Collegium Traditionis

The principal aim of the Exsurge Domine Foundation is to contribute to the preservation of the Catholic Priesthood: through collaboration with a traditional institute the "Collegium Traditionis" was born, the Foundation's first project with which we hope it will be possible to offer a model of Priesthood bound to personal sanctification, within the fraternal life of that institute, marked by the chanting of the Divine Office, by a formation rooted in the principles and contents of the philosophical and theological treatises of Scholasticism, and by the useful and necessary service of daily labour.

We shall also welcome, should it be necessary, the clerics and religious who find themselves deprived of their parish or removed from their community, but above all those who aspire to live the Catholic Priesthood in the furrow of its unchangeable Tradition. This may be carried out concretely within the fraternal life, on the Tridentine model, in an isolated hermitage able to offer the best conditions so that they may come to know and deepen the charism proper to that institute, help one another in the evangelical spirit and in the bond of charity, sanctify themselves and remain faithful to their vocation through the common celebration of the divine Liturgy and the sharing of the priestly model proper to the fraternity with which we intend to carry out the project, so as to rediscover or to safeguard — as the case may be — the authentic meaning of the call to the sequela Christi.

This hermitage, built in 1538, lies immersed in a centuries-old wood of oaks and chestnuts and offers a spectacular panoramic view over the city of Viterbo and the splendid surrounding landscape. It is a place of the highest spirituality, which in centuries past hosted in its rooms, among others, Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585), Saint Felix of Cantalice (1515-1587) and Saint Crispin of Viterbo (1668-1750), who spent his novitiate period there, together with many other Venerables and Servants of God of the Capuchin family, as well as many men who there walked the same path towards Christian perfection, observing the holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Rule of Saint Francis of Assisi.

For the actual realisation of this project, however, it is necessary to restore the spaces, appurtenances and systems of the Hermitage, which are in critical condition, and to adapt the premises not only to the priestly life, but also to that of the seminarians, endowing it with classrooms, a conference hall, common and study rooms, cells and personal facilities.

Unfortunately, the timescales for design, for submission to the competent authorities and for obtaining licences and permits are particularly long: yet it must be borne in mind that the hermitage is a sixteenth-century building and that it is protected as a building of historical and artistic interest.

Between 2025 and the first months of 2026, certain works on the central body of the convent were undertaken and completed, thanks to the precious contribution of our dear benefactors. But much else still remains to be done.

For this reason, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has made his heartfelt appeal that each one feel called to take part in this initiative and to give their generous contribution, so that this first project — and those that will follow — may constitute an adequate and effective response to the travail of these times, to the safeguarding and transmission of the Catholic Faith, intact as the Saviour entrusted it to us.