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Rome's Venerable English College opens for guided tours

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

13 Sep, 2024

Venerable English College in Rome opens to the public for tours for the first time ever.

Rome's Venerable English College, the oldest British institution outside the UK, is opening its doors for guided tours for the first time in its 700-year history.

Founded as a hospice for English and Welsh pilgrims in 1362, the institution on Via di Monserrato has operated since 1579 as a seminary for the training of priests from England and Wales.

Over the centuries, the historic building has hosted cardinals, monarchs, politicians, diplomats and intellectuals, including Thomas Cromwell and John Milton.

Rome visitors/residents, don’t miss this opportunity to see the oldest English institution outside England! For the first time ever, the 700-year-old Venerable English College is opening its doors to the public for tours every Saturday in English & Italian https://t.co/cskLC4R8ya pic.twitter.com/vLaEHUKLES
— Dr Anabel Inge (@Anabel_Inge) September 13, 2024

In the 15th century, English diplomats took up lodgings in the complex to engage with the papal curia, and by the reign of Henry VII from 1485 onwards, it was known as the King’s Hospice.

During the Holy Year of 1500, at the height of its wealth, the hospice provided accommodation for 750 pilgrims.

In 1579 Pope Gregory XIII issued the bull of foundation of the English College, and the hospice became a seminary, shortly before the age of the martyrs.

Memory, Martyrs and Mission

Pope Pius V had excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I and in 1585 she in turn banned Catholic priests from entering her kingdom under pain of execution.

Over the next 100 years, students of the seminary who returned home as priests faced persecution, with 44 former students martyred, most by being hung, drawn and quartered.

The Martyrs' Chapel, Venerable English College

In 1798 the Venerable English College was commandeered as a barracks for French soldiers during the Napoleonic occupation of Rome.

The French troops ransacked the entire building, forcing the students to return to England, and the college did not reopen until 1818.

The VEC also has a curious claim to fame: in 1892 a group of English seminarians introduced the game of football to Rome.

Today the college continues its function of providing education and formation for around 30 seminarians and priests every year.

Guided tours

The guided tours include the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, inside the college, with a 1581 masterpiece by Durante Alberti, and an exceptional cycle of 34 paintings by Pomarancio depicting, in brutal detail, the stories of English and Welsh saints and martyrs.

The garden of the Venerable English College

The Martyrs’ Chapel, built between 1680 and 1690, contains beautiful frescoes by the Jesuit painter Andrea Pozzo, as well an altarpiece by Pier Leone Ghezzi depicting the martyrdom of St Thomas of Canterbury.

Visitors can also admire a host of fascinating historic artefacts.

How to visit the Venerable English College

Guided tours of the Venerabile Collegio Inglese take place every Saturday.

The tours, which last one hour and cost €12, are conducted in English at 10.30 and in Italian at 11.30.

The tours can be booked online via the Mirabilia Art Wonders website.