paschal events, Christ lives and acts in his Church in a new way, proper to this new time: he acts by means of the "sacraments" through what the common tradition of East and West calls "the sacramental economy": the communication ("dispensation") of the paschal mystery in the celebration of the "sacramental" liturgy.

Sacramentals and other liturgical rites: general notions on sacramentals; blessings; religious profession and consecration of virgins; exorcisms; funerals. The places of liturgical celebration: church, altar, ambo, chair, tabernacle. Time in the liturgy: time, salvation history and liturgy; Sunday; the cycles of the liturgical year and the solemnities of the Lord included in them. The worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints throughout the liturgical year. The liturgy of the Hours.

This course includes the theological-liturgical-sacramental study of Christian initiation as a whole and, more specifically, of the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. The first part includes: the notion of "initiation," Christian initiation in history and the celebration of Christian initiation today. The second part, focusing on the sacrament of Baptism, includes the study of Baptism in the economy of salvation, the celebration, the salvific content, the necessity of baptism for salvation, and Baptism as a life commitment. The third part, focusing on the sacrament of Confirmation, includes: confirmation in salvation history, celebration, salvific content, and Confirmation as a life commitment.

The Eucharist in Sacred Scripture. Structure and essential elements of the Eucharistic celebration. The reality it makes present and with which the Church enters into communion. The Eucharist, sacramental presence of the one sacrifice of our redemption, in light of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. The Eucharist, sacrifice of Christ and the Church. The Eucharist, Paschal banquet of the Church: the Eucharistic Communion, participation in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. Insights into the mystery of Christ's presence in the Eucharist. The true, real and substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The actualization of Christ's presence in the Eucharist. The different modes of Christ's presence in the Church and the specificity of the Eucharistic presence. The saving efficacy of the Eucharist. Eucharist and redemption. Eucharist and life in Christ. Eucharist and the Holy Spirit. The Eucharist, sign and cause of the Church's unity. The Eucharist, pledge of future glory with God.

Matrimony has its foundation in the original divine design; its intrinsic ends, properties and goods. Marital community. Marital love: specific traits and relationship to the matrimonial institution. Matrimony in the Old Testament and its elevation to a sacrament in the New Testament. Inclusion of matrimony in the mystery of the spousal union between Christ and the Church; perfection it brings to matrimony itself, to the spouses and their marital love. The celebration of matrimony: preparation, matrimonial consent; the canonical form. Impediments. Mixed matrimony. Moral and pastoral aspects of de facto and merely civil unions. Unity and indissolubility as essential properties of matrimony. Pastoral action regarding civilly remarried divorcees. The task of the transmission of human life. Contraception and other sins against marital chastity. Rights and duties of parents with respect to the care and education of children. Sanctification of family life.

This course aims to examine sacramental Penance and Anointing of the Sick, signs of spiritual healing in the New Covenant, in the context of Salvation History and, in particular, the mystery of Christ and the Church. We will focus on both the systematic aspects of the sacraments and the liturgical, anthropological and pastoral aspects, also taking into account the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. Both aspects will in turn be divided into two parts: the first of a fundamentally historical-theological nature, focusing on the development of the liturgical form and theoretical reflection on the sacraments; the second will offer a systematic exposition.