Old Germanic meeting in Augsburg: A historical event for the church!

Old Germanic meeting in Augsburg: A historical event for the church!

An exciting event is just around the corner: From June 15th to 17th, 2025, this year's meeting of the old Germanicists will take place in the House of St. Ulrich in Augsburg. 37 participants from five different countries will come together to reflect on Rome over six decades of learning, studying and praying. A varied program is offered, which includes a report by Rector P. Gernot Wisser SJ about the current situation in the Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum, which in 1552 by Pope Julius III. was founded to improve priestly training in the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. 

as Diensum Augsburg reports, the meeting of intensive common prayers and a theological reflection on urgent questions of the church is accompanied. A highlight is the city tour that offers the participants the opportunity to get to know the Roman Augsburg better.

a traditional seminar

The Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum, colloquially known as Germanicum, has a long history. It was created in 1580 from the merging of the Collegium Germanicum and Collegium Hungaricum and today forms seminarian seminarists from over twenty European countries, with the focus in the German -speaking countries. The merger should serve to defend the Reformation and to improve theological training, as on wikipedia is explained.

The regular meetings of the old and young Germanicists enjoy great popularity and are a sign of the lively community, which is characterized by the exchange and the common prayer. Bishop Bertram continues the tradition of the old Germanic meeting, which was initiated by Friedrich Cardinal Wetter in Freising.

training in the seminar

priest seminars, such as the Germanicum, are central training centers for candidates for priesthood in the Roman Catholic dioceses. The training not only includes theology, but also spiritual and practical aspects that are essential for future priestly activity. There are different models of training in Germany, whereby the German Bishops' Conference is currently planning to reduce the number of seminar locations to ten in order to counter the decline in candidates for the priesthood, as can be experienced in another article about [Catholic priest seminar] (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/katholisches_priester seminar).

This shows that the topic of seminars is highly topical. The challenges in today's world require new approaches in the training of the candidates for the priests, which must not only deal with the theological but also with the social framework.

Overall, the Catholic Community in Augsburg looks forward to the upcoming meeting of the old Germanicists. It will be an opportunity to renew old gangs, to discover new horizons and to pray and work together for the future of the church.