Life at UST Law

Andrew R., 2L

“At this, my master turned his head around
and toward the right, and looked at me and said:
‘He who takes not of this has listened well.’”

– Inferno XV.97-99.

Trastevere, July 18, 2012.

William Nardini

The staff at John Cabot went out of their way to provide us with extracurricular activities and opportunities. Many of them had to do with Rome itself – touring the museums, churches or landmarks of the city. But others were more particular to the program itself. Lawyers, academics and priests came to speak or give lectures on occasion, both in and outside of class.

Given his connections and subject matter of what he was teaching, Prof. Wulf Kaal’s International Finance class probably got the best cut overall of these speakers, or at least the most numerous.

(more…)

by Andrew R., 2L

“You new have seen, my son, the temporal
and the eternal fire, you’ve reached the place
where my discernment now has reached its end.”
                                                            –Purgatorio XXVII.127-129.

Piazza Farnese, July 12, 2012

Only two-thirds of the way through the semester and already we’re starting to have to say our good-byes. Prof. Michael Moreland, our teacher for State, Society, and Economics, was handing over the reins to his friend and colleague Prof. Patrick Brennan before returning to Villanova to deal with his duties as newly-elected vice dean of the law school. Prof. Brennan, who had recently completed a conference in Milan, would begin his part of the course the following Monday, building on the weeks spent covering the political writings of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas with more contemporary Church texts from Leo XIII, John Paul II, and Jacques Martain. (more…)

by Andrew R., 2L

Caravaggio’s Madonna di Loreto as seen in the Basilica di Sant’Agosto

“The one sun has put out the other’s light;
the sword is now one with the crook – and fused
together thus, must bring about misrule,
since joined, now neither fears the other one.”

– Purgatorio XVI.109-112.

Basilica di Sant’Agostino, July 10, 2012.

During summer school at least, hours of class time and lectures are best punctuated with the occasional class trip. This time, in tandem with our subject matter for Prof. Moreland’s State, Society, and Economics class, we went out to the Basilica di Sant’Agostino, about a fifteen minute walk north of John Cabot, just off the Piazza Navona.

The Church is home to Caravaggio’s painting of the Madonna di Loreto (also known as Our Lady of the Pilgrims), an image known to raise an eyebrow or two in its day. Crowned with a halo that’s hardly even noticeable and holding a child against what could be a door at the end of any alley in Rome, (more…)

by Andrew R., 2L

“And as a bull who’s snapped his harness ropes
when the deathblow’s already set him reeling–
he cannot charge, but bucks this way and that –
so did I see the furious Minotaur.
‘Run to the gap,’ the wary poet cried,
‘better go down while he is blind with rage!’”
–Inferno XII.22-27

Pamplona, July 8, 2012.

Our company arrived at Pamplona to certain news. That morning, a young participant from Japan had been caught through his neckerchief by the horn of a charging bull and dragged for thirty yards before he was dropped at the entrance of the roaring stadium. Within the same three minutes, a 73-year-old man was gored while at least four others required medical attention. (more…)